3 MIN READBy DELIA BAGNI
www.nordis.net
BAGUIO CITY — The Makabayan Coalition-Cordillera blamed the Commission on Election and stated that it should be held accountable for the glitches during the recently concluded May 13 elections.
DESPERATELY SEEKING FOR A SOLUTION. The Board of Election Inspectors of Clustered Precint 104 and the Smartmatic technician try to solve the mystery of a Precinct Count Optical Scanner (PCOS) that worked perfectly until it was about count the votes.Would the BEI continued trying if they had known that there was a possibility that the voters would be disenfranchised if the votes would not be counted by the PCOS? Photo by Noel Godinez
According to Theresa Manglicmot-Panem of Makabayan-Cordillera, the Comelec committed a grave mistake as it did not check the ballots to be used by the voters in Barangay Lualhati here. She said that the residents of the said barangay discovered that their supposed ballots are actually for Compostela Valley. She added that because of this, the voters in the barangay have not been able to exercise their right of suffrage.
According to Comelec Cordillera Administrative Region (Comelec-CAR) Assistant Regional Director Reddy Balarbar during the canvassing of votes at the Baguio Convention Center, a special election is possible yet it may be hard considering the expenses and time needed for such. He said later that it is no longer needed as it will not affect the outcome of the results.
Polling precincts with wrong ballots were Cluster 122, Precinct 0378A, 0378B, 0380A, 0381A in Rizal Elementary School. Baguio City. Registered voters of Lualhati is 638.
Balarbar also announced at the canvassing that election results from Kayang Extension Barangay will be no longer canvassed because it failed to be transmitted or opened since it was corrupted. The election officer said that they are executing the action according to Resolution Number 9700. He cited the resolution stating that there are precinct results that, for varied reasons, could no longer be transmitted, and the concerned boards are requesting for authority to lower the threshold to enable them to proclaim winning candidates whose respective standing in a contested position will no longer be affected by the results not received by the Consolidation and Canvassing System (CCS).
Barangay Lualhati Council member and a registered voter Carlito Wayas criticized the pronouncement of the Comelec as shallow. He said that even if it is true that their number will not affect the results, they should be allowed to vote as it is their right. He stressed that the Comelec should not look on the welfare of the politicians alone but consider the people who are being prevented from exercising their constitutional rights.
Wayas added that they fear that some of their constituents will be bound for disenfranchisement. He also said the new registered voters mostly youth who want to vote for what they believe is part of change in the society will be disappointed.
Comelec-CAR Regional director Jose Nick Mendros explained that during the inspection prior to the start of the voting, the labels of the ballots for Barangay Lualhati were proper. But when the ballots were opened, the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) found out that the ballots were not for the stated precincts.
He added that ballot boxes are only allowed to be opened at the poll precinct and that their office are not allowed to open the ballot boxes before the election day. # nordis.net
