While the national and local elections will yet be on May 12 this year, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) could only wish Filipino voters would strongly assert their rights of suffrage to install into office deserving and worthy candidates. With conviction, Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia echoed his personal hope that all of us Filipinos will always be inspired by the essence and spirit of the February 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution.
In fact, Garcia called for a “voters’ revolt” at the end of our Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last Wednesday. Garcia’s take-away call came a day after the observance of the 39th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution.
Garcia was joined at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum by Comelec Commissioner Nilo Pipo, one of the two newly appointed commissioners in the seven-man poll body.
After the news forum, Garcia brought the two new Comelec commissioners to Padre Faura for their swearing in before Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo. President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) promoted the two Comelec career officials – Pipo and Maria Norina Tangaro-Casingal – as “acting” Comelec commissioners. They initially took oath before the Comelec chairman immediately after PBBM signed and issued their ad interim appointments.
They are supposed to serve for a term of office expiring on Feb. 2, 2032 but only after they hurdle the confirmation process of the Commission on Appointments (CA). Since the 19th Congress already adjourned for recess, PBBM will need to submit anew their nominations to either the 19th Congress or to the incoming 20th Congress.
Obviously, their being appointed to permanent capacity will depend on how Pipo and Casingal will fare in handling their respective jobs before, during and after the Comelec’s conduct of the mid-term elections. However, it seems the two new Comelec commissioners could be benchwarmers only for now.
It was a grand gesture though on the part of Garcia to bring the two new Comelec commissioners to take their oaths before no less than the Chief Justice. Incidentally, Garcia also took his own oath before Gesmundo in June 2022 after PBBM named him Comelec chairman. “But (this is) to affirm our independence,” Garcia cited.
After all, the Comelec is one of the several autonomous, independent bodies created by our country’s 1987 Constitution.
Nonetheless, respect and bowing to the decisions and orders from the highest court of the land have been the consistent stand of Garcia whenever Comelec cases reach the Supreme Court (SC). A veteran election lawyer and a former law professor, Garcia has been espousing it as a public policy since he took the helm of the poll body.
Proof of which were the several SC decisions that overruled the Comelec quite a number of times but which Garcia grudgingly complied with. The latest of which led the Comelec to suspend its printing of ballots despite delaying the timetable for the preparations for the May 12 elections. Acting on petitions, the SC granted and ordered the Comelec to include in the ballots the names of certain senatorial candidates earlier excluded after the poll body disqualified or declared them as nuisance candidates.
A case in point was senatorial aspirant Leo Marcos who withdrew his certificate of candidacy (COC) a day after the SC granted his petition. The SC subsequently ordered Marcos to explain why he should not be cited for contempt.
“Don’t play around with the highest court of the land,” Garcia warned.
“If the Comelec respects the SC, why can’t they? This is learning lessons on the rule of law. We must respect the rule of law,” Garcia stressed.
A latest case elevated before the SC was a petition for mandamus by civil society groups that invoked the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act for a copy of the Comelec contract with its private contractor for the automated elections Miru Systems of South Korea. Garcia expressed the readiness of the Comelec to comply with whatever action the 15-man SC may deem appropriate on this petition.
The petitioners asked the SC to compel both Miru and Comelec to make public the amended contract following the withdrawal of Miru’s local partner last year due to financial troubles. “The FOI extends to the private entity like Miru and on the part of the Comelec, which is a public entity, we gave already (the copy) in the spirit of transparency,” Garcia pointed out.
Garcia admitted the Comelec is bracing for more legal and constitutional challenges to be thrown their way with the onset of election fever. The campaign period is already ongoing for the senatorial and party-list representatives. Later this March 28, all the congressional and local candidates will hit the campaign trail.
Many, if not all of them anyway, have already been campaigning long before they filed their individual COCs. Due to the vagueness of existing election rules, oversized billboards, radio/TV appearances and endorsements have sprouted way before the official campaign period started.
Garcia conceded certain amendments of the Omnibus Election Code are needed to keep up with the advancements in technology and other present realities. But we can’t expect our lawmakers in Congress to amend and update these rules to present realities such as the advent of social media campaign.
Last week, Garcia met with the top executives of the country’s legitimate and most credible opinion polling firms amid concerns and fears of “mind-setting” over survey results on voters’ preferred candidates in mock polls. Initially, Garcia echoed the desire of the Comelec to ensure a level playing field for all candidates, many of whom could not afford to pay for commissioned surveys.
So it was suggested that these voters’ opinion-taking activities must seek prior approval of the Comelec before any survey results are released to the public. At the end of the meeting, Garcia announced, they all agreed there should be no “prior restraint” on the freedom of expression as enshrined in our Constitution.
Or better yet, Garcia called for a “voters’ revolt” to use the ballots to install into office candidates worthy to be elected.