THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) received 62 protests after the May 2013 polls, 64 percent lower than the 2010 presidential race.
"We are way over the deadline and we only have 62 protest cases, involving provincial, city, and regional positions," said Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes.
In 2010, the Comelec had received a total of 96 electoral protests according to records of the Comelec – Electoral Contests Adjudication Department (ECAD).
According to Comelec Resolution 9720, an election protest can only be filed within 10 days following the day of proclamation of the winning candidate.
The same resolution, which sets the rules on protest cases, affirmed an earlier pronouncement of Brillantes of the commission looking for ways to make election protests cheaper and faster.
"The Constitution mandates that this Commission provide procedural rules that will afford litigants in an Automated Election System (AES) an accessible, inexpensive, and speedy remedy," said the resolution.
Based on the new rules, the Comelec is providing protestants the option to simply use the compact flash (CF) cards instead of needing to acquire all concerned ballot boxes containing the official ballots.
"They don't have to spend for bringing the ballot boxes here and we revising the ballots. If they say we will just do with the decryption, we will just look at the ballots’ picture images for the revision," said Brillantes.
In cases of recounts of ballots, the Comelec said the resolution noted that protestants need to pay a fee of P3,000 per precinct to compensate for the compensation for the Chairman of the recount committee (P1,000); recorder (P500); recount ballot box custodian (P480); supplies/materials (P400); storage (P85); overall supervisor (P100); warehouse ballot box custodian (P50); ECAD security personnel (P140); drivers (P70); organic security personnel (P70); police personnel (P70); Xerox machine watchers (P35).
As for the decryption of the CF cards, the cost shall only be a total of P500 per CF card to pay for the electricity (P100); computer and printer use (P50); and honoraria for the Comelec – Election Records and Statistics Department (ERSD) personnel (P350).
"It is cheaper and faster in the sense that we are experiencing delays in the retrieval of the ballot boxes and have problems in the storage… Now, the protestant can dispenses by simply choosing the option of going into decryption and waving the physical examination of the ballots," said Brillantes.
On the other hand, the commission en banc opted to retain the rule it introduced in the 2010 polls, wherein the protestant needs to prove that there is enough basis to push through with the case in the first 20 percent of the total number of precincts placed under protest.
"On the basis of the 20 percent, we will determine whether there is the basis for the protest or none. Otherwise, we will dismiss the protest," said Brillantes. (HDT/Sunnex)