Namfrel: Elections generally credible

Despite the confusion that marked the May 10 elections, the independent poll watchdog National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) declared yesterday that the electoral exercise was generally credible.

"The results of the 2004 elections from our viewpoint are credible and reflect the vote of the people in spite of the initial confusion arising from missing names on the computerized voters’ list," Namfrel secretary general Guillermo Luz said.

Luz made the statement as Namfrel started to moved out its quick count operations from the La Salle-Greenhills gymnasium in San Juan to its headquarters at the RFM Building in Mandaluyong City.

Luz said Namfrel will take a break today and will resume its operations tomorrow.

In their latest partial and unofficial tally as of 10 a.m. yesterday, President Arroyo remained on top with 7,952,228 votes against her closest rival Fernando Poe Jr. who had 7,214,787 votes.

Independent presidential candidate Sen. Panfilo Lacson remained in third place with 2,130,302 votes followed by former education secretary Raul Roco with 1,243,764 votes. Evangelist Eduardo Villanueva was at the bottom with 1,206,346 votes.

In the vice presidential race, Mrs. Arroyo’s running mate Sen. Noli de Castro is still in the lead with 9,406,129 votes while Sen. Loren Legarda garnered 8,547,854 votes.

Alyansa ng Pag-Asa bet Herminio Aquino is in distant third with 586,115 votes followed by independent candidate Rodolfo Pajo with 19,682 votes.

Luz said Namfrel will continue to receive the remaining reports from the field to process them at the RFM headquarters tomorrow.

Namfrel reported out that they have already processed results from 62.80 percent or 135,898 of the total 216,382 polling precincts in the country.

Luz stressed they will not be able to finish the count at 100 percent since they do not expect to get "clean" election returns.

"We will not go 100 percent. We will still go beyond 62.8 percent but not 100 percent. We are challenging political parties who say they can complete their (own quick) counts by 100 percent to produce their source documents," Luz said.

Even as the voter turnout was comparatively lower than in the previous presidential elections, Namfrel belied reports of massive voter disenfranchisement.

Luz said their calculations placed the total voter turnout for the May 10 polls at 74.7 percent.

Namfrel assessed that 97 percent voted for a president, 91 percent for a vice president while the rest of the voters selected an average of 7.6 senators.

"The count was entirely based on election returns," Luz said.

"The purpose for this is that it enables Namfrel to check precinct data from possible tampering of certificates of canvass. While this is not our highest coverage in terms of precincts counted, over 20 million votes were counted in the process. We will continue to process returns as they come in and add to these reports," Luz added.

Though Namfrel spotted suspected cases of fraud and anomalies, Luz said these were mostly confined to the local level.

He cited as examples the incidents in the towns of Biñan, Laguna; Tanay, Rizal; Isabela province; Columbio, Sultan Kudarat; and Upi in Maguindanao where the canvassing has to be stopped.

"The importance of processing from election returns cannot be emphasized enough. Because of the ability to sum up municipal and provincial totals, it is possible to confirm or refute claims of cheating or fraud. It also provides a means to settle electoral protest cases based on solid documentation," Luz added.

On the other hand, Namfrel reported it did not see enough electoral anomalies which would substantially affect the results in the national elections.

Namfrel chairman Jose Concepcion Jr. said people are more vigilant in guarding their votes as compared to the previous elections.

Concepcion said people are now becoming more aware of their political rights.

"We are beginning to see a growing empowerment of our people at the community level," he said.

Concepcion cited the case of Columbio town in Sultan Kudarat where the people forced the Commission on Election (Comelec) officials to appoint a new election registrar after the previous poll official reportedly refused to count the remaining 23 election returns seen as crucial in determining the winners in the local level.

Likewise, some 7,000 people in Columbio blocked the move to have the canvassing transferred to the provincial capitol, Concepcion said.

Concepcion also announced Namfrel was invited by Congress to sent a team of observers at the canvassing for the presidential and vice presidential positions.

Concepcion said Namfrel will send a seven-man team to observe the process of the canvass, which will include himself, Luz, Fr. Joaquin Bernas and Gus Lagman.

Proposals

Namfrel also came out with three proposals on how to improve the conduct of the general elections in 2010.

Namfrel stressed the primary need to modernize the electoral process by full automation.

By doing so, confusion in the voters’ listing, listing of candidates, the counting of votes and canvassing of the results will be eliminated, it said.

Namfrel also proposed that each Comelec commissioner should be held accountable for their performance during elections.

Luz said Comelec officials should not be spared from any accountability even as they are considered as members of an independent constitutional body.

The poll watchdog finally made the appeal for the electorate to be more "mature" in selecting their leaders.

"The problem is not the maturity of voters but the inadequacy of political parties to exercise responsible politics," Luz said.

Over the last two weeks, many losing candidates claimed they have been cheated. "Others have charged Namfrel for lack of transparency although they themselves have not been able to produce the source documents to support their counts," Luz added, referring to the accusations hurled by the opposition camp.

Re-electionist Sen. John Osmeña of the administration K-4 also denied claims of massive cheating, particularly in his home province in Cebu.

Osmeña said the accusations were baseless since no less than C-CIMPEL, the duly accredited citizen’s arm of the Comelec, has confirmed the conduct of the elections in the province was "fair and clean."

In a statement, Osmeña said even the Archbishop of Cebu Ricardo Cardinal Vidal congratulated C-CIMPEL and Comelec "for a job well done."

"The accusation that President Arroyo won in Cebu because of massive cheating is an insult to the intelligence of the Cebuanos," Osmeña said. - With Evelyn Macairan