Joker Arroyo hits 'delaying tactics' in national canvassing

(Updated: 3:20 p.m.) Sen. Joker Arroyo on Sunday criticized the slow pace of counting by the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), saying his colleagues' delaying tactics and grandstanding "cheapen" the image of Congress. In an interview on radio dzBB, Arroyo said the Senate and the House of Representatives as the NBOC are not "investigators" duty-bound to probe claims of poll fraud. He called on his colleagues to speed up the counting so the next president may be proclaimed in time for June 30, the date prescribed by the Constitution for a new president to take the oath of office. "They should move fast because they have an obligation. We should abbreviate the canvassing because there are too many details. We already have an idea of who the elected president is. The only thing we need is the Congress' blessings. But what is blocking the blessings are those problems that cheapen Congress," he said in Pilipino. Congress opened the canvassing last week, starting with the certificates of canvass (COCs) of votes overseas. As of Friday, the NBOC canvassed 133 of 278 COCs, with the Liberal Party tandem of Senators Benigno Aquino III and Manuel Roxas II so far leading the May 10 results. But the counting was marred by lawmakers’s arguments on technical matters and questions about the COCs' integrity. Arroyo, the executive secretary of former President Corazon C. Aquino, said such arguments are best left to the House Committee on Electoral Reform and Suffrage or the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, which should look into allegations of election fraud. Some of the senators and congressmen may just be grandstanding for the media, he added. Tomorrow (Monday), the NBOC will get a special presentation from Smartmatic-Total Information Management Corp. (Smartmatic-TIM) on how the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines work. The technical demonstration is expected happen during canvassing in Congress. Smartmatic-TIM is the supplier of the PCOS machines. But Arroyo criticized the plan, saying Section 4, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution only mandates the NBOC to "determine the authenticity and due execution" of the certificates of canvass. "They cannot go beyond that [constitutional provision]. We [Congress] are high-class," said the senator. Meanwhile, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who is presiding over the canvassing with House Speaker Prospero Nograles, defended the planned presentation. "We just want to quell doubts. I want the public and members of the canvassing committee to know how PCOS machines and the [compact] flash cards work, where and how election results are being transmitted so the people may understand that it is impossible to intercept election results," he said in Pilipino in a separate dzBB interview. He also vowed that a new president would be proclaimed next June 30. "Hindi ako papayag na walang presidente, maski bitayin nila ako (I will not allow a non-proclamation of a new president, even if they hang me)," he said. Enrile earlier said the NBOC would complete the canvassing of votes no later than June 15. VS, GMANews.TV