Lawyers' group seek manual count on May 10

A group of lawyers on Tuesday urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to conduct a manual count of all precincts in the country on the May 10 polls, saying it is the last "line of defense against" against automation fraud. Should the poll body refuse their suggestion, Philippine Bar Association (PBA) president Simeon Marcelo said it will "strongly heighten the suspicions that the Comelec is an active participant in the rumored efforts of certain sinister forces to cause a failure of elections." Marcelo, a former ombudsman under the Arroyo administration, noted that there are only three weeks left before May 10 but numerous problems are still plaguing the preparations for the country’s first nationwide automated polls. Among the problems PBA cited include: malfunctioning precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines, lack of an independent source code review, delayed printing of official ballots, controversies in the public bidding for indelible ink and ballot secrecy folder supply contracts, unreliable logistics firms, lack of transparency in canvassing of votes, lack of contingency and continuity plans, lack of effective voter's education campaign, and lack of a legal framework in case of failure of elections. Comelec chairman Jose Melo expressed doubts on the proposal but said "we will look into it." "How can you have two standards? Kung manual, manual na lang, kung automated, automated lang. You cannot have two systems. You will have only one election, how can you look at it from two angles," Melo said. (If you choose to go manual, then you go manual. If you wish to go automated, then you go automated.) PBA called for a parallel manual count to ensure the accuracy of votes tallied by the machines and that the result of the elections was "the true will of the people" said Marcelo. By conducting parallel counting, the board of election instructors would manually count all votes cast for the positions of president, vice president, congressman, governor, and mayor before transmitting the electronic results. The procedure would only take two hours, said Marcelo. Marcelo said given these problems, "it's hard to think na hindi deliberate ang [plans to have] failure of elections." But the proposal he said would erase doubts that Comelec is part of such conspiracy. Marcelo refused to name the people he thinks are behind the plan to sabotage the elections but admitted that it is the "easiest way" to prolong President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's stay in power. "I'm afraid that's true," he said. He said the group has already submitted its letter to Comelec asking the body to consider their suggestion. If the poll body thumbs it down, Marcelo said the group will raise the matter before the Supreme Court. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV