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Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Comelec prints 1-M ballots more; over 2T missing
MANILA -- The Commission on Elections (Comelec) printed an additional one million ballots for the May 10 elections as 2,500 ballots were found missing from the National Printing Office (NPO) since last week.
Comelec Commissioner Resurreccion Borra said from the 43.5 million ballots, which is the same number of registered voters, they increased it to 44,551,551 ballots even if there were no spoiled ballots reported.
Borra said the additional ballots would be for the teachers serving as members of the board of election inspectors (BEIs) and assigned to the 250,000 precincts nationwide.
However, BEIs are already part of the 43.5 million voters who were enlisted during the list-up last August to November.
"Strictly speaking, the BEIs are already counted but they are counted in precincts where they were registered but they will not be voting there so they will be voting in the precincts where they are working on election day. If the Comelec will not allocate additional ballots, they will not be able vote and will thus be deprived of their right of suffrage," Borra said.
He assured that the additional ballots will not be used by groups who would want to manipulate the election results.
"That will be preserved, the excess ballots will be torn in half by the BEI and one will be placed in an envelop to be placed in the ballot box while the other one to be given to the election officer for purposes of accounting later on. So it's safe, it can't be used for any other purpose," Borra added.
Missing
As this developed, Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos assured Tuesday that the missing ballots will not be used in cheating. The ballots have been missing from the NPO.
"Please, I know this will cause alarm, but the missing ballots are not enough to make or unmake a presidential candidate, not even a senator, not even a city mayor for that matter," he said.
Abalos said he was informed about the missing election forms to be delivered to Metro Manila during their en banc meeting Tuesday.
He said the ballots were from a batch that was about to be shipped from the NPO's Quezon City compound to precincts in Pasig City, Makati City, the 2nd district of Quezon City, Caloocan City, 1st and 2nd districts of Pasay City, and Manila's 5th district.
This prompted Abalos to say, "Ang nakapagtataka, puro bailiwick ito ng mga opposition (It's puzzling that the areas concerned are bailiwick of the opposition)."
Commissioner Florentino Tuason said they plan to replace the personnel at the NPO as a result of the incident.
Comelec control
Meanwhile, the Comelec has placed under its control four provinces and 41 municipalities due to election-related violence in those areas.
Abalos said the areas, aside from having election-related incidents, were put under their control upon the recommendation of the commission's regional directors.
The four provinces are Mindoro Occidental, Masbate, Basilan and Sulu.
Now under Comelec control are nine municipalities in the Cordillera Autonomous Region (CAR); six in Pangasinan; three in Ilocos Sur; two in Ilocos Norte; two in Bulacan; one in Nueva Ecija; one in Albay; three in Sorsogon; four in Camarines Sur; Danao City in Cebu province; two in Zamboanga del Sur; two in Zamboanga del Norte; one in Tawi Tawi; one in Misamis Occidental; one in Davao; and two in Maguindandao.
Earlier, Basilan, Sulu, Masbate and Occidental Mindoro and Catanduanes were placed under Comelec control.
If the province or a municipality is placed under Comelec control, all government personnel, particularly the military and the police, would take orders from Comelec officials during the election period.
Criteria for placing areas under Comelec control include intense political rivalry and presence of paramilitary and private armies.
(May 5, 2004 issue)
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