Comelec executive supports ARMM poll move

MANILA, Philippines - Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Rene Sarmiento is in favor of the proposed postponement of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) polls.

“Personally, I am in favor of postponement because if we hold the voting as scheduled in August or just two months from now, we will have to use the old, cheating-prone manual system,” he told House reporters the other day.

“We should not go back to the old system since we have seen the advantages and benefits of automation during the May 2010 presidential election. If Congress postpones the ARMM vote, we will have enough time to automate it,” he said.

President Aquino wants the voting in the autonomous Muslim region synchronized with the May 2013 congressional and local elections for better administration and less cost on the part of taxpayers.

The House has already approved its own postponement bill, while the Senate is still deliberating on its version, which it revived after archiving it upon recommendation of its committee on local government.

Senators allied with the administration said they have the votes to approve the measure.

Sarmiento said the Comelec would be on manual mode if the ARMM vote pushes through in August.

He said the commission, exercising prudence, did not bid the automation contract.

“If we awarded a contract and the election were postponed, we would lose at least P300 million,” he said.

He said the Comelec is continuing its preparations for the August balloting since there is no certainty yet that the vote would be deferred.

“But once Congress approves a postponement bill and President Aquino signs it into law, we will have to stop because there is already a law,” he added.

Though it is for deferring the balloting, former congressman Mujiv Hataman, of the party-list group Anak Mindanao, an administration ally and a former House colleague of President Aquino, has filed his candidacy for ARMM governor.

All five provincial governors in the region have reportedly thrown their support behind the candidacy of Hataman, who comes from Basilan, where his brother is a congressman.

Besides Basilan, the autonomous Muslim region is composed of Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Tawi-Tawi, and Sulu.