Arroyo to Comelec: Let 4 million youths vote

Let the youth vote.

This was the plea of President Arroyo yesterday as she asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to allow some four million youths to take part in the May national polls, the results of which are seen by many as a referendum on her new government.

The 18-year-olds make up five percent of the national population of 76 million and 11 percent of the 40 million-strong electorate. They were to have been eligible to vote for the first time but had neglected to register in their precincts late last year.

The Comelec has ruled out extending the deadline, citing lack of funds. Mrs. Arroyo lamented that "the four million youths were thus disenfranchised."

She urged the politically independent but state-run commission to reconsider its ruling, saying her government would "see to it" that funding requirements for a special registration would be met.

It would be "tragic" if the 18-year-olds were deprived of their right of suffrage, she added.

"The reasons (for voters’ disenfranchisement) are tragic. The legal deadline for the registration of voters is past and the Comelec does not have the funds needed to hold a special registration for new voters," Mrs. Arroyo said.

The Comelec last held a special registration for voters on Dec. 27, 2000. Another special registration for new voters on Feb. 17-18, 2001 was not announced due to lack of funds.

"I must say that too much is at stake here. Now, therefore is the time to look for legal remedies and sources of funds so that never again will the youth be disenfranchised," Mrs. Arroyo said.

A group representing the youths has asked the Supreme Court to compel the commission to allow them to vote.

The President said government lawyers would "assist them in their exercise in their right to vote."

Mrs. Arroyo had earlier praised the youths for playing a crucial role in January’s military-backed popular uprising that toppled her predecessor Joseph Estrada.

Hundreds of thousands of student activists had spearheaded mass street protests and rallies for four days leading to the ouster of Estrada on Jan. 20.

Estrada, who has lost immunity from suits and faces a host of plunder charges, has been actively campaigning for the opposition slate led by his wife, Dr. Luisa Ejercito.

He has said that he has been denied due process and the results of the May polls would be a clear indication of the people’s true judgment.

In a related development, the President said she would also encourage the incoming Congress to set aside an annual budgetary allocation for the cleansing of the voters’ list of the Comelec and the computerization of ballots.

"Elections have too long been tainted by cheating. Too long has the specter of birds and bees and even the long dead casting their vote haunted us, depriving us of the emergence of the true choices of the people," she said.

Meanwhile, another citizens’ arm has yet to get Comelec accreditation to help out in the May election.

The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPC-RV) aims to help in voters’ education, poll watching and observe canvassing.

"I don’t know why we haven’t been given an accreditation yet (by the Comelec)," PPC-RV administrative officer Gerry Lopez said.

During canvassing, PPC-RV’s responsibility is to see to it that the figures in the election returns tally with the figures of the statement of votes, Lopez said.

Lopez said their last hearing with the Comelec for their renewal of accreditation was last Jan. 31.

The citizens’ arm is scheduled to hold a national conference from March 9-11 at the Pope Pius Center on UN Avenue in Manila, which PPC-RV chairman and former Comelec commissioner Haydee Yorac said "hopes to mobilize more than 300,000 volunteers nationwide" for the coming polls.

Yorac emphasized the role of PPC-RV as poll watcher in order to make the 2001 elections "clean, honest, accurate, meaningful and peaceful." – Jose Rodel Clapano, Sandy Araneta