‘Political havoc’ warned over delay of Bautista confirmation

AN election lawyer on Sunday said the Commission on Appointments (CA) has no basis to defer the confirmation of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair Andres Bautista over the alleged 12 million missing votes in the 2013 balloting.

Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal said it was “impractical, if not unreasonable,” to delay Bautista’s confirmation until the latter was able to submit a report on the matter since the Comelec was already in the thick of preparing for the May 9 national elections next year.

“Either [Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce] Enrile was misled or misinformed of the said information because it was completely impossible for such a huge number of 12 million votes to be unaccounted for in any election,” said Macalintal.

He said it has never happened in the history of the country’s electoral process that such an enormous number of votes that could materially affect the results of the elections would remain unaccounted for.

“Otherwise, it would create political havoc in our country knowing the propensity of losing candidates to shout out loud that they were ‘cheated’ and ‘to demand recount or put up all sorts of obstacles in an open display of unwillingness to accept defeat in good grace,’” he said, quoting from the Sanchez vs Comelec case in 1987 and Farinas vs Comelec case in 1988.

At the hearing of the CA’s committee on constitutional commissions last week, Enrile asked for the deferment of the confirmation of Bautista and Commissioner Sheriff Abas until they could shed light on the said election results from the 18,486 precincts.

Enrile, who was placed under hospital arrest for more than a year over the pork barrel scam, also referred to a letter of Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) national chair Henrietta de Villa about the election results from these precincts.

Macalintal pointed out that the results obtained by accredited citizens’ arm of the Comelec such as the PPCRV were “incomplete unofficial reports” although they may come from “official sources.”

“This is so because only Comelec could make the complete canvass, which is considered as “official count” and also even in past experiences, the PPCRV…and Namfrel never got a complete or 100 percent results of any election,” he said.

He also noted that the incident did not happen under Bautista’s watch but under former Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr., whom he said was in the position to explain very well the issue.

“Hence, the alleged 12 million ‘missing votes’ in the 2013 elections should not have been nor should be the basis of any objection to the confirmation of the nomination of Bautista as Comelec chair,” the election lawyer added.

“The CA owes it to the nation to immediately confirm him as there are plenty of work to be done at the Comelec that needs Bautista’s immediate attention to ensure a clean and credible 2016 elections,” he said.