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SOME
1,000 reams of election returns (ERs) were “misprinted,”
the Commission on Elections announced on Monday, but
assured will be destroyed in “full view” of
representatives of political parties. Still, the snafu
has fanned the opposition’s fears of cheating.
Comelec
spokesman James Jimenez said the 7th copies of the
election returns that the poll watchdog gets were
“misidentified as those for posting” (in polling
precincts) when it should have been the second copy.
The
seven copies of ERs contain the summary of votes cast in
the polling precincts and are composed of six
carbon-backed copies, with the last without carbon
backing. These are distributed one each to the Comelec,
the dominant majority party, dominant minority party,
and the National Citizens Movement for Free Elections.
Opposition Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. immediately warned
of a possible “massive manipulation” of the May 14
mid-term election. “From all indications, it seems to me
that at the rate the Comelec is admitting one mistake
after another, we are about to see massive manipulation
of the forthcoming polls.”
Pimentel
proposed the solution relies heavily on vigilance on the
part of the people and the opposition. “That means we
cannot rest on the laurels of our prospective victory as
indicated by the surveys. We have to work very hard to
attain that victory…to make it a reality.”
He
strongly urged that Comelec officials concerned be
called to account for the error because the maintenance
of clean and honest elections is their primary function.
“And if they cannot, even at this point, maintain the
integrity of the process and allow such so-called honest
mistakes to creep into their decision-making process,
what can you expect?” |
