Comelec delists 6M dubious poll registrants

Nearly 6 million voters were removed from the voters list of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Teopisto Elnas Jr., Comelec director for Election Barangay Affairs Department, said the 5.644 million “deactivated” registration covers only the first four months of the year.

Elnas, in a telephone interview with the Tribune, said for January alone, they removed a total of 3.9 million voters, while in April, about 1.2 million were delisted.

He, though, noted that under the law, the number of delisted voters should be less than a thousand, or 940 to be exact.

Elnas said the bulk of the deactivated voters came from the National Capital Region with more than 1 million.

Voters whose names were stricken from the list were those of persons who failed to vote in the two previous elections – in the May 2007 senatorial polls and the October 2007 barangay elections.

Other reasons for the delisting of voters includes loss of Filipino citizenship, death and double registration, Elnas said.

He said in January, the Comelec removed a total of 162,000 “dead” registrants and another 58,000 of such in the second quarter.

“The basis of our election officers in the delisting of dead voters is the certification coming from local civil registrars,” he said.

But Elnas said they expect the number of those to be stricken off from the voters list to decline in the third and fourth quarter of the year.

“The number has gone down, from 3.9 million in January, it went down to 1.2 million. (So) we expect that in the next two quarters, this will further drop,” he noted.

The Comelec has asked Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno yesterday to direct all judges in the regional and metropolitan trial courts to fast-track the resolution of the petition for inclusion and exclusion of registration to give the commission time to print the names of the qualified voters for the first-ever automated national elections next year.

Citing the Voters Registration Act of 1996, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the court has been given a 15-day reglamentary period to rule on the petition for inclusion and 10 days for the petition for exclusion.

Jimenez said the Comelec, through a resolution it issued last May 28, adjusted the filling of petitions for inclusion and exclusion in order to “cope with the timelines of the commission in the configuration of the machines (PCOS), printing of the elections day computerized list of voters, official ballots and other accountable forms” for the automated elections next year. Marie A. Surbano - Tribune

Senate approves poll automation budget

Senate approved late last night (Wednesday) the P11.3-billion budget that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) needed to fully automate the May 2010 presidential elections.

Independent Senator Richard J. Gordon, principal author of Republic Act (RA) 9369 or the Amended Automated Elections Law, lauded the Senate's approval of the budget, saying that this sends a strong signal that the Philippines stands firm in protecting and safeguarding the sacred votes of its people.

"We owe it to the Filipino people to have clean, honest and orderly elections. Automation will bring back our people's confidence in the elections," he said.

"With automated elections, our people can rely on the fact that their vote will be counted, and that their vote will mean change for the country, then they will stop being cynical. And once they stop being cynical, perhaps the focus will now be on the common good," he added.

Automating the electoral system to get rid of massive electoral fraud that often marred the country's electoral exercises and ensure clean, honest and orderly elections has been the promise of every president.

But it was not until Dec. 22, 1997 that RA 8436, the law that authorized the Comelec to use an automated election system, was passed.. However, the election modernization law was not implemented.

Gordon, who had been pushing for automated elections, authored RA 9369, which was passed into law in 2007.

RA 9369 was supposed to be implemented in the May 2007 elections but the Comelec sought a postponement, citing the lack of sufficient time for the necessary preparations needed.

To ensure that the provisions of the law would be met, such as the need to hold partial automation before fully automating the next regular national and local election, or the May 2010 elections, the senator pushed for the automation of the 2008 Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) polls.

The success of the ARMM automated elections signaled that Filipinos are ready to modernize the country's antiquated electoral system and elevate it from third to first world class.

Gordon said the Senate would exercise its oversight power to ensure that the automation is aboveboard and fully implemented for democracy.

"Now all we have to do is implement the automation law and implement it well," he said.

"I am optimistic that the Comelec is keeping to its time-table. We already passed the law and allotted the appropriations. It is now up to the Comelec to ensure that the nation's quest to modernize our electoral process is enforced," he said.



Senate ratifies Tourism Bill

The Senate on Thursday dawn ratified the consolidated report of the Senate and the House of Representatives on the tourism measure that would grant incentives to tourism industry players, generate more jobs and increase revenues of local government units (LGUs).

Independent Senator Richard J. Gordon, principal author of the Tourism Bill, hailed the ratification by Congress of the measure, which aims to boost the country's tourism industry.

"After a long day's work, it is great to have the tourism bill finally approved by both Houses," he said.

