COMELEC is a disgrace to Filipino nation

'COMELEC failed to resolve poll fraud'

The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) criticized Thursday the Commission on Elections' alleged inability to exert effort to restore public trust.

“How can the Filipino people feel good about our elections when the gross mistakes of the past continuously rear their ugly heads in our electoral exercise which can only mean that no genuine effort is being made to regain the public trust?” PPCRV chairwoman Henrietta de Villa said.

The PPCRV, a national parish-based, non-partisan citizens' movement, described the last election as a classic picture of chaos where many Filipinos failed to freely and properly exercise their right to suffrage.

De Villa said the PPCRV is losing patience over the poll body’s canvassing delays and failure to resolve the credibility issue of the last elections.

She said allegations of cheating were due to COMELEC’s failure to address serious and legitimate concerns on the issue of fraud in Mindanao particularly the controversial Maguindanao certificates of canvass which delayed the national canvassing process.

“Election forms that have been missing since the purported canvassing (municipal and provincial) that no poll watcher was allowed to witness suddenly have begun to appear without sufficient believable explanation as to their disappearance then, and reappearance now,” de Villa said.

Reports said Maguindanao province delivered a 12-0 sweep for the administration’s Team Unity candidates.

She said the poll body’s “kid-glove” treatment of Maguindanao poll chief Lintang Bedol is a repeat of the “Hello, Garci” controversy, referring to the alleged anomaly involving former COMELEC commissioner Virgilio Garcillano during the 2004 presidential election.

PPCRV criticized Bedol for his repeated defiance of summons from the National Board of Canvassers and the COMELEC en banc resolutions, with the unexplained loss of poll documents supposedly in his custody.

“In an age of global media, scenes and images of Mr. Bedol relaxingly skirting accusations of electoral fraud before the Commission en banc, appearing almost invincible with a gun tucked under his waist in a major daily constitute a flagrant mockery of the electoral values we hope our citizens, especially our young ones will practice and uphold,” said de Villa.

The group also urged the COMELEC to solve the Maguindanao controversy and other election issues.

“For the sake of the 439,693 volunteers of the PPCRV who risked lives and limbs to restore credibility to our elections, we call on the COMELEC to please put a stop to this running travesty of the electoral process,” de Villa said.

The COMELEC has yet to proclaim the 12th senator since canvassing has not been completed despite its assurance that winning national bets will be proclaimed within two weeks after the polls. Also, party-list groups who won a seat at the House of Representatives have yet to be proclaimed.