Comelec calls for early polls in ARMM anew

The Philippines’ poll body exhorted lawmakers to enact legislation allowing elections to be held earlier in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) given the tense political situation in the area. Members of the Philippine Senate and the House of Representatives were urged to approve the following bills: Senator Richard Gordon’s Senate Bill 2972, Rep. Rufus Rodriguez’s House Bill 5578, and Rep. Pedro Romualdo’s House Bill 3437, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said in a four-page resolution. “The Commission hereby resolves to urge both houses of Congress to immediately pass the Early Voting Bills; provided that elections will be conducted not later than April 12, 2010 in the ARMM and only for one day," it said. The poll body proposed to conduct early elections in the autonomous zone after it was suggested by former Justice Undersecretary Macabangkit Lanto and his brother Benjamin in a petition filed last December 10. The petitioners added that they wished that elections should be conducted in just one day instead of a series of days to “avoid any administrative problem(s)." Earlier, Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said that Republic Act 7056 binds the poll body to conduct only synchronized elections nationwide. This, he said, is the reason why they are pushing for the passage of the early voting bills. These bills – once approved – will allow residents to vote in places “secured" by the military and police and that the election body will be more “focused" there, said the commissioner. Earlier, Defense Chief Norberto Gonzales met with the poll body to discuss the involvement of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the security of the 2010 elections. Sarmiento said that the Comelec is also pushing for the enactment of a law that would allow for the counting of a vote of a certain candidate for his substitute. - RJAB, Jr./GMANews.TV