Tags: Elections
By Anna Valmero
PASAY CITY, METRO MANILA – Aside from faster proclamation of winners, poll automation is also touted to save the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from headaches caused by numerous protests from losing candidates.
“There would be less (election contests) because as we have seen, most if not all candidates, have accepted the results of the automation system using PCOS (precinct count optical scan),” says lawyer Ferdinand Rafanan, who sits as head of the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) legal department.
In 2007, some 700 cases were filed before the Comelec contesting poll results. Rafanan sees the exact opposite this year.
“There would still be grounds for filing pre-proclamation cases in an automated election but unlike before, filing a pre-proclamation case (for this election) would not delay or suspend any candidate’s proclamation if the case is still pending for resolution,” explains Rafanan.
Since voting is already automated, protesters can no longer cite those ballots were filled up by a single person, a common complaint raised in previous elections.
Under Comelec Resolution 8804, which covers election disputes, grounds for pre-proclamation controversies were limited to illegal composition and procedures of the board of canvassers (BOCs). This resolution does not cover defective election returns anymore.
Under Comelec rules, losing candidates have 10 days to file an election protest. For multi-post positions (such as senator), this only applies to the next four candidates who got the highest number of votes.
For his part, Rafanan urged election lawyers to take a proactive role to make proposals for improvements in some “possible weaknesses” of the automated election system such as the match between the random manual audit with the transmitted results, and the role of pre-election surveys and exit polls as checks and balance to the electronically-generated voting result.
“Election lawyers will not be obsolete even after automation although our profession is affected in terms of the number of work and compensation received. For me, there is a lot to be learned in this new system,” says seasoned election lawyer Sixto Brillantes, who serves as counsel for presidential frontrunner Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.
With automation, Brillantes said bulk of the work on protest cases, such as disqualification of nuisance bets, were filed before the elections. He cited the case filed by Aquino against the inclusion of Vetallano Acosta in the list of presidential candidates.
“If Acosta was not there (on the ballot), the (winning) margin of Noynoy Aquino would be much bigger, Comelec will have to admit they made a great error in including Acosta in the ballot. Acosta received a good number of votes and it proves my point that in case of automated elections, the number one candidate will have added advantage,” he says.
Lawyer Irwin Garcia, who serves as legal counsel for former president Joseph Estrada says the main issue would be the credibility and accuracy of the PCOS machines in reading the votes cast and those transmitted to Comelec and BOC servers.
“President Estrada told me that he would not concede in the elections due to irregularities that might have tainted the elections. We are waiting for the canvassing by the national board of canvassers (NBOC) in Congress to raise the issues on the credibility of the electronic results,” says Garcia.
Garcia declined to specify the grounds of these irregularities, citing they would only air it once the House of Representatives and Senate convenes as official NBOC for president and vice president.
Congress is set to convene on May 24, ahead of the original May 31 schedule.
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