Comelec infighting may weaken credibility of 2016 polls—solon
Comelec Chair Andres Bautista and Commissioner Rowena Guanzon. FILE PHOTOS
The rift within the Commission on Elections (Comelec) may undermine the credibility of the 2016 presidential elections, a senatorial aspirant said on Tuesday.
In a press conference, Pasig City Representative Roman Romulo added that the internal conflict between Comelec chairperson Andres “Andy” Bautista and commissioner Rowena Guanzon serves only to confuse the public about the presidential candidacy of Senator Grace Poe.
READ: Comelec in disarray over Poe DQ cases
“If this goes on, na publicly nila ipapakita ang alitan, maaapektuhan ang credibility ng halalan (If they continue to argue publicly, the credibility of the elections will be affected),” said Romulo, a senatorial candidate under the ticket of Poe.
Romulo lamented that the infighting shifted the focus to the Comelec, which disqualified Poe, instead of it being on the Senate Electoral Tribunal, which ruled in favor of Poe and declared her natural-born, and the Supreme Court (SC), which imposed a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the Comelec’s disqualification of Poe.
READ: High Court issues TROs on Poe’s disqualification
Romulo also said even the Office of the Solicitor General (SolGen) backed the SET decision against the petitions before the SC seeking to reverse it.
“Talagang nagkakaroon ng confusion sa kandidatura ni Senator Grace Poe. Marami pa ring nagtatanong kung kandidato pa ba si Grace Poe,” Romulo said.
(There’s been a cloud of confusion in the candidacy of Senator Grace Poe. There are people asking if she is still a candidate.)
He said the conflict within the Comelec only muddles the issue even more to the detriment of Poe.
“Habang may alitan hindi maganda ‘yun (for Grace Poe). Nako-confuse lang ang mga tao, na-fo-focus ang isyu tungkol sa Comelec lamang pero ang mas importante na malaman ng taumbayan ay nakakuha ng TRO si Grace Poe at pinanigan ng SolGen ang kaniyang legal arguments,” Romulo said.
(Their continued fighting is not good for the candidacy of Grace Poe. It only confuses the people because their focus is turned to the Comelec only when they should know about the more important matter which is Grace Poe obtained a TRO and the SolGen sided with her legal arguments.)
READ: DQ cases affected my rating, says Poe
He added that the rift only distracts from the public from its right to suffrage as a democratic form of exercise.
He said he hoped the Comelec may resolve its conflict so that it could make decisions as a unified body in its preparations for the next presidential elections.
The rift stemmed from Guanzon’s filing of a comment on Poe’s pleading to the Supreme Court seeking to overturn the Comelec’s disqualification of Poe from the presidential race over her failure to meet the required 10-year residency period and for not being a natural-born Filipino.
Bautista said Guanzon’s filing of an unauthorized comment which did not go through the chairperson’s office is not only “irregular” but also “disrespectful.”
Guanzon said she need not seek Bautista’s approval because he is neither her superior nor her employer.
She further lashed at Bautista and said the Comelec chairperson is biased for Poe. IDL
