CCPC to ask for copy of poll results

THE Cebu Citizens Press Council (CCPC) yesterday agreed to ask the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for a copy of the election results in the May polls.

Since Comelec resolutions are not clear on which and how media outlets can get copies of election results, the CCPC invited Provincial Election Supervisor Marco Lionel Castillano to answer some questions on media access to these results.

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Section 19 of Republic 9369 or the Poll Automation Law states that some of the 30 copies of the results will go to the national and local broadcast or print media.

One of the electronic copies of the precinct results will also go to the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas. The law doesn’t include any print media organization as a recipient of the electronic copies.

Castillano said the Comelec is yet to determine which media outlets will get the results. But he suggested that the CCPC submit a request to Comelec en banc to be given a copy.

He also assured the media that the Board of Election Inspectors will announce the number of votes the candidates got in every precinct.

One of the first eight copies of the results that will be printed by the precinct count optical scanning machines will also be posted outside the polling areas.

The CCPC, which held its quarterly meeting yesterday at the Marcelo B. Fernan Cebu Press Center, hosted the dialogue as part of a series on improving media coverage of the 2010 elections.