A FORMER poll commissioner on Wednesday questioned the approval of voting in shopping malls, despite the absence of a resolution approving the transfer of 352 clustered precincts to those commercial centers.
In an interview, former commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said it was illegal for Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista to issue a memo dated April 14 without copy furnishing the six other commissioners, and ordering selected regional election directors and provincial election supervisors to start coordinating the transfer of clustered precincts to malls.
“There are two issues which we raised to the Comelec. The first is, is the memo is genuine because we just got the copy; and second is it appears not to be not in conformity with the law on transfer of polling places,” Larrazabal said.
Larrazabal said that 19 days before the May 9 national and local elections, it was illegal to transfer the polling precincts since the Comelec failed to meet the three requirements needed.
“If you transfer the polling places now, it’s illegal,” he said.
“When you transfer polling places or clustered precincts from one polling place to another, there are basically three requirements. First, you have to have notice to all parties and voters affected. Second, you have to have a Comelec en banc resolution moving the clustered precincts to the new polling places. And you have to specify the clustered precincts that will be moved. And third, it has to be done not later than 45 days before elections,” Larrazabal said.
Two commissioners who declined to be named said they have not signed any resolution approving the transfer of precincts to shopping malls.
One commissioner admitted that he or she was not aware of what was happening with Bautista’s mall voting project.
The other commissioner said it was already too late to implement the mall voting project.
Larrazabal also criticized how the memo was signed only by Bautista and not all the commissioners.
“In the first place, the transfer is being effected only by the chairman, not by the commission. While the honorable chairman certainly has authority to perform certain acts for the Commission as its chief executive officer, the authority to transfer polling places is, unfortunately, not one of them as the law specifically requires that the same be done by the commission,” Larrazabal said.
“It also appears that the memorandum does not even show that the other members of the commission have been informed…. As a former member of the Commission myself, I lament the seeming disrespect to the other members of the commission apparent on the face of the memorandum,” the former poll official added.
But Bautista said the Comelec en banc had already signed a resolution dated March 10.
“Really, one of the things that differentiates this commission, as distinguished from other commissions, is that we are looking for ways to enhance the voting experience” Bautista said.
He said people will benefit from this project and maintained that mall voting is legal.
But Larrazabal disputed Bautista’s explanation, saying that the March 10 document was not an en banc resolution approving mall voting.
“Clearly, there is no approval by the Commission en banc of the final list,” Larrazabal said, saying the March 10 document merely noted the existence of the list.
Also on Wedneday, vice presidential candidate Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called on the Comelec to investigate the reported discrepancies between actual votes on the ballot and the printed voters’ receipts in the overseas absentee voting.
Instead of threatening to file election offense charges against voters who complain about the discrepancies the poll body should conduct a thorough investigation to establish the truth, Marcos said.
“In some of these reports, the voter receipt showed no vote for president when in the physical ballot it was actually shaded and voted for, while other reports said the voter receipt showed a candidate’s name different from the one actually voted for in the physical ballot,” said Marcos, who is leading the vice presidential race.
A video posted on social media showed an Filipina working in Hong Kong, who said she voted for Marcos, but the receipt showed she voted for Honasan.
When the overseas worker, who is from Ilocos Norte, complained, election officers told her she would not be able to vote again because of the one ballot, one vote rule.
“Every vote is sacred and one complaint about possible error or manipulation of voting results is one complaint too many,” Marcos said.
