The country
pinned its hopes on automation to speed up the electoral process.
With the Supreme Court ruling, however, the Commission on
Elections (Comelec) will just have to count the votes the
old way and risk precipitating a constitutional crisis.
In the May 10 elections, voters in every town and city all
over the country will elect the president and vice president,
12 senators and one congressman, as well as mayor, vice-mayor,
and a minimum of eight councilors.
As the constitution provides, the newly elected president
and vice-president shall take their oath of office on June
1 at noon. There is a strong possibility that the counting
cannot be completed on time, with the result that the winning
candidates cannot be proclaimed, owing to the long and tedious
vote counting and canvassing process.
The vacuum, some quarters fear, could be exploited and used
by military adventurers as a convenient excuse to step in
and grab power.
In anticipation of such an occurrence, administration and
opposition candidates urge that the Comelec shift immediately
to a system of manual counting and throw its entire resources
behind the effort.
There is no valid reason why the Comelec, which has been
doing a manual count for the past 50 years, cannot do it this
time. Others, however, point out the fact that all the preparations
so far have been geared toward an automated system. It is
thus nearly impossible to make the shift this late in the
day.
In addition to the national officials, town residents will
also fill out the blanks in the ballot for provincial government
officials, namely the governor, vice-governor, and three members
of the provincial board.
Normally, the winning candidates for mayor, vice-mayor,
and councilors are known the following day. And it takes a
week to determine the winners
of the provincial elections.
The delay in the proclamation of the winners in the presidential,
vice-presidential, and senatorial elections gives the country
its collective nightmare. The process usually requires two
or three weeks to complete. It is during the hiatus that manipulation
and fraud occur.
To Filipinos living in foreign countries like Japan who
have just been granted the right to vote, the uncertainties
resulting from this decision of the Supreme Court may give
them enough incentive not to participate at all in the electoral
process. And that would be a great setback not only to the
themselves and the people who made efforts to secure their
rights, but more importantly, to the Philippine democracy
as well.
