Blame game on poll delay continues during House hearing

The blame game surrounding the delay in last month’s conduct of barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (youth council) elections in some areas continued Tuesday during a hearing at the House of Representatives. Commission on Elections chairman Jose Melo said during the hearing that the suspension of its entire Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) in July delayed the constitution of the new BAC for the elections, which he said caused a domino effect on the entire exercise. The Office of the Ombudsman ordered the suspension of six Comelec officials over the alleged overpricing of ballot secrecy folders that were supposed to be used in the May 10 national elections. “Sometime, July probably, the membership of the entire bids and awards committee was suspended by the Ombudsman and it took us a little while (to reconstitute it)," Melo told the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms. The committee, headed by Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga, conducted the hearing to determine the cause of delays in the barangay and SK polls. “Of course we did not wait to reconstitute the BAC, but there were declinations. People were reluctant to accept (the post) and it was only a little later that we were able to fully constitute it," Melo said. The BAC, tasked to bid and award contracts for the supplies and materials needed for the October 25 barangay and SK polls, was fully constituted on September 7. Comelec legal department head, Commissioner Ferdinand Rafanan, who also heads BAC, admitted that there was not enough time for them to conduct the bidding necessary for the procurement of the supplies and materials needed for the elections. The bidding for the ballot paper was completed only on September 29, the other bidding by October 6, Rafanan said. The National Printing Office needs at least 45 days to print the ballots. “If we accept the statement from the NPO that they would need 45 days to print the official ballots, then the period September 7 up to October 25 would not be sufficient, that’s not even 45 days before election day," Rafanan said. No warning Barzaga chided Rafanan for not warning the commissioners, the Congress and even the President of the situation. “We have been reading in the newspapers up to October 23 that it was all systems go for the barangay elections. Considering that the time will not be sufficient, did you give any warning? You should have asked Congress to postpone the elections and give you an extension of one week," the lawmaker said. Emmanuel Andaya, NPO acting director, said the ballot paper was only delivered to them on October 3, or 22 days before election day. The delivery was 33 days delayed from the original delivery date of September 1. Based on the original schedule, the NPO was supposed to finish printing the official ballots by October 15 or 10 days before the elections. “We only have 18 days to print the ballots. We have to work 24 hours a days in order to finish the printing by October 23, the new deadline. We finished printing October 21 but there were some reprints," Andaya said. There were also some problems with the ballot paper because it was used immediately after it was manufactured. Evelyn Perlado, also of the NPO, said there were ripples on the paper, which she said should have an “incubation period" of 14 days. No chartered planes, too The printed official ballots were then delivered to the forwarders on October 24, a day before the elections. Seeing the difficulty they will be facing, the forwarders wrote a letter to the Comelec on October 24 seeking permission to rent a chartered plane to deliver the official ballots. The poll body thumbed down the request. The official ballots were instead delivered using a military plane. The forwarders were supposed to receive official ballots on October 20, five days before the elections. Among the forwarders present during the hearing were ZIP Cargo Corporations and XMEX. All apologies On the other hand, Rafanan denied blaming the Congress for the delays in the conduct of elections, but apologized if his statements were construed as that. “I do not blame the Congress for the delay in the conduct of the elections in some barangays. I would like to hear that interview again if it is recorded," he told the committee. He said what he remembers was that there was some talk about the possible psychological effects of the moves to postpone the elections to those who are in charge of preparing for it. “It was not a matter or question of blaming the Congress and if there was any misunderstanding to that effect I would like to make the apology right now," Rafanan said. - KBK, GMANews.TV