MANILA -- Another politician warned of a possible people power if the Commission on Elections (Comelec) fails to conduct a successful election.
House Speaker Prospero Nograles said the refusal of the poll body to cleanse the voters' list from multiple and dead registrants might cause a failure of elections that can trigger a civil revolt.
Liberal Party (LP) standard bearer Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III also earlier warned of a people power uprising - similar to that when his father Ninoy died - if a new president will not be proclaimed after the polls.
Talks on the possible failure of elections grew when Palace deputy spokeswoman Charito Planas raised the possibility of a military junta should the elections fail and no president will take over at the end of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's term on June 30.
The Palace, however, has already denied that it is on the works of a grand plan to let the incumbent president stay in power.
Although Nograles believes that Aquino's grim scenario “is nearly remote,” he said the commission might be providing the right excuse for some people to stir civil chaos.
“While I don't subscribe with this scenario being painted by Senator Noynoy, the Comelec's lack of pro-active thinking is also very frustrating. It seems we only provided the Comelec billions of poll automation fund not to make the elections clean and credible but to make election cheating faster and more efficient,” Nograles lamented.(Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)