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Comelec urged to come up with Plan B amid 'no-el' talk


MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang on Sunday urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to come up with alternative plans to ensure that the 2010 elections would push through. “Dapat may Plan B talaga ang Comelec. They should be able to handle the 2010 elections as scheduled," said Press Secretary Cerge Remonde in an interview over dzBB radio Sunday morning. Remonde made the statement after Comelec chairman Jose Melo warned that next year’s polls could be marred by protest cases from losing bidders for the P11.3-billion election automation project or partisan groups who wanted to stop the elections. He said these groups could seek a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court, and that if approved, the poll body would be left with no time to shift to manual elections. Remonde said they remain confident that Melo is on top of the situation. “We have high respect for Chairman Melo," he said. The Palace official however did not say if Plan B refers to manual elections, which many believed is prone to fraud and irregularities. Critics of the Arroyo administration have expressed fear that the no-elections scenario would be exploited by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her allies to stay in power. Remonde however dismissed this as “political black propaganda" connected with the 2010 elections and urged politicians to “improve" their “political conduct." “I mean if this is the kind of politicians that we have, that's a reflection of the kind of leadership when they will be the ones in power," he said. The Comelec has yet to choose a company that would undertake the automation of next year’s election. It had disqualified all seven bidders but later granted the appeal of four of them. On Saturday night, the Comelec’s Special Bids and Awards Committee opened the financial bids of the consortium of Smartmatic and Total Information Management (TIM) and the consortium of Indra Sistemas, Hart Intercivic and Strategic Alliance Holdings Inc. (SAHI). - GMANews.TV
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