Two key officials of the Commission on Elections have questioned attempts to revive a scheme that deprived Fernando Poe Jr. of victory in the 2004 presidential elections, saying that the proposed moves are unjustifiable, pointless, and would open the floodgates to electoral irregularities.
In two separate documents, Commissioner Christian Robert Lim and Comelec Regional Director Romeo Fortes both criticized the proposed return of the Commissioner-In-Charge system.
Under the CIC system, each commissioner is assigned specific administrative regions and possesses full authority to decide all election issues in his or her jurisdiction. These include the power to authorize the transfer of venue of counting of votes, the power to place areas within their assigned areas under Comelec control and to head the task force which shall implement Comelec control over local government units concerned, and the power to act on all requests or applications for transfer or reassignment of field officials and employees within their jurisdiction.
Comelec adopted the CIC system purportedly to expedite actions during election period. It was under this system, however, that the “Hello Garci” scandal broke out in 2005.
Former Supreme Court Justice Jose Melo abandoned the CIC system upon assumption of the Comelec chairmanship.
Fortes hit the CIC system, saying that “the justification that the CIC system expedites and facilitates Comelec actions is just a subterfuge for political control, especially during election period.”
Lim, on the other hand, said he would “vehemently oppose” the assignment of CICs in the regions for the purposes of the 2016 national elections, citing the absence of “basis or justification for it to be seriously considered” by the Comelec.
Aside from pointing out that no study had been done as to the advantages of the CIC system, Lim reminded fellow commissioners of what happened in the 2004 and 2007 national elections.
According to Lim, “reverting to the CIC system opens the door to a manipulation of the 2016 national and local elections not only at the regional, but more so, the national level.”
Lim added that the proposal was “a needless and pointless redundancy” as assigning a CIC to the regions duplicates the tasks of COMELEC’s Field Operations Group.
Even foreign observers have criticized the CIC system. In a report published by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), a group based in Washington D.C., it called the CIC system “inefficient and ineffective.”
