We are confused.
The elections commissioner looking into the presidential debate fiasco, Rey Bulay, first said the poll body had withheld payment of P15.3 million to its debate contractor Impact Hub Manila while the controversial deal was being investigated.
The third round of the presidential and vice presidential debates scheduled for April 23 and 24 was first postponed, and then canceled, after the venue, Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila, said Impact Hub Manila had failed to pay its obligation of P14 million.
Bulay said a request for a P15.3 million disbursement by Comelec directors James Jimenez and Frances Arabe, and approved by Commission on Elections Chairman Saidamen Pangarungam and Commissioner Socorro Inting, was later put on hold.
But this seemed to contradict another statement from Bulay, who said the commission did not spend “a single centavo” for the presidential and vice presidential debates, and that its agreement with Impact Hub Manila provided that the contractor’s services would be given without cost.
This begs the question, why then did Comelec directors seek the disbursement of P15.3 million in favor of Impact Hub Manila? And why was the expense, initially at least, approved by the Comelec chairman and Commissioner Inting? Were the Comelec officials seeking to use public money to pay off a private debt?
On an even more basic level, why was a P15.3 million disbursement sought, when the debt to the debate venue was supposed to be only P14 million? Where was the balance of P1.3 million supposed to go?
Bulay said this week that over half of the poll body’s departments have submitted their responses to questions about their role in the debate fiasco, and asked for time to study responses. He also said the departments have “a presumption of regularity” while the investigation is ongoing.
Regardless of what the investigation finally finds, it is undeniable that the debate fiasco hardly fosters public confidence in the Comelec.
Bulay, of all people, should recognize this.
After all, he was the Comelec commissioner who warned that they would not hesitate to call on the Armed Forces to round them up and jail anyone who insinuated that the commission was being partisan.
Under fire for those remarks, Bulay chose to parse words rather than apologize, saying what he said was not a threat but “a warning.”
His “warning” came after Inting denounced a statement by the AIM Alumni for Leni calling for orderly, peaceful and credible elections as “unnecessary,” and saying it “subtly conditions the minds of Filipinos” that the upcoming elections would not be credible if Vice President Leni Robredo loses the presidential race.
None of that is in the AIM Alumni statement, of course—but what is the truth and P1.3 million among friends?
In the wake of the debate fiasco, if Commissioner Bulay is looking to arrest people who damage the reputation of the poll body, maybe he ought to begin by looking closer to home.
