STORY BY MELVIN GASCON

Lawmakers score the pollbody for not informingvotgrsthltl34 secloTal

groups were listed .j I

u 4ewulr NeTLs" NtrYT r.Aq€ Pu. .-+

(s)
 House blames Comelec
forlow
moil fi
ly Mllvln Grscon
q)mclvlngasconlNQ
Less than halfofthe voters took
part in the party list election on
May t3, a lgw participation rate
:hat the House of Representa-
:ives blames on the Commis-
;ion on Elections (Coinelec).
The dismal voting results
ed to the defeat of zo "reelec.
;ionist" party list groups, ac-
:ording to Ako Bicol Rep. Alfre-
lo GarbinJr.
At a hearing conducted by the
{ouse committee on public ac-
:ounts, lawmakers on Wednes-
lay scored the Comelec for not
naking the public aware of vot-
ng for sectoral representatives.
Onty z7 million votes were
ast for party list groups, or a
nere 43 percent of the 63 mil-
ion registered voters, said Mi-
Lority Leader Danilo Suarez,
hair of the committee. It was
6.5 percent'in the.2016 presi-
ential polls, according to Com-
lec data.
The low turnout and the
litches that marred the auto-
rated polls impaired the credi-
ility of results for the party list
lection, the lawmakers said.
They said the Comelec did
ot wage an information cam-
aign to inform voters that thei
'ere supposed to vote for sec-
)ral candidates.
James Jimenez
party list groups on the back of
th€ ballot.
Placing the party list candi-
dates on the back was meant to
minimize the lengih of the bal-
lot, according to Comelec
spokesperson James Jimenez.
Voters were to choose only
one from among 134 party list
groups listed on the back of the
ballot.
On May 22, the Comeleq sit-
ting as the Natioaal Board of Can-
vassers, proclaimed 51 party list
orgalizations that won this
year's midterm elections. Eight
groups received at least 2 percent
of the votes cast in ttie party list
electior; while 43 others were
awarded one seat each despite
getting less than percent.
2 the cause of the
Under the Constitution, 20
percent of the seats in the
House of Representatives (now
Danilo Suarez
made aware because it is not
mainstream for them,"
The votes for Ako Bicol were
lower by 600,000 than what it
got in the 2016 elections, ac-.
cording to Garbin.
Waste offunds, effort
He expressed disgust that
party list groups might have
just wasted funds and effort in
the campaign, as many'voters
missed .shading their vote for
the groups "only because ofcir-
cumstances.l'
Agri Rep. Orestes Salon,
whose group failed to land a
seat in the 18th Congress, said
the "unexpected" results, cou-
pled with the reported glirches
in the automated elections, had
left losers perplexed.
"We don't know what hit us.
We don't even have €YtrPmP rc-
list YOteS
Alfredo Garbin Jr-
"Despite being the fourth
automated elections, it was
failed by dangerous $roblems
such as the delay in the delivery
of supplies and equipment,:'
Suarez said.
He saidthe procurement law
was not solely to blame. "The
Comelec has a habit of dismiss-
ing audit findings and rgcom-
mendations of procurement "
.
Defective slrpplies
?he lawmaker expressed dis-
may at the Comelec for using
"low quality" and "defective"
supplies despite the availability
of funds. ?he supplies came from
winning bidders who submitted
amounts way below the ap-
proved budget for the contract.
Helen Flores, Comelec
deputy eiecutive director for
,rdminiefHfinn eai.l rha h^ll
Voters usually look only for their
chosen candidates in the local races
andwould normally miss voting for
party list if they are not made aware
because it is not mainstream for
Alfredo Garbin fr.
. Ako Bicol Reirrdsentative
tivg process because it involves importance of voting for
the right of our people to chirose list groups.
their leaders. We hope this. in-
quiry does hot end up with mis-
Merely data reporting
takes getting committed all over Jimenez said the
again in the n€xt elections," stoo4 by the results as
Suarez said in F'ilipino. were reported.
Jimenez said the seven-hour The seven-hour glitcb
technical glitch did not inter-
said, could not be used to
rupt the electronic transmission nipulate the results, as what
of results but only the relay of not been seeit was only the
results tormedia terminals.. porting ofdata.
"Intergrally, we were able to "If this was rhanipulated,
confirm that data continued to could easily be discovered,
be transrhitted from the field the data are supported by. hi
even durihg that seven-hourpe- copies at the precinct level,"
riod," he said. said-
Aciording to timenez,
Dataintact Comelec has an on€oing
He maintained that data
sic investigation" to
from precincts that were trars-
1,665
mitted to the transparency cards that were "corrupted."
server, which were used as "We have held the
basp( f.)r ihc nrn.lrmlti^h ihd h.r,h6hio i^ r,'a c't-6li^; /