Finally, Comelec canvassing starts

After a two-day delay, the National Board of Canvassers finally settled down yesterday to begin tabulation of the senatorial and party-list voting.

The first batch of chairmen of provincial canvassing boards arrived in Manila earlier in the day with ballot boxes containing the certificates of canvass (COCs) in their areas of jurisdiction.

They were met at the Manila Domestic Airport by a Marine contingent that escorted them to the Philippine International Convention Center where the canvassing would be held.

The ballots came from the provinces of Siquijor, Aurora and Quirino. They also showed the results of the advance voting among soldiers, policemen, teachers and Commission on Elections (Comelec) personnel in Intramuros, Manila.

Those allowed to cast votes ahead of the May 14 local and national elections received their ballots sent by mail as early as February, and mailed them back through the Comelec election and barangay affairs department.

The board officials started the canvassing at 10:15 a.m. They went on recess six hours later after going through four COCs.

Submitted so far to the board were 102 COCs coming from the provinces and Metro Manila.

The Comelec said it has yet to receive 98 COCs.

The poll body allowed journalists full access to the canvassing after they walked out due to the rigid security imposed on Wednesday at the PICC.

Representatives of the ruling People Power Coalition (PPC) and the opposition Puwersa ng Masa-Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (PnM-LDP) objected to the canvassing of the COC from Aurora province as the document was not contained in a sealed ballot box but instead wrapped in Manila paper, a violation of Comelec rules.

Comelec Chairman Alfredo Benipayo allowed the Aurora votes to be canvassed but directed the Aurora provincial board chairman lawyer Cecilio Dianco to explain the alleged irregularity.

Dianco said that there was "a clear and present danger" to their lives so he had to improvise to avoid detection as he brought the COC out of their capitol building and take the flight to Manila.

He said the threats came from both communist rebels and private armed groups of local politicians.

The board asked the party’s representatives to examine the questioned COC to ensure that it was not tampered.

Comelec spokeswoman Thelma Siongco explained that the canvassing was delayed by two days because the COCs from the provinces have not been submitted to the poll body.

The official tabulation was supposed to begin Wednesday, but was twice put off due to a computer glitch and late submission of the COCs.

Siongco said it was normal for the tabulation to be delayed as the country was still using the primitive manual counting of the votes.

The Comelec has ordered its provincial offices to speed up the counting.

Namfrel denies trending raps

Namfrel chairman Jose Concepcion denied that the citizens’ poll watchdog was engaged in trending operations in its tabulation of the ballots.

"We don’t engage in trending. We just reveal the results, and it is up to the people to examine the results and consider whether there is a trend or not," Concepcion told reporters.

For his part, Namfrel secretary general Guillermo Luz said it was still too early to discern a trend in their counting since candidates were separated only by a small margin. "It is still too early to declare a trend right now."

Luz said that so far, only independent candidate Noli de Castro and administration bet re-electionist Sen. Juan Flavier appeared certain of victory.

Namfrel said earlier it would wind up its tabulation tomorrow, with about 80 percent of the votes accounted for.

Namfrel reported that about 42 percent of the votes have been counted as of mid-morning yesterday.

Meanwhile, Malacañang admitted it cannot do anything to defend the Comelec from the flak it has received as a result of the chaos that marred the elections.

Presidential Spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao pointed out that the Comelec was an independent constitutional body, and that the executive department cannot tell it how to perform its job.

"Of course, we’re very much concerned. When the dust settles, the government and legislators will (have) to come up with measures to prevent similar occurrences in the future," Tiglao said.

"If we do something to hasten the canvassing, it could be misinterpreted as interfering," he added.

He also acknowledged that the poor performance of the poll body projected a negative image for other branches of government, including Malacañang.

He revealed, however, that the justice department has created a task force to gather evidence of deliberate acts to delay the canvassing at municipal level.

The party list group Akbayan said all Comelec commissioners should resign immediately after they have completed the canvassing to pave the way for a total reorganization of the poll body.

Akbayan leader sectoral Rep. Loretta Ann Rosales said she was in favor of retaining some of the commissioners who performed well in the just-concluded elections.

"To begin with, it has been a house divided. A poll body can’t get its act together because of internal wranglings," she said.

Rosales said the confusion at the Comelec resulted in its highly questionable voters’ list, disenfranchisement of voters, missing election paraphernalia and snail-paced canvassing.

Benipayo has offered to step down on account of the delays in the tabulation.

"In fairness to Benipayo, he was only three months into the job and had to contend with the likes of Commissioner (Luzvminda) Tancangco who has made a career out of obstructing efforts to reform our electoral system," Rosales said.

She blamed Tancangco for the Comelec’s failure to set in place the computerized mapping of the over 201,000 precincts nationwide.

Rosales claimed that Tancangco served as consultant to opposition Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago who blocked the Comelec modernization bill.

"Instead, she had pushed for a voters’ registration identification system, which would have cost the government P3 billion to P6 billion in favor of Photokina Corp. which has ties with Guia Gomez, one of the ousted president’s many mistresses," Rosales added. — With reports from Sandy Araneta, Paolo Romero, Romel Bagares