The measure is a consolidation of Senate Bill 2213 and House Bill 5229, an act declaring a national policy for tourism as an engine of investment, employment, growth and national development and strengthening the Department of Tourism (DOT) and its attached agencies.

Gordon, a former tourism secretary, said President Arroyo is expected to sign the bill into law within the Lenten break, stressing that the measure could ward off possible effects of the global financial crisis to the country's economy.

He explained that tourism is the fastest and most efficient way of generating foreign exchange, investments and employment. Once the measure is signed into law, it will spur the creation of jobs and open additional channels for the infusion of the much-needed investments in the country's economy, he added.

"This measure will definitely boost domestic tourism as it will provide the needed infrastructures to reinvigorate local productivity. An increased productivity means more jobs for the people and more revenues for the government," Gordon said.

The senator said the measure also seeks for the establishment of "tourism enterprise zones" in strategic areas in the country to lure foreign investors and tourists to visit places rich with history and culture.

He added that LGUs would take a major role in developing these tourism enterprise zones, which will enable them to spur economic productivity and achieve higher levels of economic growth.

"With the faithful implementation of this measure, the nation can have a better institution to regulate and promote tourism and install the necessary infrastructures to make our country truly world-class," Gordon said.

"We can have more jobs for our people, who will no longer have to find for their future in foreign shores, but right here in our native Philippines," he added.

SC: Dual citizens can’t run, hold elective posts

Affirms Comelec vs Fil-Am village chairman

By Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net


MANILA, Philippines -- The Supreme Court ruled on Friday that only exclusively Filipino citizens can run and occupy elective public positions as it affirmed a Commission on Elections (Comelec) decision voiding the election of a barangay (village) captain in an Iloilo town who also holds American citizenship.

“A Filipino-American or any dual citizen cannot run for any elective public position in the Philippines unless he or she personally swears to a renunciation of all foreign citizenship at the time of filing the certificate of candidacy," the seven-page en banc resolution high court penned by Associate Justice Ruben T. Reyes said.

The decision rejected the petition of dual citizen Eugenio Lopez seeking to reverse the Comelec’s decision voiding his election as chairman of Barangay Bagacay, San Dionisio town, which he ran for and won last October 29.

Lopez’ qualifications to be barangay chairman were contested by Tessie Villanueva. He defended himself saying he holds dual citizenship under Republic Act. No. 9225, or the Citizenship Retention and Re-acquisition Act of 2003.

However, high court said that, while the law allows one to reacquire Filipino citizenship, it also provides that anyone seeking elective public office should first "make a personal and sworn renunciation of any and all foreign citizenship before any public officer."

Thus, even if Lopez won the elections, took his oath of office and began to discharge the functions of barangay chairman, "his victory can not cure the defect of his candidacy," the tribunal ruled.

"Garnering the most number of votes does not validate the election of a disqualified candidate because the application of the constitutional and statutory provisions on disqualification is not a matter of popularity," the high court said.

Senators: electoral reforms before politicking

By Efren L. Danao, Manila Times Senior Reporter

Senator Richard Gordon said Saturday that the nation should focus on electoral reforms before discussing potential contenders for the presidency in 2010.

Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan, on the other hand, said that focus should be on who would be appointed to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Meanwhile, Sen. Loren Legarda said that talks about 2010 are premature and serve as distraction to the solution of pressing problems like the spiraling oil prices and poverty.

Gordon, chairman of the Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms, said that the country should concentrate on electoral reforms to avoid electoral fraud in the upcoming August 8 elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and eventually in the presidential elections in May 2010.

“If the country has to change, [the electoral system] has to be reformed. This will be a good test if Filipinos have already acquired the moral backbone. If not, we will be like Haiti or Kenya or Pakistan, if we ever allow a convicted highest official to govern again,” he said.

He added that these reforms should start with President Gloria Arroyo showing transparency in the selection of the next chairman and commissioners of the Comelec.

“If there is transparency, people will have less doubt about the appointees and in the Comelec,” added Gordon, who has been pushing for automated elections to eliminate fraud since 2000.

Three vacancies in the Comelec are to be filled up in February with the resignation of Chairman Benjamin Abalos, and the retirement of Commissioners Resureccion Borra and Florentino Tuason on February 2.

Pangilinan echoed Gordon’s sentiments on the significance of the Comelec appointments.

“Political parties and their leaders must focus on ensuring that the Comelec appointees to be appointed in a few weeks’ time are men and women with integrity and capacity. Without an independent and [corruption]-free Comelec, all this talk about 2010 is a waste of time,” he said.

