Chaos hatched to disrupt May 10 polls - Binay

MANILA, Philippines - Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay claimed yesterday that Malacañang has hatched a scenario of chaos to disrupt the May 10 elections and extend President Arroyo’s hold on power.

Binay, running mate of Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino presidential bet former President Joseph Estrada, said the scenario is part of a “grand scheme” that is certain to be exploited by the Arroyo administration.

“There is an engineered chaos. Nothing happens by accident under the Arroyo administration. These very disturbing developments point to a carefully laid out plan to create chaos at the polls on May 10 that could lead to a failure of elections,” Binay said.

Binay said the widespread systemic failure of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines on Monday, the refusal of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to do a parallel manual count sooner than two weeks, and the ruling against pre-proclamation protests are all part of the groundwork for a general failure of elections.

He said he would personally lead street protests to defend democracy.

“I urge other political parties to set aside politics and put up a common front. Those who are behind this apparent grand scheme might not realize that they are playing a most dangerous game,” Binay said.

Meantime, an umbrella organization of some 21 civil society groups warned the Comelec of a possible no-proclamation scenario if the poll body insists on deactivating the digital signature feature of the PCOS machines.

The Convenors of the Compact for Peaceful and Democratic Elections said Republic Act 8436 or the Automated Election System (AES) Law as amended by RA 9369 specifically states that election returns should be digitally signed in order to be regarded as official results. – With Michael Punongbayan