Speedier resolution of poll cases vowed

Criticized for sometimes deciding election protests right on the eve of the next polls, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Saturday vowed to resolve all election cases a year before the new elections.

Comelec Commissioner Lucenito Tagle said this was one of the reforms the poll body intended to put in place with its new five-year strategic plan that will end in 2016.

“It’s about streamlining our electoral contests and, if possible, to decide cases a year before the next election,” Tagle said.

“We’ll try to study our legal framework regarding that so that cases will not become moot and academic,” he added.

Commissioner Elias Yusoph said the poll body would also focus on improving its campaign to educate voters about their right of suffrage.

“We have to educate our voters that it is their duty and obligation to exercise their right of suffrage,” said Yusoph.

“In the past, (people) did not participate in elections because there was no effective voter’s education,” he added.

Yusoph said the Comelec aims to encourage all voters to participate in local and national elections.

The commissioner also said the Comelec was working on how to “harmonize” the country’s election laws.

“We have to harmonize the election laws so that if we have to enact a new Omnibus Election Code, we have to include everything so that every time an election comes, we do not need to issue a series of resolutions because it can be found in the OEC,” Yusoph said. Philip C. Tubeza