President Rodrigo Duterte said he will leave it up to newly-appointed Commission on Elections chairman Saidamen Balt Pangarungan to decide on the fate of the poll body’s voter information campaign deal with news site Rappler.
“I don’t know what would be the take of Chairman Saidamen… I think [Comelec] has suspended it. But I have not really seen [that agreement,” Duterte said.
Last month, Solicitor General Jose Calida sent a letter to Comelec, asking it to unilaterally rescind its memorandum of agreement with Rappler.
Calida reiterated his claim that Rappler was a foreign corporation, and that its participation in the Philippine elections through the MOA was thus considered foreign interference, a violation of the country’s election laws and the 1987 Constitution.
Duterte agreed, acknowledging that the Securities and Exchange Commission had earlier revoked Rapper’s Certificate of Incorporation.
He described Pangarungan as being “good” and having a “vast experience in public service.”
Aside from the Rappler pact, Duterte said he believed Pangarungan would address issues hounding the Comelec, including the ballot printing which was reportedly not opened to election observation groups.
Pangarungan, a former secretary of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos, finished his Liberal Arts degree in 1971 and Law in 1976 at the San Beda College.
Duterte said he did not believe Comelec disregarded the rule of opening ballot printing to election observation groups.
“I do not believe it because I know everyone at Comelec,” he said.
“I think the ballot is being printed at the Bureau of Printing. And I think, if there is a requirement that there should be witnesses, I am sure I have no reason to hear that this particular rule has been disregarded. I have not yet heard of it,” he added.
Poll watchdogs, including the National Citizens Movement for Free Elections, earlier criticized the Comelec for not allowing election observation groups to see preparations for the national elections.
“Namfrel recommends opening up the facilities for observation during the election period until termination of operations,” it said.
The group also expressed concern over the lack of guidelines to open up observation by accredited election monitors of the operations in the various data centers where the Comelec Central Server, backup server, and transparency server are located, including access to regional hubs.
Namfrel said Comelec should release guidelines to allow stakeholders, including accredited citizens’ arms, to field observers in the various data centers and regional hubs during the election period until the termination of operations.
In response, the Comelec said it was eyeing more observers of its preparations for the May polls.