“This is a plea to Commissioner Casquejo.”
As we go past into the first week of the election campaign for national positions, we bear witness to different strategies and tactics being waged by each candidate as they try to lure voters into their respective camps. The singing and dancing on stage have started, fancy motorcades and caravans have started lining up on streets. One candidate even had the gall to use the Pope Mobile; her supporters claim nothing’s wrong with such an act.
Well, that mobile was specifically designed for use by the Pope whom we Catholics so much revere. Say, what would these people do if the presidential car, which as the name implies, is specifically designed for use by the president, is used by a candidate for his or her campaign sortie?
Anyway, before they indulge too much into their respective campaigns, I hope each of their camp is seriously looking into another matter of major concern for something much, much bigger which concerns all the other candidates is brewing over at the poll body – the transparency, or the apparent lack of it, specifically on the preparatory stage for the election requirements including that of the ballot printing and the uploading of the contents on the SD cards.
While retired Comelec Chairman Sheriff Abas has vowed to ensure transparency with the election preparation before he stepped down from office, allowing representatives from interested parties to observe poll preparations, it seems Comelec Commissioner Marlon Casquejo is not too keen to heed the former chair’s directive. Up to now, no representatives from all the participating political parties in the May 9 polls, and even from the media have been allowed entry to the Comelec warehouse in Sta. Rosa and inside the National Printing Office.
Casquejo is the head of the National and Local Elections Steering Committee.
This even as officials of different political parties have sent letters to the Comelec requesting the following:
1. A walk through and visit to the COMELEC Sta Rosa warehouse to observe the a. Uploading of contents to the SD Cards;
b. Stress testing of the Vote Counting Machines; and,
c. To be allowed to randomly open and see the inside of the VCM similar to that which was conducted in 2016;
2. A walk through, visit and deployment of observers to the National Printing Office; and
3. The conduct of an end-to-end demonstration of the election system to see the codes and scripts as data is passed on from the VCM to the CCS similar to the 2019 election preparations.
Unfortunately, Comelec to date, has failed to act on said requests.
According to officials of the different political parties, they have been sending representatives to the NPO and the Comelec Sta. Rosa warehouse each day only to be shunned by security guards telling them they have no directive coming from the Comelec to allow them entry. For the information of everyone, the NPO has an observation room where representatives from interested parties can observe the actual ballot printing.
Failure to open up the election preparations, specifically that of the ballot printing and SD card uploading, can give rise to serious doubts on the credibility of the election results which has been an issue since the first automated polls in 2010.
Back then, there were issues of pre-shaded ballots and pre-programmed SD cards favoring particular candidates. Candidates protesting identical results per precinct were prevalent then. Thus, maybe the decision to allow observation of the uploading of the contents in the SD cards in 2016.
So, what gives? Why is the Comelec, particularly Casquejo, refusing the interested parties in the coming polls from observing the preparation of the election paraphernalia? While we are not saying this could be a portent to possible cheating, much more in this era when people have been so much involved in politics courtesy of the social media that they simply cannot allow anyone to deprive them of their right to be led by their rightful chosen candidate, we believe that transparency in everything concerning the coming polls would pave the way for a smooth transition for whoever is proclaimed winner.
Whatever the results would be, would be easier, if not totally digestible than that of a preparation conducted in total darkness, where everyone is as blind as a bat.
The preparatory stage for the elections has just started. Maybe Casquejo can do his part to ensure a peaceful and credible elections by batting for transparency. And he could start by allowing representatives from all interested parties, including those from the media, to observe their preparations for the coming polls.