He noted that the search committee had reported that 56 names were being considered for the Comelec positions.

“We urge the search committee to make public the list of these nominees and to invite the public to submit position papers for or against these nominees. The list should be made public before it is culled or shortlisted,” he said.

Meanwhile, Legarda said that while there is nothing wrong for political parties to “sound off” and prepare for 2010, they may prove to be more of a distraction to the nation already beset with pressing problems like poverty and the spiraling prices of oil products.

She said that the political landscape could still change before the 2010 elections, but the pressing problems are already here and now.

“Based on my experience in the past three elections, line-ups are usually formed just months ahead of the election so, the pronouncements we are hearing at present may be just to test the waters,” Legarda added.

Delay in village, youth polls unconstitutional--Tañada

By Delfin Mallari Jr. - Inquirer

LUCENA CITY, Philippines -- Quezon Representative Lorenzo Tañada III insisted on Tuesday that House Bill 2417 postponing the scheduled barangay (village) and Sangguniang Kabataan (youth council) elections, is "unconstitutional."

"While the legislature can fix the term of local officials, it cannot extend their tenure," he said in a statement sent to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, parent company of INQUIRER.net.

He called on his fellow solons to start the 14th Congress “by being real representatives of our people."

“Let not this shameful bill blemish the very image that we are starting to rebuild for the House of Representatives,” he stressed.

He noted that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has already declared that they are ready to oversee the village and youth polls originally scheduled next month.

Citing the position of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms, Tañada lamented that the first postponement of the village elections in 2005 already gave sitting barangay and SK officials two years of “un-mandated” leadership and another postponement would only extend the “credulity” of their mandate even more.

The solon chided the Comelec for its plan to use the village polls as a “guinea pig for election automation,” saying it “smacks of hypocrisy."

He dismissed the arguments of local officials that the lack of funds justifies the postponement.

“That lack of funds, not by Comelec, but by those who would bankroll the campaigns of barangay captains and Sangguniang Kabataan, should actually be a strong reason why the October barangay elections should not be postponed,” he stressed.

“At least, somehow, performance and not money politics would determine the outcome of the village elections,” he added.

On Monday, voting 149 for, 50 against, and with four abstentions, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading House Bill 2417 which reset the synchronized village and youth elections.

Under the proposed legislation, the scheduled October 29 election will be moved to the second Monday of May 2009.

The 2007 General Appropriations Act gave the Comelec P9.17 billion budget, almost half of this, or P5.2 billion, spent for the May polls.

The village and SK elections will cost P2.131 billion.

House Bill 2417 has been forwarded to the Senate for its concurrence.

Senate President Manuel Villar, Jr. has indicated he would facilitate consideration of the bill by the senators. Villar said he recognized that House members were in the best position to feel the pulse of their constituents.

The poll body has issued Resolution Number 8264 enumerating the calendar of activities in relation to the October 29 elections.

The resolution states the election period will start September 29 and end November 13.

Poll postponement all up to Senate

House rushes bill moving elections to 2009 Only 6 weeks left before Oct. 29 SK, barangay polls

By EDMER F. PANESA - Manila bulletin

The fate of the proposal to postpone the synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections slated on Oct. 29, 2007, now lies in the hands of the Senate.

While Speaker Jose de Venecia said yesterday that bill postponing the elections to May in 2009 is expected to be approved by the House of Representatives on third and final reading tomorrow, it needs quick Senate action and approval, or the elections set for Oct. 29 will proceed as scheduled.

Majority Leader Rep. Arthur Defensor of Iloilo and Senior Deputy Majority Leader Rep. Neptali Gonzales Jr. of Mandaluyong City both expressed confidence that the bill will hurdle third-reading approval by Monday. They said this will give the Senate enough time to move it through committee and plenary approval before Congress takes its first break starting Oct. 13.

"It will be up to the Senate to decide whether the polls should be postponed or not," Defensor said.

Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms, had earlier said it is unlikely for senators to endorse the proposal to defer the barangay and SK elections to the second Monday of May in 2009.

Gordon said incumbent barangay and SK officials had already enjoyed a three-year term extension because the polls have been postponed twice. The last village and youth polls were held in 2002. Elections were scheduled for 2005 but these were postponed.

Similar views have also been expressed by other senators who want the elections held as scheduled.

Secretary Ronaldo Puno of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) had also said his department sees no reason for the postponement since funds are already available for the elections.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is also proceeding with all preparations for the Oct. 29 elections. It has already deputized the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police and other organizations to ensure the security of the elections.

