Perlas asks Comelec to postpone May elections

Independent presidential candidate Nicanor Perlas on Wednesday formally asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to postpone the May polls should the poll body fail to address several concerns regarding the automated election system (AES). In a 30-page petition, Perlas said the current AES is lacking in the following aspects: an independent source code review, random manual audit preparations, cleansing of voters' list, infallible transmission systems, servers for parties, a verifiable paper audit trail, ballot security features, and ballot printing efficiency, among others.

He said the poll body should "demonstrate in writing" that the Comelec has fully addressed all the "factual allegations" of his petition and prove that there is no basis to believe that the fully automated election system will fail in May. If it fails to "refute" the concerns outlined, Perlas said the poll body should authorize the installation of a manual count for the positions of president and vice president at the precinct level before sending out the digital results. But if this is also not possible, he said the poll body should postpone the polls "until such time that they are able to assure that the elections will be honest, transparent, and clean" because a failure of elections is bound to create "a lot of chaos and disorder" in the country. Perlas noted, however, that he wishes to hold the elections "as soon as possible" after the suggested postponement. "As much as possible kasi ayoko manatili itong kasalukuyang administrasyon ni (President) Arroyo (I want to replace the current administration)," he told reporters after filing the petition on Wednesday. He added that his fellow presidential candidates Senator Maria Consuelo "Jamby" Madrigal, Olongapo Councilor JC Delos Reyes, and Jesus is Lord leader Bro. Eddie Villanueva have the same sentiments. "I think they might start supporting this also. They know that a failure of elections would also affect them," he said. Unconstitutional? But this early, Perlas' petition seems headed nowhere. For one, Comelec chairman Jose Melo described Perlas' suggestion as "unconstitutional." "That is unconstitutional because the law provides for the specific date which an election will be held," Melo said. Article VII Section 4 of the Philippine Constitution provides that "Unless otherwise provided by law, the regular election for President and Vice-President shall be held on the second Monday of May." Section 5 of the Omnibus Election Code also says that an election can only be postponed "for any serious cause such as violence, terrorism, loss or destruction of election paraphernalia or records, force majeure, and other analogous causes of such a nature that the holding of a free, orderly and honest election should become impossible in any political subdivision." — Kimberly Jane Tan/RSJ/LBG, GMANews.TV