Drilon reminds Comelec: Delaying May polls not legal

MANILA, Philippines — Senate President Franklin Drilon on Thursday vowed to block any attempt of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to postpone the May 9 elections.

The poll body earlier said that it is considering to postpone the upcoming elections following the Supreme Court order to print vote receipts.

Comelec Chairman Juan Andres Bautista said that printing vote receipts may have an impact on the poll body's timeline as there are only two months left before the election.

Drilon, however, reminded the Comelec that it has no legal basis to postpone the election.

"It is premature for the Comelec to make public pronouncements on the postponement of elections because there still is time," Drilon said in a statement.

The re-electionist senatorial candidate cited the Omnibus Election Code which states that postponement may only be effected for "serious causes such as violence, terrorism, loss or destruction of election paraphernalia or records, force majeure, and other analogous causes of such nature that the holding of a free, orderly and honest election should become impossible in any political subdivision."

Drilon said that the poll body should instead focus on how to comply with the SC ruling instead of making speculative public pronouncements on postponing the elections.

The poll body will violate the Constitution if it fails to execute its mandate of holding regular elections on the second Monday of May.

Earlier this week, the SC ordered the Comelec to enable the voter verified paper audit trail feature of the vote counting machines that will be used for the upcoming polls.