Kiko calls for overall electoral reform amid Smartmatic debacle
MANILA, Philippines — Concerns on the conduct of the 2019 midterm elections should not be limited to the Commission on Elections’ partnership with Venezuelan-owned firm Smartmatic, Sen. Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan said Friday.
Instead, there is a need to reform the whole electoral process, Pangilinan stressed.
“Sana i-diretso na ang reporma sa halalan at panagutin ang mga dapat panagutin,” the campaign manager of the defeated Otso Diretso said.
(The whole electoral process must be reformed and hold those who were wrong responsible.)
Pangilinan made the statement in response to President Rodrigo Duterte’s advice to Comelec to “dispose” Smartmatic and “look for a new one that is free of fraud.”
Aside from the glitches encountered in the vote-counting machines, the opposition senator said accountability is demanded in instances where election rules on billboards, posters and use of government resources in the campaign were violated as well as the “baseless” narco-list that put the lives of local officials across the country at risk.
“Ilang beses pinagbantaan ng pangulo ang mga local politicians na iipitin niya ang mga proyekto nila kung hindi nito suportahan ang kanyang mga kandidato,” Pangilinan lamented.
(The president repeatedly threatened local politicians that he will block their projects if they do not support administration bets).
He also raised the reported unmailed ballots of overseas Filipino workers.
In a statement Friday, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the comments of Duterte against Smartmatic do not mean the midterm election was not honest nor credible.
Issues on rejected debate, dominant minority
The Liberal Party president once again questioned the Comelec decisions rejecting Otso Diretso’s request for debate and naming the Nacionalista Party as the dominant minority in the May 13 elections.
Comelec declared the administration-backed PDP-Laban as the dominant majority party. The poll body, meanwhile, accredited the erstwhile ruling LP as one of the major political parties.
“Pinangalanan ng Comelec na ‘dominant minority’ ang isang partidong kaalyado ng mayorya. Taliwas ito sa batas, common sense, at diwa ng democracy,” Pangilinan said.
(Comelec declared a party allied with the majority as the ‘dominant minority.’ This runs against the law, common sense and spirit of democracy.)
He also lamented Comelec’s refusal to give LP access to their mirror servers despite being a major national political party.
Pangilinan earlier accused the administration of imposing fear and violating election rules to secure a resounding poll victory.
Nine allies of Duterte took the 12 seats at stake in the 24-member Senate, with no one from the opposition Otso Diretso winning a place in the upper house. Loyalists of the president kept control of the House of Representatives. — Gaea Katreena Cabico
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