THE Commission on Elections on Wednesday junked the proposal of its Chairman Andres Bautista to allow voters in 352 clustered precincts to vote in 86 shopping malls across the country because the proposal did not comply with the law.
Bautista said Commission voted 4-3 against the proposal with Commissioners Christian Lim, Arthur Lim, Luie Guia and Rowena Guanzon voting against the proposal because of its illegality.
“You can see that we sought and we obtained the approval of the en banc, and made sure that we complied with all the requirements, like subjecting the proposed transfer to public hearing, attached to the said approval,” Bautista said.
“Despite all these, I regret to say that three members of the commission changed their mind last night,” the poll chief added.
Originally, the two Lims and Guia agreed with Bautista, Commissioners Sheriff Abas and Al Pareño to allow voting in malls “to enhance the voting experience.”
But they were apparently persuaded that the idea was illegal, especially after former Comelec commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said that the proposal did not meet three requirements.
“When you transfer polling places or clustered precincts from one polling place to another, there are basically three requirements. First, you have to notify all parties and voters affected. Second, you have to have a Comelec resolution moving the clustered precincts to the new polling places and you have to specify the clustered precincts that will be moved. Third, it has to be done not later than 45 days before elections,” Larrazabal said.
“If you transfer the polling places now, it’s illegal,” Larrazabal added.
Bautista apologized to voters who want to vote in malls and to all mall owners who have been helping the Comelec in improving elections.
“We can say that we have done our best and we will still keep doing so to make things better,” he said, paraphrasing inspirational writer Arthur Williams who said “all you can do is all you can do. Hopefully all we can do is enough.”
Meanwhile, Larrazabal lauded the decision but advised the Comelec to start “focusing” on the more pressing issues.
“It’s good that the Commission En banc resolved the issue of mall voting. Procedurally, mall voting did not comply with the requirements of the law. There was no approval, rather, the en banc only noted the list. It’s good the commission clarified this issue,” Larrazabal said.
“I hope this now will allow us to discuss the more pressing concerns of the fast-approaching elections,” he added.
