Bayan Muna seeks free copies of election returns, COCs

A militant party-list group asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for free copies of election returns (ERs) and certificates of canvass (COCs), which are documents that tabulate votes for each candidate in a precinct. In its petition, Bayan Muna asked the poll body to give a copy of an ER to each of the top five party-lists that received the most number of votes during the 2007 elections. Party-lists "are defenseless against electoral fraud if they are not included as among the recipient of electoral returns," Bayan Muna Representative Neri Javier Colmenares said. To be electronically printed by the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine, an election return shows the date of the election, the province, municipality, and the precinct in which it is held and the votes for each candidate in the precinct. The PCOS machine is expected to print 30 ERs after voting closes on election day. On the other hand, the COC is a document which contains the total votes obtained by each candidate in a city/municipality/district/province as the case may be. Republic Act 9369 states that copies of the ERs and COCs will be given to the accredited citizens' arms, several national and local parties, and media entities for free. But it also provides that one copy should be posted outside each precinct or canvassing cennter. However, Bayan Muna asserted that current Comelec rules "limit" the safeguards against electoral fraud and further "marginalizes" the party-list groups because they have to pay for their copy. "We will have to go to the Supreme Court if our petition gets denied. We have a very strong case here," Colmenares said. Comelec spokesman James Jimenez told GMANews.TV said that they will read the petition first and "consider" the proposal. - J. I. Jimeno/RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV