Comelec to appeal SC decision junking poll automation

Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos said yesterday the poll body will appeal the Supreme Court decision nullifying its contract with a private consortium for the automation of the May 10 polls.

Abalos said the Comelec will appeal the high court’s ruling even as he rejected calls for him and the six other Comelec commissioners to resign for supposedly tarnishing the credibility of the poll body.

"No one is resigning," an obviously troubled Abalos told reporters, stressing that the P1.3-billion contract with the Mega Pacific Consortium was entered into in good faith.

At the same time, the Comelec chief assured that the elections will push through on May 10 as scheduled and the poll body is already preparing to revert to the traditional manual vote count that in the past took weeks to complete and often resulted in fraud and violence.

"Coupled with the filing of the motion for reconsideration is the preparation. We will not prejudice the preparations (and) there will be no postponement. That is what the Comelec assures everybody," he said.

"We are seeking a reconsideration, not so much to clear our names but that of the institution," Abalos said during a press conference which was also attended by Commissioners Ralph Lantion, Resurreccion Borra and Rufino Javier.

Abalos claimed that only five of the nine SC justices who voted against them saw the contract as anomalous and that the four others held that Comelec officials are not criminally liable.

Two other magistrates, including Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. reserved their judgment and, Abalos said, they could be regarded as being inclined to uphold the contract.

Thus, he said, it is very possible that the high court may reverse the ruling that also admonished the poll body for "failing in the historic task" of automating elections in the country.

"So we assume that those who said that we have no criminal liability are nine justices of the Supreme Court. I hope everybody sees that before they open their mouths and say something against us and against the institution," Abalos said.

Graft Probe Ready

Meanwhile, the Ombudsman is ready to comply with the SC order to investigate the irregularities the high court found in the vote count automation project.

But Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo is still waiting for the SC ruling to become "final and executory" before beginning the investigation which, graft probers said, will only cover "non-impeachable" Comelec officials.

Assistant Ombudsman Ernesto Nocos said the members of the bids and awards committee and private individuals involved in the bidding process can be investigated for graft or plunder depending on the evidence but not the seven Comelec commissioners who approved the contract.

"We can investigate them if warranted by the evidence," Nocos told The STAR. "But Comelec commissioners are impeachable officials and we cannot determine their criminal or administrative liability."

Nocos reiterated that only the House of Representatives can impeach Comelec commissioners for culpable violations of the Constitution.

The seven commissioners are Abalos, Borra, Javier, Lantion, Mehol Sadain, Luzviminda Tancangco, and Florentino Tuason. Tancangco and Lantion are set to retire next month.

Congressmen, however, said that while impeachment proceedings can be initiated in the House, the government and the Comelec should first concentrate on pushing through with the elections.

"Instead of calling for impeachment or immediate resignation of the Comelec officials, we must not lose sight of the fact that we have to push through with the elections first," said House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales of Mandaluyong.

But Negros Occidental Rep. Apolinario Lozada said "heads should roll, guilty parties should be investigated and prosecuted. There should be no sacred cows because we’re talking of the people’s money."

But Nocos said the Ombudsman can order an investigation on the liabilities of the members of the bids and awards committee that presided over the bidding which the SC said violated the law and public policy.

The members of the committee were Comelec finance chief Eduardo Mejos, Gideon de Guzman, Jose Balbuena, Lamberto Llamas and Bartolome Sinocruz.

PCCI Backs SC Ruling

At the same time, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce of Industry (PCCI) expressed support for the SC ruling nullifying the poll automation contract.

PCCI president Noemi Saludo said the nullification of the contract will serve the interest of Filipino voters but she stressed that the elections should push through as scheduled.

"Business can’t live in uncertainty and postponing the upcoming elections to a later date will only hurt investor confidence," said Saludo, the first woman president of PCCI.

She hoped that Comelec will be able to work out appropriate safeguards to ensure peaceful and credible elections in May.

"Given this circumstance, the Comelec should be able to re-strategize its efforts to make sure that our elections will be credible and orderly. The business community will particularly look into these developments in planning for our business prospects this year and in the coming years," Saludo stressed.

Saludo said this year’s elections "will be crucial in re-defining our country’s thrust to uphold the democratic freedom of suffrage and thus, a credible and clean election will provide a leaning for a more stable political and economic environment." — With Nikko Dizon, Paolo Romero