Comelec lashes back at critics

Fed up with the criticisms, a Commission on Elections (Comelec) official on Wednesday lashed back at groups and individuals who came out with “worst-case scenario" statements without proper supporting evidence. “They don't understand the complete picture, yet they make assumptions based on the worst-case scenario," Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal told reporters at a press briefing. Larrazabal made the statement after poll watchdog National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) questioned the supposed absence or removal of several safeguards on the automated election system. Namfrel cited the supposed “wrong use" of ink for the printing of ultraviolet (UV) marks, which is one of the features that would prove the authenticity of the ballot; the removal of the digital signatures; the absence of a public review of the backup system for the automated system and the source code; and the lack of rules for the random manual audits. Larrazabal said they have already answered these issues. “There are additional and other security features in the ballot and machine. Tthat just goes to show that they do not understand the whole picture," he said. Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said Namfrel’s assertion that the voters’s list is padded by three million was inaccurate. Namfrel said the “significant difference" in increases between the number of registered voters and the Filipino population indicates a large number of multiple registrants. It said based on the National Census and Statistics Board annual population growth of 1.95 percent, the increase in the growth in the number of registered voters from 2007 to 2010 should just be around six to eight percent. It added that the region with the highest increase of 42 percent during the last three years was the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM. But Jimenez said that the ARMM has always been “politically active." “Malinis na malinis ang listahan sa ARMM (We have no problem with the list in ARMM)," he said. He likewise advised the source of the numbers, specifically the NSO, to be careful of its releases. “It’s very unseemly for another government agency to give currency to any wrongdoing... (It’s) a little premature and certainly wrong to raise suspicion because of a variance," he said. “Any unfounded accusations as to the lack of the credibility of this elections has a disproportionate effect on the credibility of the elections as a whole," he added. Larrazabal, for his part, pleaded to the public to help them instead of trying to bring them down. “This is our elections, this is not your elections, it’s ours, everybody has a stake in this elections," he said. Jimenez, however, said that they are already used to all the criticisms. - Kimberly Jane Tan/KBK, GMANews.TV