Palace expects Comelec compliance amid possible postponement of elections

Communications Sec. Sonny Coloma. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Malacanang on Thursday said it is confident that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will be able to pull off an uneventful presidential election in May amid the Supreme Court’s (SC) order for the printing of voter receipts.

“We trust that the COMELEC will exert all efforts to ensure the orderly conduct of the national elections while complying with the Constitution and with the Supreme Court decision,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said in a text message.

This was in response to Comelec chair Andres Bautista’s statement on Wednesday that the poll body might need to postpone the May 9 polls to comply with the SC ruling.

READ: SC orders Comelec to issue vote receipts

The high court on Wednesday directed the Comelec to ensure that voter receipts will be printed to allow voters to verify their choices. The order granted the pe­ti­tion for man­damus filed by sen­a­to­rial can­di­date Richard Gor­don and his party Bagum­bayan-VNP Move­ment Inc. Gordon and his group argued that such “phys­i­cal record” would ensure a transparent and credible election. Gordon called the ruling a victory of “democracy and transparency.”

READ: SC reminds Comelec to obey ruling on voting receipts

However, Bautista said the printing of receipts will delay Comelec’s timeline.

“We are looking at what are the things we can do to en­force this di­rec­tive of the SC. We want to know specifically what would be the con­se­quences or im­pli­ca­tions if voter re­ceipt print­ing is im­ple­mented,” he said.

READ: Comelec chief says voter receipts to slow down count

The Comelec earlier claimed that the verification mechanism will extend voting hours. At the same time, it raised fears that the receipts will be used for vote-buying. RAM