Thursday, February 01, 2007 Espinoza: Worries on poll cheating By Elias l. Espinoza Free Zone
THE administration is in quandary.
It does not know its right hand from its left. The poll automation issue best exemplifies its predicament. But on second thought, the problem can be a blessing in disguise.
Before the 2004 presidential elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) purchased billions of pesos worth of automatic counting machines but the Supreme Court voided the transaction, thus the elections proceeded with manual counting of votes.
As a result, the legitimacy of Gloria Arroyo’s presidency is still smarting from accusations of election fraud.
The May 14 election is no exception. Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos says the poll body has no funds to buy the machines despite the passage of the Election Automation Law. In short, the votes will still be counted manually. Thus, poll losers will again be able to raise charges of poll cheating.
President Arroyo’s assurance that her administration will police its own ranks to prevent poll cheating has failed to ease doubts of Catholic Church leaders on the integrity of the May 14 polls. The worry is that, with the unpopularity of her administration, she will do all she can to make majority of her candidates for Congress win.
If the President wants to leave a good mark in her remaining years in office, she should take a second look at and implement the recommendations of former chief justice Hilario G. Davide, Jr. on how to reform our electoral system.
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Former provincial prosecutor Ebing Kintanar is again throwing his hat into the political arena. Kintanar told me he is running as an independent candidate for one of the two Provincial Board seats in Cebu’s second district.
It may look funny but Ebing will be supporting the candidacy of former governor Pabling Garcia for Congress in the district and the reelection bid of Gov. Gwen Garcia. This is because, according to him, he believes in their leadership.
“I run as an independent in the sense that I have no political party but I will be campaigning for Governor Garcia and Nong Pabling,” said Kintanar in a press statement.
This means that Ebing will not support his relative, Board Member Cary Kintanar, who is running for Congress against Pabling. Rep. Sim Kintanar is no longer eligible for reelection.
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Businessman Jonathan Guardo, who is running for Congress against Rep. Tony Cuenco in Cebu City’s south district, fired the first salvo by targeting Cuenco’s credibility. Irene Camarista, a “concerned taxpayer,” filed graft and corruption charges against Cuenco before the Office of the Ombudsman the other day.
Cuenco, though, brushed aside the charges as politically motivated because Guardo accompanied Camarista when she filed the complaint. The Ombudsman may or may not act on the complaint because it is tainted with politics, but the accusation certainly hurt the ego of Cuenco, who cares so much for his niño bonito image.
