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THE
application to hold a quick count in the midterm
elections of the National Secretariat for Social
Action-Justice and Peace, the social arm of the Catholic
Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines got a
surprise—the pledge of some businessmen to support it.
The
secretariat’s application itself already surprised the
Commission on Elections and even Church insiders since
this is the first time the conference is directly
getting involved in the counting of votes.
Archbishop Antonio Ledesma of Cagayan de Oro, CBCP vice
president, said the secretariat for social action
believed it will be able to do the job since the pledges
it has been getting from the business community will
allow it to have the necessary equipment for a quick
count.
“There
are offers from business people but I’m not familiar
with the particular names or organizations.”
Some
Church insiders said among these business groups is the
Makati Business Club but Guillermo Luz, its former
executive director, said the business community will
“only support one effort” meaning a combined venture of
the bishops’ effort, that of the National Citizens
Movement for Free Elections, and the Parish Pastoral
Council for Responsible Voting are involved. “I don’t
think the business community will support different
efforts. It won’t be prudent to do that.”
Luz,
also Namfrel’s former secretary general, noted the three
organizations have been helping each other in past
elections even if Namfrel was the only one accredited to
do the quick count of votes.
On the
one hand, Ledesma denied the bishops’ entry in a quick
count rests on the bishops’ diminished confidence in
Namfrel’s transparency. He said the clergy took note of
allegations that Namfrel was part of an alleged cover-up
to rig the 2004 polls in favor of President Arroyo.
In that
election, Namfrel counted only up to just almost 80
percent of the results and then stopped creating
suspicions it turned a blind eye on discrepancies
between its own canvassing compared to the Comelec’s
official count.
“In the
last elections we did take note of that. So I think in
light of previous elections the social action directors
felt that maybe this time they should be more proactive;
more out in the open in terms of making sure that the
votes are counted,” said Ledesma.
He said
the bishops are considering changing the name of the
social action secretariat once it gets accreditation to
veer away suspicions the Roman Catholic Church is
meddling in the political exercise. “One suggestion was
really to come out with a new name like Concerned
Citizens for Clean Election [comprising NASSA, PPCRV,
Namfrel] so that it becomes multi-sectoral and
interfaith and not tied only to a particular church.” |
