AN OFFICIAL denied that the poll body is part of a scheme to delay the upcoming elections, as supposedly accused by Liberal Party (LP) vice-presidentiable Senator Mar Roxas.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said the body is not party of any conspiracy, especially that Chairman Jose Melo will not allow that kind of act.
“The good chairman will not allow that kind of conspiracy. We want to assure our people that we want to ensure credible and clean elections,” Sarmiento said.
Roxas, in a press statement, earlier warned of a “possible sinister government scheme to stymie the election of the country's next leaders.”
He cited that a “build-up of complex events” can affect the new automation system to be implemented in the 2010 elections.
“Gagawin talaga lahat ng administrasyong ito upang manatili sa poder. Hindi sila basta-basta bibitiw sa kanilang pangarap na magtuloy-tuloy ang kanilang paghahari-hari (This government will really do everything to stay in power. They cannot give up their dreams of continued supremacy),” the LP bet said.
Some concerns Roxas cited were the delay in the arrival of poll machines and hacking issues concerning the transmission of election results.
Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal, who heads the steering committee on automation, said that as of Thursday (January 21), 32,000 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines are already stored in the Laguna warehouse while another 8,000 machines are currently in transit from Smartmatic-TIM's factory in China.
But Sarmiento argued that the delays experienced in the delivery have “good causes” including the recent storms, Christmas season and traffic in shipment. “These were reasonable delays caused by good causes.”
Sarmiento assured Roxas and other candidates running for political office that the commission is not part of any conspiracy to cause any delay in the elections. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)