Comelec corrects canvassing rules for HK, Singapore

The Commission on Election (Comelec) has admitted committing an “oversight" in the guidelines it issued for the overseas absentee voting (OAV) program in Hong Kong and Singapore. Comelec Commissioner Armando Velasco said the commission erred in the previous resolution it issued, particularly on the distribution of the Certificate of Canvass (COC) of votes. The canvassing of the OAV in Hong Kong and Singapore should follow the rules on automated elections, according to the Comelec. A March 30 Comelec resolution outlined the distribution of the COCs, which the Comelec recently discovered as similar to the system for manual voting. Of the Philippine embassies and consulates across the world conducting OAV, only Hong Kong and Singapore are using the automated counting of votes. Overseas voting in all Philippine diplomatic posts, whether automated, personal or postal, will end coinciding with 7 p.m. closing of voting in the Philippines on May 10, after the Comelec extended by one hour the voting day in the Philippines. In an e-mail, Vice Consul Val Roque of the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong said the voting hours at Bayanihan Center will be up to 7 p.m. “Thereafter, the canvassing of election results will take place at the community hall of the Center. This event is open to all interested Filipinos in Hong Kong," Roque said. Meanwhile, the canvassing at the Philippine Embassy in Singapore started 12 noon Monday. —Jerrie Abella/VS, GMANews.TV