|
Thursday, July 31, 2008
House approves bill delaying Armm polls
MANILA (Updated, 12:16 p.m.) -- The House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms approved on Thursday the bill that seeks to postpone the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Armm).
Seventeen lawmakers were for the postponement, with three opposing, and two abstaining.
Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has certified as urgent a bill postponing the August 11 elections in Armm, in a July 29 letter sent to House Speaker Prospero Nograles.
Five lawmakers filed the bill on July 24, proposing to amend the law, which pegs the Armm polls on May 2010 instead of August 11, 2008.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said a letter endorsing the bill has been sent to the offices of House Speaker Prospero Nograles and Senate President Manuel Villar Jr.
The bill stemmed from a consensus reached during the President's consultation meeting with several leaders from Mindanano during her visit to Cotabato City on July 22.
Representatives Datu Pax Mangandadatu of Sultan Kudarat, Yusop Jikiri of Sulu, and Nur Jaafar of Tawi-tawi, including Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, who were all present in the said meeting, committed to sponsor and file the respective bills in the House and the Senate.
The proposed postponement of the Armm polls aims to give the peace negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) a chance to move forward, particularly after a consensus on the ancestral domain agenda had been reached.
Ermita meanwhile said it is better to wait for the Supreme Court's official action on the restraining order sought by the North Cotabato Provincial Government regarding the signing of the ancestral domain agreement.
He added that the government is prepared to make public the contents of the proposed agreement once it has been signed. A tentative date for the signing has been set on August 5.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec), on the other hand, will be printing 1,283,900 ballots for the automated Armm elections on August 11.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the ballots, to be printed by the National Printing Office (NPO), will be part of the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) technology slated to be used in the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and Shariff Kabunsuan.
The NPO started printing the ballots last Tuesday.
According to Jimenez, the number of ballots that will be printed is on a 1:1 ratio bearing security codes.
Voters using the OMR technology are asked to fully shade the oval areas beside the names of the candidates in the ballots, which will, in turn, be read by the machine that will automatically tally the votes.
With this, Jimenez said the commission will show the printing of ballots live over the Internet.
He said those interested should log on to http://124.104.101.211, type in "admin" in the username box and "admin" in the password box.
Armm has 1,516,259 voters registered in 5,169 precincts. (JMR/FP/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Dumaguete. (July 31, 2008 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
|
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
