Poll sabotage probe set

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) created yesterday a fact-finding committee to investigate delays in the delivery of ballots and other election materials in last Monday’s barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) polls.

Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said the probe would focus on possible sabotage that led to the postponement of the vote in some areas.

Sarmiento said the investigation would cover all aspects of the preparations for the polls, starting from the bidding, printing and delivery of election materials.

“These will be the concerns of the committee, the causes and the whys,” Sarmiento said.

The elections finally pushed through in 2,303 barangays yesterday.

The teachers who served in the special polls were also given the additional P1,000 in honoraria for serving an extra day of poll duty, the Comelec said.

The 2,303 villages where elections pushed through were from those earlier postponed because of the damage on school buildings and infrastructure left by typhoon “Juan” last week.

Comelec added 117 barangays are set to hold their elections today but the rest of the villages would have to defer until electricity and vital services in the typhoon-damaged areas are restored.

Comelec-Electoral Contest and Adjudication Division Director Divina Blas-Perez said some villages were not able to hold the elections because of the delay in the delivery of election paraphernalia.

Perez attributed the delay to the damage on the roads and bridges caused by the typhoon that made it difficult to deliver the election materials in some areas on time.

“Among the barangays (where) the elections were scheduled to be held yesterday, only the municipalities of Bagabag in Nueva Vizcaya and Donsol in Sorsogon were not able to push through,” Perez said.

Perez said the election supplies did not arrive on time in Bagabag. It was not immediately known why polling precincts did not open in Donsol.

It is not yet known when the synchronized polls would be held in Divilacan, Palanan and Maconacon, the three towns in Isabela that were worst hit by the typhoon last week.

Perez also cited the barangays of San Isidro and Salumague in Paniqui, Tarlac, also badly damaged by the typhoon that made it imperative to postpone the elections.

Out of the 42,025 barangays, elections were suspended in 2,346 barangays primarily because election materials either did not arrive or were delivered late.

President Aquino declared a special non-working holiday in the villages where the elections did not push through.

Mr. Aquino signed Proclamation 55 declaring a non-working holiday in the villages where elections had been suspended due to the damage on infrastructure and school buildings caused by typhoon Juan.

The President said the typhoon also delayed the delivery of election paraphernalia in certain barangays and made the schools unavailable for voting purposes that were occupied by the evacuees.

Mr. Aquino also cited some areas where elections would have to be postponed because of security concerns.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has been deputized by Comelec to deliver the materials in areas where the elections had been delayed.

AFP spokesman Lt. Arnulfo Burgos said two helicopters were deployed to deliver the election materials and Comelec officials to remote areas in the country.

“The AFP has been deputized by the Comelec to assist in the delivery of these election paraphernalia,” he said.

Deliberate

Comelec Commissioner Armando Velasco, the chairman of the probe panel, said they were given by Comelec 15 days to finish the investigation into the cause of delay.

“We’ll look into the cause of the delay of the delivery of election paraphernalia…who are responsible?” he said.

Sources, however, revealed some Comelec personnel deliberately messed up the packaging and shipment of the election supplies so they would not be included in the shipments of the forwarding companies contracted by the poll body to make the deliveries.

An insider claimed some Comelec personnel were able to deliver the supplies themselves, enabling them to draw cash advances.

“The forwarders no longer waited for the supplies because their other deliveries would be late. They made a systematic chaos in the shipment that only them can resolve. And in the guise of doing their patriotic duty, some Comelec personnel have delivered the supplies through their own contracts,” the source said.

Velasco confirmed some forwarders had to leave many supplies because they were unprepared.

He also confirmed some poll personnel delivered the materials and were given cash advances to make the personal delivery.

Velasco said some of them were allowed P50,000 in cash advance “subject to liquidation.”

The amount covers the payment for the vehicles to be rented to bring the supplies, and the personnel’s per diem and food allowance, Velasco pointed out.

Velasco said the usual practice of some personnel was to assist the forwarders in the delivery of election materials as in past elections.

“But this is the first that this kind of delays happened,” he stressed.

Velasco said the investigation would cover the Comelec’s Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) headed by Law Department director Ferdinand Rafanan.

Also included in the investigation would be the Comelec’s shipping and packaging committee, as well as the National Printing Office (NPO) that printed the ballots and election returns and the forwarding companies.

“We will consider all aspects which contributed to the delay,” he said.

