‘Mall voting rejection started Comelec row’

MANILA, Philippines – A Commission on Elections (Comelec) official disclosed yesterday that the feud among poll officials apparently started when Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista held a grudge against the other commissioners who voted to scrap the shopping mall voting project.       

“He has a gripe over the turning down by the en banc of his very own mall voting project,” said Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon.

Voting 4-3, the commission junked the planned use of malls as voting precincts. Commissioners Christian Lim, Arthur Lim and Luie Guia changed their minds and decided against it.

When he assumed his post, Bautista initiated the mall voting project and forged separate Memoranda of Agreement with various malls across the country for its implementation.

Guanzon yesterday belied reports that other members of the seven-man commission detest the poll chief and his alleged “failed leadership.”

Guazon said the six Comelec commissioners have signed a memorandum to seek a peaceful dialogue and discuss at length certain issues and concerns with Bautista.     

“All we want is for us to all sit down in the en banc and discuss these concerns professionally for the sake of our country,” Guanzon said in a radio interview.

Contrary to reports, Guanzon said, it is Bautista who has gripes with the other commissioners and not the other way around.

“It is not us who dislike him. It is actually him who dislikes us,” Guanzon claimed.

According to Guanzon, the poll chief kept on bringing up the mall voting long after the commission decided against its implementation.

She said the other members of the Comelec did not expect such a reaction from the head of the commission.

“I wish he would follow the en banc rules and improve our work ethic by being collegial and respectful of the independence of the commissioners,” Bautista explained.

The six Comelec commissioners previously issued a memorandum addressed to Bautista to express their belief that there is a “failure” in the Comelec leadership.

“At the outset and with all due respect, we, the commissioners constituting the majority of the commission en banc, express our position of a failed leadership of the Comelec,” the six commissioners said in the memo.