EXTENSION OF VOTER REGISTRATION UP
TO COMELEC - PALACE
[PHOTO AT LEFT - Two first-time voters fill out application forms at the Comelec office in Manila yesterday after the registration centers accommodated those who lined up but failed to beat the deadline last Saturday. EDD GUMBAN |MANILA, Philippines]
MANILA, NOVEMBER 4, 2009 (STAR) By Paolo Romero - Malacañang said it would be up to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to decide whether to extend the deadline of registration of voters as called for by many groups.
Deputy presidential spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo issued the statement amid widespread complaints that the registration process was disorderly and lacked equipment.
She said the Palace would not appeal to the poll body and respect whatever decision it would make on the matter.
“We would leave this matter to the Comelec. I think it would be the sole judgment of the Comelec if they can extend the registration or not,” Fajardo said.
“We are certain that the Comelec is concerned with registering more qualified voters. But on the other hand, we also have to consider the timeline that they have set for the preparation of the 2010 elections,” she said.
Fajardo said the 2010 elections are significant because this would be the first time the polls would be automated nationwide.
“We have to remember that it is an automated election and they (Comelec) should know better if they think that they need ample time to make the necessary preparations,” she said.
Melo: No extension
Comelec chairman Jose Melo, meanwhile, stood pat on the agency’s decision not to extend voters registration.
“No extension because we still have to allot time for the disqualification (process). For one reason or another, we have to decide on the nuisance candidates within a period of one month only – from December to January,” he said in a press briefing.
The registration period was supposed to end last Oct. 31 but due to the heavy downpour, strong winds and power outage caused by typhoon “Santi” many Comelec registration offices were paralyzed.
This prompted the poll body to allow voters to just fill up registration forms and skip the biometrics procedure. They were allowed to come back yesterday to undergo the biometrics system where their photographs, signatures and fingerprints were taken by data capturing machines.
Melo noted that preparations for the automated polls next year would be jeopardized if the registration was extended since December is Christmas season.
“By February, we’ll have to be printing the ballots. Our continuing registration started on Dec. 2, 2008 and there were quite a number of days when no one would register. And then during the last three to five days, registrants flocked to registration centers,” he added.
The poll chief, however, admitted that the registration process was slowed down by the biometrics system.
“The process was a little prolonged. Unlike in the past, applications only needed to be approved. Now, the fingerprints, signatures and pictures have to be taken,” he maintained. – With Sheila Crisostomo
Closed-circuit TV tapped in ballot printing By Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star) Updated November 03, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA,
Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will install a
closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera at the National Printing Office (NPO)
when it starts printing the ballots to be used in the May 10, 2010 local and
national polls.
Comelec chairman Jose Melo said the CCTV camera would be working “24/7” or round-the-clock to ensure that all activities at the NPO are captured on video.
Melo noted the poll body might also invite political parties and poll watchdog groups to send their representatives to observe the printing procedure.
The schemes are meant to allay fears that extra ballots will be printed to rig the results of next year’s elections. The state-run NPO is the agency authorized to print government paraphernalia like receipts and ballots.
But the Comelec has no plan of printing extra ballots especially since the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines to be used in the polls will not recognize ballots in excess of the registered voters at a specific precinct.
Melo added they hope to begin the printing in early January 2010 so the Comelec would speed up the screening of voters who will file their certificates of candidacy from Nov. 20 to 30.
It is estimated that some 600 candidates’ names would be printed back-to-back on each ballot since next year’s polls involve both local and national elections.
Comelec records showed that 17,888 elective posts are up for grabs, including one each for president and vice president; 12 for senator; 222 district congressmen; 80 for governor; 80 for vice governor; 762 provincial board members; 120 each for city mayor and city vice mayor; 1,514 each for municipal mayor and vice municipal mayor; 1,346 city councilors and 12,116 municipal councilors.
The figure does not include the seats allocated for party-list groups which are dependent on the number of votes they get.