A Commission on Election official on Wednesday expressed reservations on House Bill 9315, which seeks to expedite the resolution of electoral protests, saying the poll body has already established timelines for these procedures.
At the Senate electoral reforms committee hearing, Allen Francis Abaya, the director of Comelec Electoral Contests and Adjudication Department, said the poll body has already fixed the timetable in processing electoral protests.
“The department has some concerns… as to Comelec’s side considering the timelines. We have already timelines in our procedures,” Abaya said when asked for their position on HB 9315.
Senator Imee Marcos, who chairs the Senate panel, asked the Comelec official to expound on the timelines, saying they are “vaguely familiar” on the procedure.
Marcos said she did not “feel” that there was a timetable that was followed by the Comelec.
“Ano ang (What are the) timelines that you are referring to right now that are in operation? Kasi wala kaming naramdaman na timeline ni Senator [Francis] Tolentino [We did not feel like there are timelines at all]. It just went on and on,” she said.
For appeal cases, the Comelec official said the appellant have to wait for about two months before it could be submitted for resolution.
Meanwhile, Abaya said election protests could not be settled within one year, considering the “preferential rights of the tribunals” over the election paraphernalia.
“For example, there are two or more cases before two or more tribunals and the ballot boxes, election documents, and election paraphernalia, they involve the same ballot boxes, the same election documents and the same election paraphernalia. Mag-aantayan po ma’am (They have to wait for one to finish before they could turn over the election documents),” he said.
Abaya further explained that the preferential right of custody and recount of the said ballots is from Presidential Electoral Tribunal, down to the Senate Electoral Tribunal, House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal, Comelec and the trial courts.
Under section 5 of House Bill 9315, electoral protests for president, vice president, or senators should be resolved not later than 24 months following their proclamation and assumption into office.
For members of the House of Representatives, regional, provincial city and municipal positions, the protest should be resolved within 12 months following their proclamation.
Meanwhile, the measure seeks to resolve all electoral protests in the barangay positions within six months.
Moreover, the bill proposes to resolve quo warranto cases on all elective positions within six months.
Marcos then asked Comelec if the proposal was “too short or impractical.”
“Are you saying that it should remain as it is today without any timeline at all? Sobrang haba nito can we just put a deadline on certain cases like quo warranto for example. ‘Di ba pwede magbigay ng deadline d’yan? Kasi kung tutuusin three years lang ang term, ‘di pa natapos ‘yung kaso,” she pointed.
(This is so exhaustive. Can we just put a deadline on certain cases like quo warranto for example. Can we put a deadline for that? If you come to think of it, most terms only run for three years. Some of cases may not be resolved within the period of term.)
Abaya tried to respond but he was cut by Marcos.
At the end of the deliberations, Marcos asked Abaya to provide the Comelec’s position on the expeditious resolution of electoral protests.
“Sa palagay ko wala namang tumututol sa policy na ‘yan. We all want to settle this as quickly as possible,” she said.
(I think no one will oppose that policy. We all want to settle this as quickly as possible.) — RSJ, GMA News
Comelec exec expresses reservation on bill seeking faster resolution of poll protests
Source: Pinoy Hub News
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