Tancangco, Namfrel face off in hearing

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Luzviminda Tancangco faced off yesterday with a lawyer of the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) on allegations of the non-government organization that she was responsible for the poll body’s failure to computerize elections in 2001.

Amid sneers and jeers, Tancangco demanded that lawyer Jose Bernas prove Namfrel’s allegations, when she questioned him during yesterday’s hearing on the group’s petition to be allowed to conduct a quick count in next year’s elections.

"Is it true or not?" she asked Bernas, referring to a newspaper clipping quoting Namfrel chairman Jose Concepcion Jr. as blaming her for the non-implementation of poll automation.

"This is very important. Because if you cannot be telling the truth how can you be expected to tell the truth in your quick count?" Tancangco asked.

In debunking Namfrel’s allegations, Tancangco presented a copy of a March 30, 2001 Comelec resolution showing it was the entire poll body that decided to postpone the modernization program.

However, Bernas did not yield, and continued to argue his point, prompting Chairman Benjamin Abalos to intervene.

But Tancangco did not budge.

"I was made to understand that this (animosity) is something we have to forget," she said.

"We are talking here of credibility and telling the truth and not engage in disinformation and lies. The thrust of my question is telling the truth about the statement regarding this automation," Tancangco said.

She said it was "arrogant" for the Namfrel-dominated crowd to have sneered when lawyer Sixto Brillantes presented his arguments opposing their petition.

"If you are talking of public confidence building and credibility, what would be my basis to convince me that Namfrel is deserving for all this time it has been fighting for the truth and credibility in the count," she said.

Brillantes questioned Namfrel’s value to the elections, saying it would just confuse the public with its unofficial quick count.

At one point, Brillantes said he is "a more fervent Catholic" than most of the (Namfrel members), who are mostly nuns and members of Catholic religious groups.

The hearing was adjourned with an agreement that Namfrel will later make a close-door presentation to show that its separate quick count would not confuse the public.

Apart from Abalos and Tancangco, the only other member of the seven-man poll body present was Commissioner Resurreccion Borra.

The Comelec had foregone of the quorum requirement to discuss the matter.

It was Namfrel that filed an impeachment complaint against Tancangco before the House of Representatives early this year.

Namfrel accused Tancangco of shelving the automation plan in the 2001 elections.

Tancangco believes she was singled out" for impeachment by Namfrel.

She was not present in Tuesday’s hearing, but reserved her right to say her piece before any decision is reached. In that hearing it was agreed the animosity between Comelec and Namfrel would be set aside for the meantime.

However, Guillermo Luz, Namfrel secretary general, told reporters they would continue to make "adverse comments" against Comelec.

"Adverse comments are in the eyes of the beholder," he said. "We will continue to call it as it is."

During the hearing, Bernas said even if Namfrel would get its accreditation for a separate quick count in next year’s elections, it might later disband if the automation of elections proves to be reliable.

"If it is successful then this will be out last," he said.

Namfrel would immediately halt its operations if they felt "irrelevant" during the entire exercise, he added.

Luz is also resigned to the fact that they have now been relegated to a "parallel count" with the modernization of elections. — Jose Aravilla