Contemplate on your deeds this Holy Week – LP tells COMELEC

The Lenten break is the best opportunity for officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to reflect and think of the people’s will as they prepare for a successful, orderly and peaceful conduct of the May 10 national elections, the Liberal Party said today.

LP Director General Chito Gascon appealed to Comelec commissioners to ensure that results of the country’s first automated elections would reflect the true will of the people, and not the selfish desires of the incumbent administration to stay in power and continue its oppressive and abusive rule.

“Ang Mahal na Araw ay panahon ng pagninilay tungkol sa mga kakulangan at kasalanan. Sana po ang Comelec ay magnilay din at nang sa gano’n ay magbagong buhay na tayong lahat sa Easter at nang magkaroon tayo ng maayos, malinis at mapayapang eleksiyon (The Lenten season is a time for everyone to be sorry for their sins. This is a great time for Comelec officials to meditate and seek guidance on how we can have clean, orderly and peaceful elections),” Gascon said.

Liberal Party officials, led by standard-bearers Senators Noynoy Aquino and Mar Roxas, have expressed apprehension about a possible failure of the May 10 polls, as they noted the Comelec’s lackluster response to alarming developments in its preparations for the first automatic election system (AES) in the country.

Aquino and Roxas have appealed to the Comelec to immediately resolve technical glitches cited not only by the Liberal Party but other election watchdogs as well, insisting doing so would ensure the credibility of the AES.

The LP tandem have also urged the poll body to authorize the NAMFREL to conduct a public official count; stop the harassment of LP’s local candidates; accredit the LP as the dominant minority party; and to allow an independent review of the PCOS machines source code 2 weeks before the actual elections.

Survey frontrunners Aquino and Roxas lamented Comelec officials seemed to have simply shrugged off alarming developments in the political front that could affect the results of the May 10 polls. Among these trends are the following:

• Appointment of General Delfin Bangit as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines;
• The reshuffle of police directors without the authority of local executives;
• The Supreme Court decision allowing President Arroyo to appoint the next Chief Justice to replace retiring Chief Justice Reynaldo Puno; and
• The declaration of deputy presidential spokesperson Undersecretary Charito Planas and National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales of a possible military junta takeover or a transitional revolutionary government if the poll automation fails.