Arroyo hits slow Comelec canvass

Vote canvassing is proceeding at snail’s pace, and even the name of President Arroyo’s late mother Eva Macapagal was not purged from the voters’ list.

An exasperated President Arroyo slammed yesterday the exceedingly slow counting of the votes cast in the May 14 polls, and called for radical changes in the country’s electoral system.

Although she welcomed the strong showing of pro-administration senatorial candidates, the President bewailed the rise in election-related deaths and poll fraud.

Mrs. Arroyo pointed out that the slow count has dampened trading at the Philippine Stock Exchange, reflecting investors’ apprehensions over the country’s political system.

"I understand the stock market is trading thinly because they (brokers) are not happy about the delay in the country, and that’s why I said it’s really time for us to bring our electoral process into the 21st century," Mrs. Arroyo said.

"We are strong in information and communication technology, but we are not applying it in our electoral process," she said. "We need a new revolution against old politics... against guns, goons and gold," the President said in her weekly press conference at Malacañang.

"The challenge for us is formidable," she stressed.

Mrs. Arroyo said it was saddening that the tabulation was still going on with more than a week past the elections.

"It is saddening to think that after more than 100 years after we declared our independence, there is almost no change in the running of our politics and elections," she noted.

Nevertheless, she expressed gratitude for the public school teachers, the Commission on Elections and the volunteer workers, as well as the police and the military who helped in the conduct of the elections.

"But we still have many things to do so that we can have clean, free, orderly and peaceful elections in the future," Mrs. Arroyo said.

At least 79 people reportedly died in election-related violence since January.

Police reported violence in several towns and villages, including grenade attacks on polling places and shootouts between rival political camps.

Confusions marred the May 14 congressional and local elections as the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported a hefty turnout of 85 percent of the 36.5 million registered voters nationwide.

Tabulation of the ballots had to be done manually as the Comelec failed to put in place an ambitious computerization program meant to speed up the voting and counting processes.

Political observers said the snail-paced tallying of the votes opened up opportunities for cheating.

Some quarters also viewed the elections as a proxy war between Mrs. Arroyo and her jailed predecessor Joseph Estrada, who was ousted on Jan. 20 by a military-backed popular uprising triggered by charges of massive corruption.

The President said she did not feel repudiated by the electorate based on the early outcome of the official tabulation being conducted by the national board of canvassers, with eight senatorial bets of the ruling People Power Coalition (PPC) making it into the so-called Magic 13.

"We’re happy enough, considering we did some very, very politically difficult decisions," Mrs. Arroyo said.

She said, after the tallying, she will invite the Comelec officials to a social gathering at Malacañang, and impress upon them the urgency of a full computerization of the electoral system.

During yesterday’s Cabinet meeting at the Palace, Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin reported that so far, over P2 billion has been released since 1994 for the computerization program of the poll body. — Marichu Villanueva