On a tight schedule

Rafanan, on the other hand, explained the BAC had nothing to do with the delay in the shipments since bidding committee was formed later.

“BAC was constituted only last Sept. 7 and we were given the orders to procure and the quantity and specifications for ballot papers, canvassing forms (and others) last Sept. 20 or 35 days before elections.

“So if there were delays, it is not delay in the conduct of the bidding but delays in the giving of instructions and specifications and quantity to the BAC,” Rafanan said.

The NPO, meanwhile, said Comelec should be blamed for the delay in the delivery of election materials.

“The NPO is only deputized by Comelec to print. All the materials we will need (to print the ballots) are to come from them,” NPO officer-in-charge Evelyn Perlado said.

Perlado said the NPO wanted to print the election materials as early as possible.

“As early as August 16, we sent them (Comelec) a letter informing them, reminding them of what we need for the printing of the ballots,” Perlado said.

Perlado said it usually takes 45 days to print the ballots. “Then 10 days before the elections, they should be delivered,” she said.

Perlado said Comelec only delivered the security paper for the ballots on Oct. 3. “So we had only 18 days to print,” she said.

Despite the delay, Perlado said they completed the task of printing all the 53 million ballots by Oct. 23.

“We actually printed in record time,” she remarked.

Sources revealed Emmanuel Andaya, the newly appointed NPO director, had brought in an untried printing company identified as Holy Family Printing, to print the ballots last September when he came into the agency.

The printing firm kept old and obsolete printing machines that apparently caused the delay, sources said.

The entry of the new printing company, with their services costing about P72 million, had severely put in question the NPO’s ability to print all the ballots needed for last Monday’s elections that resulted in the delayed delivery of the ballots and other election forms.

Perlado, on the other hand, brushed off questions made on the capability of the printing machines the NPO had leased to print the ballots.

She said there would have been no problem if the Comelec delivered the paper needed to print the ballots early.

“That’s not the problem. The problem is the very tight timeline that they gave us for the printing of the ballots,” Perlado said.

“We did our best. And we completed the printing of the ballots as committed and as promised by the NPO,” she said.

Concerns

Lawmakers led by Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga, chairman of the committee of suffrage and electoral reforms of the House of Representatives, welcomed Comelec’s move to investigate the delay.

Barzaga said the panel would also push through with the scheduled hearings on the just-concluded barangay and SK elections.

“We and the public would welcome such a development. However, there are other worrisome reports and major concerns apart from the delays that the House must also look into,” he said.

Barzaga said the House panel would also investigate reports of mass disqualification of candidates along with other allegations.

“Our (panel) scope of investigation is wider and bigger and we will come up with measures to prevent such problems from happening again,” he said.

Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone said the Comelec should have assessed and tested its capabilities that could have prevented the massive breakdown and delays in the delivery of election paraphernalia.

“Accountable persons would have a lot of explaining to do,” Evardone said.

“The Comelec should assure the public that there would be no cover up. Otherwise, the credibility of the poll body would be affected,” he said.

Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri said the government should be blamed for the mess in the conduct of the barangay elections.

Zubiri said Comelec and Malacañang should stop blaming each other for the disappointing results of the polls.

“We were not prepared because we just had the national elections, and it has been costly,” he said.

Zubiri said Comelec was apparently ill prepared in the conduct of last Monday’s village polls.

Zubiri maintained his proposal to include the barangay polls in the synchronized national elections.

He said the government should review proposals to implement a hybrid system for the 2013 elections to include the barangay levels but to be conducted under the manual system of voting.

“This (Monday’s elections) just shows that we are not ready… it could have been smooth sailing if it was reset next year. This is what I’ve been saying and nobody listened and now we had problems,” Zubiri said.

“I place the blame both on the Comelec and the executive. Why did you not prepare for this efficiently,” he said.

Sen. Edgardo Angara also suggested to abolish the SK by saying it has already outlived its usefulness as an indicator of youth governance in the country.

Angara has also expressed concern that the youth was put in the middle of an admittedly dirty political arena.

Sen. Lito Lapid, for his part, proposed to increase the penalties for election offenses committed under violence and intimidation.

Lapid noted the increasing violence committed in last Monday’s elections.

Zubiri joined Lapid in asking the security forces on why they were not able to prevent violence from breaking out in some areas during the village polls.

“The DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government) and the PNP (Philippine National Police) were unable to thwart these election-related violence. Why?” Zubiri asked.

Sheila Crisostomo, Philippine Star