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Sunday, May 30, 2004
Ballot boxes ready for Monday's canvassing
MANILA -- Soldiers transported Saturday a total of 3,262 ballot boxes containing election returns and certificates of canvass (COC) to the Batasang Pambansa complex in preparation for the start of canvassing of votes for president and vice president on Monday.
Soldiers in full battle gears loaded the ballot boxes from the Senate premises in Manila to 12 Army trucks bound for the Batasang Pambansa complex in Quezon City.
The immediate transfer of the ballot boxes to the Batasang Pambansa complex was effected after the joint session of the Senate and House of Representatives approved at close to midnight Friday the rules of canvass after four grueling days of intense debates.
A joint committee, composed of 11 representatives each from the Senate and House of Representatives, will start the canvassing of COCs as session resumes 10 a.m. Monday.
But even before the actual canvassing could start, LDP chairman, Senator Edgardo Angara asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the allocation list.
The allocation list contains serial numbers of the ballot boxes. Angara said this document would ensure the authenticity of the COCs being canvassed by members of the joint committee.
Senator Aquilino Pimentel also asked for the public's understanding since debates on the rules are just to ensure that the true voice of the people, as contained in the COCs, will prevail.
The joint Senate and House committee has to count 176 certificates of canvass placed in ballot boxes.
Congress, sitting as National Board of Canvassers, has until June 30 to proclaim the winners.
Senate President Franklin Drilon, in a separate interview, said the approval of the rules of canvass for the canvassing of votes for president and vice president would now ease the tension and stabilize the situation in the country.
"Let's start the count so that we can ease the tension, open the ballots so that we will know who the winners are," Drilon stressed.
According to Drilon, the heated debates, which lasted for four days, has pushed the patience of the Filipino people to limit.
That is why he keeps on appealing to both the majority and minority to conduct the canvassing in the most expeditious manner to bring back the confidence and trust of the people to the Congress.
"If we listen to the cry of our people, it says: start the count. Let us not fail our people," Drilon said.
The proposed rules have been approved Friday night and this would pave the way for the Congress to start on Monday the much-awaited canvassing of votes.
Drilon, however, clarified that the entire National Board of Canvassers in a joint session would proclaim the winners.
Security officials have previously said that a destabilization plot may be mounted by some opposition and military figures seeking to take advantage of allegations that the elections were tainted with fraud.
The election results have not been announced partly because of lengthy debates in Congress on the vote-counting, but exit polls and unofficial tallies show Arroyo is on course to beat her main rival, film star Fernando Poe.
It's not only the presidential and vice presidential canvassing that has been stalled.
The 12th slot in the Senate is a toss-up between re-electionist Sens. Rodolfo Biazon and Robert Barbers.
Comelec Friday suspended anew the canvassing of votes because the certificates of canvass from Cotabato City and parts of Lanao del Sur have still not arrived at the Comelec central office.
Comelec executive director Mamasapunod Aguam said the canvassing for both the senatorial and party-list race could resume Monday.
As of the last canvass, Biazon had 10,619,964 votes against Barbers' 10,580,221. This could still change with the remaining COCs.
The seven towns in Lanao del Sur province have about 38,000 registered voters while Cotabato City has 121,398 registered voters. Sunnex
(May 30, 2004 issue)
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