Larrazabal presses alarm on Comelec’s replacement ballot rule

BY ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS

AS the official who supervised the first automated national elections in 2010, former Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal wants the elections on Monday to succeed. That means for it to be accepted by the Filipino people as honest and credible.

But there are a number of things that the current Comelec leadership is doing that worries Larrazabal.

Yesterday, he wrote again Comelec regarding the last minute insertion of the provision on replacement of ballots.

He has written Comelec at least twice earlier raising “the red flag about this provision” but Comelec has not resolved the issue.

In yesterday’s letter, Larrazabal  wrote: “Last night, I read a tweet posted by ABS-CBN Reporter Pia Gutierrez which said that, “Comelec: In case ballots run out on election day bec of replacement ballot rule, voter will be asked to vote in nearest neighboring precinct.”

“If this is already in the proposed rules regarding replacement of ballots, this is very alarming as it clearly lacks legal basis,” Larrazabal said.

He continued: “Surely, the Honorable Commission could not have been relying merely on Sec. 15 of republic Act No. 9369, especially in the light of Section 194 of the Omnibus Election Code, which requires that only those included in the list of voters in a particular precinct can vote thereat, the violation of which as far as we know, is still an election offense under Section 262 of the Omnibus Election Code.”

Larrazabal said that supposed solution to the problem created by ballot replacement will create unnecessary burden to the Comelec field personnel and the Board of Election Inspectors, who are already overburdened with other responsibilities.

Larrazabal asked Comelec to consider the following concerns:

1. Who will issue the certification that a voter or voters in a clustered precinct can no longer vote because of lack of ballots?

2. How can this certification be contested?

3. Is there a specific UNIFORM document to be accomplished for the certification?

4. What happens when there are several adjacent clustered precincts? Who chooses what precinct the voter will go to? What are the standards by which said adjacent precinct will be chosen?

5. What happens when it is a barangay clustered precinct and the adjacent clustered precinct is located in another barangay?

6. What happens if the clustered precinct is in an island barangay, and the nearest clustered precinct is in the mainland?

7. What happens if the official ballots in said “adjacent precinct” become lacking for its own registered voters after voters from the other clustered precinct is allowed to vote in said “adjacent precinct”?

Larrazabal reiterated his earlier call to the Comelec to “recall said rule for lack of legal basis.”

He reminded Comelec officials that Sec. 14 of R.A 8436, which is the only legal provision allowing a voter to replace his spoiled ballot, has been consciously not carried over and therefore disallowed under R.A. 9369.

Larrazabal said it appears now “that the provision on ‘replacement ballots’ under Comelec resolution 10088 has brought forth more issues if not more problems, than are necessary, especially in view of the proximity of the Polls.”