Roundup
Approved list of candidates for national office
THE Commission on Elections on Tuesday narrowed down the list of candidates for national positions to eight for president, eight for vice president and 58 for senator. Following is Comelec Resolution No. 8713 giving due course to their certificates of candidacy and disqualifying the rest:
Candidates for president, vice president, senator
NINETY-NINE people have filed certificates of candidacy for president in next year’s elections, records from the Comission on Elections show.
The Comelec’s final list also shows 20 candidates vying for the position of vice president and 158 for senator. Twelve senators will be elected in May.
The senatorial candidates include nine from the Liberal Party; Lakas-Kampi-CMD, six; Nacionalista Party, six; Kilusang Bagong Lipunan, seven; Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino, five; Ang Kapatiran, eight; Bangon Pilipinas, six; Nationalist People’s Coaliation, two; and PDP-Laban, two.
Namfrel urges transfer of Comelec office in Maguindanao
THE National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections has urged the Commission on Elections to move its Maguindanao office from Shariff Aguak to another location following the massacre of at least 57 civilians on their way to the local Comelec office for the filing of the certificate of candidacy of a gubernatorial hopeful.
The poll watchdog also asked the Comelec to consider holding an early election in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and put the entire region, especially Maguindanao, under its control.
Lakas-Kampi expels Ampatuans
THREE members of the Ampatuan clan were expelled Wednesday from the administration Lakas-Kampi-CMD party following their suspected involvement in the massacre of 57 civilians, including journalists, in Maguindanao on Monday.
Lakas-Kampi-CMD chair and standard-bearer Gilbert Teodoro, who visited Maguindanao Wednesday, said the party’s National Executive Committee “unanimously decided” to expel Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. and his sons Zaldy, governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and Andal Jr., mayor of Datu Unsay town. The elder Ampatuan was the party’s chairman in Maguindano.
The Ampatuans, staunch allies of President Arroyo, are known to have helped the president clinch her victory in the 2004 elections by delivering votes that have been described as “statistically improbable.” Arroyo’s opponent, population action star Fernando Poe Jr., scored zero in several Maguindanao towns.
LP bares initial list of senatorial candidates
THE Liberal Party has announced its initial list of senatorial candidates:
- Former Senate President Franklin Drilon
- Former Senator Serge Osmeña III
- Detained officer Brig. Gen. Danilo “Danny” Lim
- Rep. Rozzano Rufino “Ruffy” Biazon
- Rep. Teofisto Guingona Jr.
- Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros
- Former Congressman Nereus “Neric” Acosta
- Former Senator Ralph Recto, also former National Economic Development Authority director-general under Gloria Arroyo
- Sonia Roco, widow of former senator and education secretary Raul Roco
Concerned Citizens Movement questions deviations in poll contract
THE Concerned Citizens movement today filed a supplemental motion for reconsideration from a decision of the Supreme Court upholding the legality of the Comelec-Smartmatic Automated Election Systems.
In a 25-page motion, CCM singled out two new grounds both of which arose from “supervening events” since the High Court dismissed the CCM Petition against the Commission on Elections. The grounds alleged by CCM are:
6 to 8 minutes to fill up 2010 ballot—YouthVote study
IT may take a voter an average of six minutes and one second to fill up the proposed ballot for next year’s automated elections, a recent time-and-motion study shows.
A total of 534 people of voting age participated in the study held Saturday at the San Isidro Central School, Nueva Ecija by YouthVotePhilippines, which consists of youth groups and organizations engaged in voter education.
YouthVote earlier recorded an average of eight minutes and four seconds when it did a similar study in Tanauan, Batangas.
Stop poll automation payments, SC asked
A CITIZENS group on Monday asked the Supreme Court to stop the Commission on Elections from releasing payments to Smartmatic TIM Corp., the winner of the P7.2 billion contract to automate next year’s elections.
The Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM), whose case questioning the awarding of the contract will be heard by the High Court on July 29, said Smartmatic TIM is expected to collect about P4 billion even before delivering the 82,200 Precinct Count Optical Scan machines that will be used in the elections.
SC asked to stop automated poll contract signing
A GROUP of citizens asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to stop tomorrow’s signing of the contract for the 2010 Elections Automation Project by the Commission on Elections and the winning bidder, Smartmatic International and its local partner Total Information Management.
The petitioners, led by lawyer Harry Roque and his law partners, also asked the High Tribunal to declare the Comelec as having committed “grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction” when it awarded the P7.2 billion deal to the Smartmatic and TIM.
The 50-page petition said the Comelec failed to conduct a pilot testing of Smartmatic-TIM’s Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines, in violation of Republic Act 8436, which authorized the poll body to automate national and local polls.