For fair and honest polls, let's fix the Comelec!

President Benigno Aquino III once more went on a media bashing asking the media for a “balanced” report. While I submit that there are people in the media who are irresponsible, however the President should never be seen as “onion skinned” because criticism is part and parcel of being President. In short, our message to P-Noy is… don’t blame the messenger… blame the newsmakers that create a negative news for our country.

If there is some good news for the Filipino people, it is what Supreme Court Administrator Midas Marquez announced to the nation last Tuesday that the SC en banc awarded Hacienda Luisita to the more than 6,000 farmer/worker beneficiaries with finality voting 14-0, while there was an 8-6 SC vote for the just compensation to the Cojuangco family. This is one of the rare times that the poor won over the rich in this feudal country. 

The SC also issued a TRO against the Comelec on its purchase of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines. However we shall reserve our comments in the next column after we’ve heard the reaction from P-Noy on the historic Hacienda Luisita ruling and the TRO vs the Comelec.

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As we promised, today we shall talk about our problems with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) because as we pointed out in our previous column, we have changed our Constitution from the 1935 Constitution to the 1973 Marcos Constitution and now the 1987 Constitution, but we haven’t changed the Commission on Elections (Comelec). Like the problems we are facing in this country today, we only changed the players or the characters running the Comelec… not the system.

Yes, just like the glaring problems we are facing today, our centralized system of governance, which has been with us since the 1935 Constitution has not helped our nation grow in financial security and political maturity. We proudly boast to be Asia’s first democracy, yet our electoral system is a sham simply because we never overhauled the Comelec while we have overhauled our Constitution so many times already. Worst, the Comelec virtually turned over the management of the 2010 elections to a foreign owned company called Smartmatic in what was dubbed as a “money-making deal.”

Allow me to reiterate what we pointed out in our last column that no one cared or dared change the Comelec, which in my book needs a total albeit constitutional overhaul. Like our present centralized form of government, the Comelec is led by a chairman who is just as beholden to the appointing authority like all other government agencies.

Clearly the reason why we didn’t fix whatever is wrong with the Comelec is obviously simple, the political leaders of this nation thought that by changing the Constitution, the Comelec would automatically change. Alas that did not happen… that’s why numerous electoral problems always arise after every election, including the automated 2010 elections last May.

Let me remind you of how we voted for the 1973 Constitution under the Marcos regime… at the height of Martial Law. We were asked to go to our polling centers and a military officer asked all of us to raise our hands if we have not been given lunch… we all raised our hands and the next day, that’s one of the photographs that was published in the newspapers that the 1973 Marcos Constitution was overwhelmingly approved by the voters. 

In 1987, we graduated from grade school to high school, where the slogan used by the Cory regime to promote the 1987 Constitution was “Yes to Cory       or vote No for   a   Constitution.” In honesty, the Filipino people had no choice… if they didn’t like the 1987 constitution, Tita Cory would have remained a dictator with more powers than the conjugal Marcos Dictatorship. With no other recourse… we had to vote for a constitution, including all its inherent defects! All this happened under the control of the Comelec.

So we ask… why should the Comelec officialdom also be centralized? If we do reform the Comelec… I suggest that there should be a constitutionally independent Comelec from every Region in this country, which should be independent from each other. The Regional Development Councils of the Regions may vote the five Comelec Commissioners for the Region.

Elections are 90 percent local… and 10% national. So the Regional Comelec’s can easily and quickly count the votes in their respective regions including the votes of national officials… Congressmen or Senators. Then a new Namfrel type of officials will be convened and tasked to get the votes for our national officials from each region. Since they have no control over those regions… then it is nearly impossible to tweak those national ballots.

I’m saying nearly because I know too well that we crafty Filipinos will always find loopholes somewhere. But let me tell you now… that at present, we can no longer trust this Comelec. I’m not saying that our suggestions are perfect, but fix the Comelec we will truly have fair and honest elections.

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