YEARENDER: Automated elections vital to Comelec’s mission

MANILA, Philippines - The year 2012 was vital for the Commission on Elections (Comelec) because it determined if the agency could carry on what it started three years ago – the automation of the country’s elections.

“There are sectors that still doubt our automated election system. But despite that, the 2013 election will push through and it will be automated again,” said Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes.

A total of 18,022 elective posts are up for grabs in this year’s polls: 12 seats for senators; 57 for party-list representatives; 229 for district representatives; 80 governors and vice governors; 766 Sangguniang Panlalawigan; 138 city mayors and vice mayors; 1,532 Sangguniang Panlungsod; 1,496 municipal mayors and vice mayors; 11,972 Sangguniang Bayan; one governor, one vice governor and 24 assemblymen of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). 

The workload of the Comelec was significantly reduced last year since it will just be reusing the 2010 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines.

However, the Comelec had its hands full in eliminating the party-list groups that, it believes, are not genuinely representing marginalized and under-represented sectors.

At least 187 groups had been accredited with the Comelec as of the 2010 polls, but 60 of them were delisted early last year for not getting two percent of the votes cast for the party-list system in the 2007 and 2010 elections.

A total of 165 new groups, on the other hand, have applied for accreditation to be able to join the 2013 race. So far, 83 organizations have been given the go signal to run in the May elections.

Of this figure, 58 are existing groups. Of those disqualified, 52 went to the Supreme Court (SC) and managed to secure status quo ante orders.

The move earned mixed emotions from the poll watchdog groups and party-list organizations because the Comelec did not release any guidelines on how it screened the list.

The poll body, however, assured these groups that its decision was based on the provisions in the Party-List System Act and the SC ruling on the Bagong Bayani vs Comelec case. 

Senatorial aspirants

A total of 85 individuals have signified their intention to run for senator during the five-day filing of certificates of candidacy (COCs) last October.

The big names in national politics were spread between the Malacañang-backed Liberal Party coalition and the United Nationalist Alliance founded by Vice President Jejomar Binay and former President Joseph Estrada, now running for mayor of Manila.

Some are from the Ang Kapatiran, Democratic Party of the Philippines, Social Justice Society and Bangon Pilipinas Party, while others are running as independents. 

Due to internal squabble at the Marcos-era Kilusang Bagong Lipunan, it is no longer fielding any candidate this coming polls.

Jesus is Lord founder and Bangon Pilipinas Party chairman Eddie Villanueva sprang a surprise when he replaced party member Israel Virgines as the BPP’s lone bet for senator a day before the Dec. 21 deadline for the substitution of candidates.  

Villanueva attempted but failed twice at the presidency in 2004 and 2010 before joining this year’s senatorial race.

A total of 33 aspirants will fight for the 12 slots up for grabs at the Senate. 

PCOS returns

Due to the minimal budget earmarked for the 2013 polls, the Comelec had to purchase and use again the PCOS machines leased out by Smartmatic International Corp. in 2010. The poll body said it is more practical to just buy the more than 81,000 PCOS machines for P1.8 billion since it has only P7 billion for the coming elections.

Electoral reform groups Automated Election System (AES) Watch and Center for People Empowerment in Governance criticized the move, citing the deficiencies and flaws of the PCOS machines in the 2010 polls.

What’s worse, according to the groups, is that Smartmatic will likely be providing the Comelec with pirated technology because of its fallout with Dominion Voting System, the owner of the system that will be used to operate the PCOS machines.

In September, Smartmatic filed a lawsuit against Dominion for terminating their worldwide licensing agreement, which made poll watchdogs fear that the 2013 elections were doomed. 

New commissioner

In October, President Aquino appointed former Isabela governor Grace Padaca as Comelec commissioner, replacing Augusto Lagman who had to step down after his appointment was not renewed last April.

Padaca, 49, was the first woman to become poll commissioner since Luzviminda Tancangco, who served at the Comelec from 1998 to 2004. They are both non-lawyers.

A certified public accountant, Padaca is being eyed to help in scrutinizing the campaign finances of candidates.

She is also hopeful that her experience in local government and as candidate would help in the reforms being instituted at the Comelec.

A former broadcaster in Isabela, Padaca is a 2008 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee (Asia’s version of Nobel Prize) for government service and a co-founder of Kaya Natin, a movement for good governance and ethical leadership. 

ARMM general voters’ registration

After 15 years, the Comelec conducted this year a general voters’ registration in the ARMM on orders of the Senate. 

The move was initiated by President Aquino, who backed calls to cleanse the voter’s list in the region, which had been tagged as the “cheating capital of the Philippines.” ARMM’s voter’s lists were said to be teeming with double and multiple registrants.

A lot of areas in the region, particularly Maguindanao, are usually considered “hot spots” by the police and the military for poll-related violence during elections.

To give the region a fresh start for the 2013 polls, the Senate came up with a joint resolution in May, nullifying the 1.7 million-strong Book of Voters in the ARMM provinces of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi and Basilan. 

A general registration followed from July 9 to 18. After screening the registrants’ biometrics data through the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, the Comelec delisted some 400,000 voters who have more than one registration.

For the rest of the country, the poll body had implemented the continuing registration for more than a year, which ended last Oct. 31. 

Stricter rules on campaign finances

To make up for the loopholes in election laws, particularly those governing premature campaigning and campaign contributions and expenditures, the Comelec issued Resolution No. 9476 or the Rules Governing Campaign Finance and Disclosure last June.

The resolution was aimed at modifying and clarifying some rules on campaign finances that are weak and vague.

The Comelec has also taken the commitment of all candidates to file their Statements of Contribution and Expenditures (SOCE) within 30 days after election day by including it as a clause in the certificates of candidacy that they filed with the poll body. 

Under the 1985 Omnibus Election Code, an elected official cannot assume office until he has filed the SOCE, but this has not been fully implemented.