62 groups sign covenant pushing for 2022 polls

MANILA, Philippines — Around 70 individuals and 62 groups from various sectors, including the religious, academe and civil society, have called on the government not to use the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to suspend the 2022 elections.

“Whatever happens we call for elections to take place,” said Manila Archdiocese apostolic administrator Bishop Broderick Pabillo, one of the signatories to the unity statement “Toward a C-22 (Covenant for the Elections),” which expressed their commitment to “promoting and upholding safe, free, fair, credible and transparent elections.”

Another signatory, the Legal Network for Truthful Elections or LENTE, said the pandemic was “no excuse” to defer the upcoming polls, noting that elections had been conducted in other countries like Singapore and Sri Lanka.

Other signatories included Prof. Danilo Arao of Kontra Daya, former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, former Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Luie Tito Guia, economist and professor Solita Monsod, the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections, Affiliated Network for Social Accountability in East Asia and the Pacific, Alliance for the Common Good-Kapatiran Party, Alliance of Concerned Teachers Philippines, Kontra Daya, Automated Elections System Watch, Center for People Empowerment in Governance, IBON Foundation and Caritas Philippines, among others.

They also asked the President and members of Congress, as well as all political parties, party-list groups, Comelec and “all Filipinos who value democracy,” to declare a similar commitment to holding the elections on May 9, 2022.