It has reminded the candidates of the mandatory drug testing for all candidates.

It has announced that the same precincts used in the last elections will be open on Oct. 29.

With only about six weeks left before Oct. 29, observers said it now depends on the Senate whether it will go along with the House proposal for postponement. It will have to deliberate and approve the measure and then a bicameral committee will have to resolve any differences between the Senate and House bills.

Then President Arroyo will have to sign the bill into law.

All these many steps must be taken in the next six weeks, if the elections are to be postponed.

Barangay, SK polls postponement pressed

By: Jester P. Manalastas - Journal

SPEAKER Jose de Venecia yesterday announced that a bill on the postponement of the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections will be approved on third and final reading at the plenary session tomorrow.

De Venecia said that the immediate approval of the bill is due to the strong support from the different political parties in the House of Representatives.

Earlier, the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms approved the postponement of barangay elections from October 2007 to May 2009.

Committee chairman Makati Rep. Teddy Locsin presented to the plenary the committee report stating that the Commission on Elections had asked Congress to give them at least two years to prepare for the computerized elections. It was approved at second reading.

If the Senate rejects the postponement the elections will proceed as scheduled on October 29.

House Majority Leader Arthur Defensor and Senior Deputy Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales both expressed confidence that the bill will hurdle third-reading approval tomorrow.

They said the Senate has enough time to move it through committee and plenary approval before Congress takes its first break starting October 13.

“It will be up to the Senate to decide whether the polls should be postponed or not,” Defensor said.

Too late to defer bgy-SK polls

By: Bernadette E. Tamayo
IT is already “too late” to postpone the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections set on October 29 since preparations for the twin polls are well under way, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. said yesterday.

With the village and youth polls barely two months away, Pimentel said it would be too late to postpone the elections, even if deferment of the polls has been endorsed by the committee on electoral reforms of the House of Representatives.

“And secondly, the Comelec (Commission on Elections) has been saying it’s all systems go for the polls,” he said. The House committee on electoral reforms has approved the postponement of the barangay and SK polls from Oct. 29 this year to the second Monday of October 2009.

Pimentel warned that hundreds of millions of pesos in taxpayers’ money will go to waste if the twin political exercises will be postponed anew. He noted that the Comelec has already used up a huge fraction of the P2 billion budget for the barangay-SK polls, including about P300 million for the registration of new voters.

“In my view, the move to reset the barangay and SK elections is already moot and academic. In the first place, the Department of Budget and Management has assured that there are funds available for the purpose and it has in fact started releasing funds,” Pimentel said.

Comelec issues sked for SK, barangay polls

By: Lee Ann P. Ducusin
THE Commission on Elections has issued a calendar for the scheduled barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan on Oct. 29.

Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos yesterday issued Resolution No. 8264, which prescribe the activities for the political exercises.

The poll body is set to inspect polling places starting today to Aug. 30.

It also warned that the last day for filing petitions for inclusion or exclusion in the proper municipal or metropolitan trial courts is on Aug. 20 except for Muntinlupa City, which is on Sept. 3.

Election officers will post the final list of voters for the synchronized baranggay and SK elections from Sept. 14 to Oct. 28.

The prohibition on the issuance of appointments, promotion, creation of new positions, filling up of vacant positions or giving salary increases for government agencies or offices will start on Sept. 29.

The election period will start on Sept. 29 and will end on Nov. 13.

Abalos said that during this period several activities are banned.

They are alteration of territory of a precinct or establishment of a new precinct; illegal release of prisoners; raising of funds through dances, lotteries, cockfight, and others;

Carrying of firearms, deadly weapons; organizing or maintaining reaction/strike forces or similar forces; transfer and detail of officers and employees in the civil service, including public school teachers;

The use of security personnel or bodyguards by candidates whether or not such bodyguards are regular members of the Philippine National Police, the Armed Forces of the Philippines or other government law enforcement agency; and suspension of any elective provincial, city, municipal or barangay officer.

The filing of the certificates of candidacy will be from Oct. 11 to Oct. 18.

The campaign period will start on Oct. 19 and will end on Oct. 27.

During the campaign period, posting, displaying, distributing and using illegal campaign materials; making any donation or gift, in cash or in kind; use of armored/land/water/air craft; construction or maintenance of provincial, city, municipal or barangay-funded roads and bridges, among others, are prohibited.

Abalos said he is hoping that everybody will follow the calendar so that the country will have a clean, honest and orderly elections.