Majority rules

It is now clear the KNP and the Bangon, apparent losers in the last presidential elections, are out to create a power vacuum by stalling the canvass of votes for President and Vice President so that no winners can be proclaimed by June 30, 2004. So far, they continue to dictate the tempo of the canvassing even if they are outnumbered in the canvassing committee. The majority appears to be playing into their game plan by continuing to be cowed by their delaying antics and tantrums, the latest of which is the walkout staged by their lawyers. This walkout should not be the concern of the canvassing committee. The lawyers’ walkout simply means that they forfeited their right to be further represented in the canvassing. It is high time for the committee to proceed posthaste and finish the canvass. It should now apply with firmness and determination the basic principle in every democracy – the rule of the majority. It should no longer allow the minority to dictate the tempo of the canvassing. Never mind the accusations of railroading, especially if the best interest of the country is at stake.

Overruling the same objections repeatedly raised and rejecting the moves to examine the election returns and the statement of votes at the precinct level are not acts of railroading. They are within the bounds of the Constitution which calls only for the tabulation of the certificates of canvass as duly authenticated. They are not signs of fear of the truth. In ferreting out the truth, certain procedures have to be followed. Shortcuts and disregard of the rules can never be justified for the sake of the alleged truth. If the apparent losers believe that they were cheated as their own copies of the election returns reveal, they can file an election protest after the proclamation. This constitutional rule is promulgated precisely to avoid a power vacuum that may arise if the canvassing will entail examinations of precinct election returns. Allowing the examination of even one or a few election returns will open the door to an examination of the more than 215,000 election returns in a congressional canvass that has a very short time limit.

In the last general elections, both local and national positions were at stake. Elected nationwide are the positions of President, Vice President and twelve Senators. The provincial and city board of canvassers prepared only one set of COCs for these national positions consisting of several copies to be sent to their respective canvassing bodies; to the COMELEC for the senatorial elections, and to Congress for the Presidential and Vice Presidential elections. If there are irregularities in the COCs, they are reflected in both copies. If the COCs for the President and Vice President are questionable and tainted with fraud as the opposition now claims, so are the COCs of the twelve Senators. Following the stand of the opposition, the proclamation of the twelve winning senators is also questionable and should be recalled. Senator Barbers and the other losing senatorial candidates should thus question not only the twelfth placer, Biazon, but the eleven others proclaimed by the COMELEC including Pimentel, Madrigal, Lim, Estrada and Enrile.

Apparently, the congressional canvass points to the victory of President GMA and her running mate Noli de Castro. This result is also reflected in the ultimate election survey prior to the election and the exit polls conducted by reputable pollsters whose credibility has been solidly established by their previous records of determining the winners. Yet the opposition says that this is not the truth because there was wholesale fraud. The only truth according to them is a result where they are the winners. Thus they are questioning only the COCs of elections in bailiwicks of the winner with disastrous results to their candidates. This defies logic. If a candidate will cheat, he will usually and logically concentrate on areas where he knows he is weak, not on his bailiwicks. Their idea of massive fraud is selective. It only happened in areas where they lost. This is absurd. Absurdity is never consistent with truth.

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