Even before the announcement of its decision Thursday, the poll body already hinted Wednesday that the en banc would unlikely favor the petition for parallel manual count of votes in the coming May elections.
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Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesperson James Jimenez told reporters that the en banc has already drafted a resolution and considered a lot of opinions from the seven commissioners before it made a unanimous decision.
"The effect to the process, the input of field officials and then some general principles having to do with the automation of elections, the project itself (had to be considered)," he said.
He added that opinions of its regional election directors and provincial election supervisors were closely deliberated since they are the ones to oversee the manual count if it gets approved.
Earlier, Commissioners Gregorio Larrazabal and Rene Sarmiento hinted reporters that they oppose the conduct of the manual count since this will not serve the purpose of the automated election system.
Sarmiento said the manual count is not provided in the poll automation law.
Republic Act 9369 only speaks of the random manual audit (RMA) in one established precinct per legislative district, according to the poll body.
However, it is open to extending the RMA to five precincts per district.
"Random manual audit is in the law where Comelec is bound to implement; but the issue will be discussed in the resolution," Sarmiento told reporters.
The commissioners also said that although the manual count will add credibility to the new system, it will also oppose the purpose of automation and cause more concerns for teachers who will be on election duty on May 10.
"Field officials do not want manual count too," said Sarmiento, adding that the Comelec Advisory Council also opposes the proposal of a manual count.
Comelec Chairman Jose Melo, for his part, said it is not only difficult to do the parallel manual counting legally but also operationally.
Melo noted that the question is not on the number of positions involved but most importantly, what the law provides.
"It is not the number of positions really involved. Is it proper? Is it legal? But it's definitely out of doubtful legality because we discredited the manual then we are going back to manual?" the Comelec chair said.
However, National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), an election watchdog, said the Comelec must at least consider a parallel count for the votes of the presidential candidates should it rejects the manual canvassing option.
Maricor Akol, council member of Namfrel, said they will push for the manual counting of presidential votes if the poll body anticipated delay in canvassing for all positions.
"We are willing to negotiate on one, the presidential candidate. So that we can be sure that the vote was counted, and the people will accept the results of the PCOS (precinct count optical scan) machines," Akol told reporters in a briefing at Asian Institute of Management (Aim) Conference Center in Makati City.
Namfrel council member Guillermo Luz, for his part, said that six presidential bets have agreed to the proposal, so he sees nothing wrong with the move pushed by the businessmen, concerned groups and IT professionals.
The candidates -- former President Joseph Estrada, Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, Senator Jamby Madrigal, Bro. Eddie Villanueva, Olongapo City Councilor JC de los Reyes and Nicanor Perlas -- batted for a parallel manual count for vice president, governor, congressmen, and mayor.
Oppositors to the poll body's decision also said that they may appeal to the Supreme Court although it might be too late considering the date of elections.
Another election watchdog took a swipe on Malacañang for earlier seeing "malice" in the calls of different groups for parallel counting.
The Compact for Peaceful and Democratic Elections (Compact) said the clamors resulted from the Comelec's decision in disabling security features of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines that will used in the May polls, such as vote verification and digital signatures.
The group said the parallel manual canvassing is necessary so there could be a point of comparison, as well as a back-up means for checking election results in case of failure of the automated elections.
Calls for a manual count grew after former poll commissioner Christian Monsod joined various groups Tuesday in stating that it will prove the credibility of the automated system.
The Makati Business Club, Philippine Bar Association, and farmer-fisherfolk coalition Alyansa Agrikultura, are among those that call for a parallel manual counting.
But aside from the parallel counting of votes, Namfrel urged the Comelec to release the final guidelines for the conduct of the random manual audit.
Chairman Jose Cuisia Jr. scored the poll body for delaying the release of the instructions, which is mandated by the automation law.
"Why does it take so long for just to come up with the general instructions?" he asked.
Namfrel said the audit plan has been pending for months before the Comelec technical committee on RMA headed by former Ambassador and Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) Chairman Henrietta de Villa.
In a resolution dated April 15, the Comelec said the RMA will be conducted in five precincts per legislative district, which amount to 1,145 clustered precincts immediately after proclamation of winners of the May 10 election.
The positions to be audited include all national positions and five local positions, namely: congressman, governor, vice governor, mayor, and vice mayor.
With this, Cuisia said Namfrel will have a parallel count on the votes for the positions of president, vice president, and senators.
"The purpose of our parallel count is to ensure the tally because we are using the same source documents and ERs (election returns)," he said, adding that the results will be posted on its website on an updated basis.
The group said it would tap 150,000 volunteers to observe the conduct of the automated polls. Kathrina Alvarez/Virgil Lopez/AH/Sunnex (Sunstar)
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