Melo's Comelec

Trust the machine, Chairman Jose Melo told me two years ago as the Commission on Elections (Comelec) prepared for the country’s first fully automated general elections.

With reluctance, Filipinos did put their trust last May in the machines of Smartmatic-TIM, and were rewarded with the promised quick results.

Some quarters, of course, still doubt the accuracy of the machines and the results, which were announced by Melo with something akin to triumph just hours after the polling centers closed on election day.

Melo was probably more certain about trusting the machine than certain people at the Comelec.

To me he was quick to emphasize at the time that contrary to widespread perception, there were good men and women in the poll body who wanted reforms in the country’s voting system.

That widespread perception stemmed not just from the scandal that erupted around his predecessor Benjamin Abalos over a $329-million broadband deal that had nothing to do with elections, but also from the many other scandals in previous years that have bedeviled the poll body.

Throughout the martial law years, the opposition thought every electoral exercise was a sham, but given the official seal of approval by the Comelec. Still, Corazon Aquino agreed to run when Ferdinand Marcos called a snap election to legitimize his continued stay in power.

When the Comelec and the national assembly declared Marcos the winner in 1986, the resulting mass protests culminated in the collapse of the Marcos government.

Filipinos thought people power would lead to a reformed Comelec. In the early years after the revolt, the Comelec did manage to regain a lot of credibility. Although Philippine elections continued to be plagued with guns, goons and gold, and the country seemed stuck forever with a laborious, protracted manual vote count, the elections during the first Aquino presidency were generally seen to be credible, thanks in large part to housecleaning efforts at the Comelec.

* * *

When did the backsliding start? Perhaps when Miriam Defensor-Santiago cried foul and said she was cheated of the presidency in 1992 by Fidel Ramos through Oplan Dagdag Bawas, a vote padding and shaving scheme whose chief engineer, she believed, was Ronnie Puno. To this day Santiago still wants to cut down every Puno.

Some quarters say it was during Ramos’ watch that the reformed Comelec started being filled with people appointed on the strength of endorsements by politicians.

Among the memorable scandals at the time was the sloppy attempt of a commissioner, Manolo Gorospe, to kiss a colleague, Remedios Salazar Fernando.

The “Kissing Lolo” incident now looks so tame, like the Age of Innocence, compared with subsequent scandals to hit the Comelec.

These days, among the things Filipinos remember about the Comelec is its repeated failure, at a cost of billions of pesos to taxpayers, to modernize the voting system. So far, no one has been punished for the massive waste of public funds. A P1.2-billion modernization deal approved by a so-called Gang of Four in the Comelec was canceled by the Supreme Court because it was deemed to be tainted with corruption.

As the years passed, Comelec commissioners were increasingly seen to be beholden to political interests.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo turned the perception into reality by picking a politician, three-term Mandaluyong City mayor Abalos, a stalwart of the ruling Lakas party, as Comelec chief in June 2002.

Everything went downhill from there: we had the vote-rigging scandals involving commissioner Virgilio Garcillano in the 2004 elections and poll supervisor Lintang Bedol in Maguindanao in the 2007 midterm polls.

Abalos eventually quit amid accusations that he offered a P200-million bribe to Romulo Neri for a favorable endorsement of the broadband deal with ZTE Corp.

Into this maelstrom Melo was tossed, an unknown equation in the preparations for the 2010 vote. He initially refused to assume his post, saying he preferred to await confirmation by the Commission on Appointments. Comelec officials said they were overwhelmed with work and could lack a quorum, compelling Melo to change his mind. CA confirmation came later. On March 2008 Melo was sworn into office.

* * *

Melo said he could trust certain people in the Comelec, but just to make sure, he instituted certain moves that clipped the powers of the commissioners.

Among his earliest moves was to abolish the system of putting a commissioner-in-charge of poll-related matters, including the declaration of winners, in different parts of the country. All such declarations henceforth had to be approved by the Comelec, sitting in its entirety.

As we have seen, however, there are many ways of continuing with business as usual.

The road to automation was littered with glitches big and small, from overpriced voting folders to the ditching of the ultraviolet scanners because of erroneous printing of ballots.

Melo and his commission admitted helplessness in regulating campaign spending for this year’s general elections. The Comelec also could not bring sanity to the party-list system.

Today the Comelec is once again under fire for the failed or delayed delivery of ballots to about 2,000 barangays in the elections last Monday.

The poll body has pinned the blame partly on the National Printing Office. But poll officials have been honest enough to admit that they are looking at their own people for possible sabotage of the elections.

There is an unconfirmed report that Melo has opted for early retirement. Malacañang would only say that he has not been offered another position. His fate is as uncertain as that of the Comelec.