EDITORIAL – Electoral reforms

The jury is still out on whether retired chief justice Hilario Davide’s acceptance of a presidential appointment was a wise career move. It certainly scored some points for the administration, which continues to suffer from a crisis of credibility.

Davide’s success in the newly created post of presidential adviser on electoral reforms will hinge on how much support he will get from the executive and legislative branches, and how far he can go given constitutional constraints in punishing erring officials of the Commission on Elections. If Davide gets the necessary support and somehow hurdles those limitations set by the Constitution, the public could finally see some positive developments in the long overdue implementation of electoral reforms.

Overhauling the country’s antiquated electoral system should have been given priority two decades ago, when public dissatisfaction with the conduct of the presidential snap election helped trigger the 1986 people power revolt that toppled the Marcos regime. All three administrations after the fall of Ferdinand Marcos, however, did little to modernize the electoral system. There was little change even when the Comelec was chaired by Davide himself. Now the fourth administration since EDSA I, hounded by accusations of rigging the presidential vote in 2004, has tossed the job of reforming the electoral system to Davide.

How much can he do? Several proposals on campaign finance reforms have been gathering dust at the House of Representatives. The Comelec’s poll modernization program is in limbo after the Supreme Court – under Davide – scrapped the P1.2-billion automation program between the poll body and Mega Pacific consortium. Computers and voting software, fully paid for with taxpayers’ money, are gathering dust in some warehouse. Graft charges filed against Comelec officials and Mega Pacific executives in connection with the aborted deal are gathering dust as well at the Office of the Ombudsman. Neither congressmen nor Marcos loyalist lawyer Oliver Lozano seems interested in impeaching Comelec commissioners responsible for the deal.

The electoral system is in such a mess and the Comelec’s credibility so abysmal that the public cannot even turn to snap elections as a way out of the continuing political crisis. Can Davide make a difference? He will need all the support he can get.