Namfrel eyes appealing to Comelec

The National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) is not discounting the possibility of requesting again from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) the data sets necessary to secure the integrity of the upcoming polls.

“We’re not discounting yet the reconsideration. It may not be an MR (Motion for Reconsideration) to the en banc. We may simply write to the Commission requesting access to the data we are asking for," Lito Averia, Namfrel's national treasurer, said in a forum on Tuesday.

“We’re not discounting the possibility of writing to Comelec and request for the data sets," Averia added.

Meanwhile, Gus Lagman, Namfrel’s national chairman, expressed concern over the short time left in making the appeal to the Comelec as the election day draws near.

“It’s a matter of timing. Sa Monday na ang eleksyon eh. Baka ang huli nilang en banc meeting ay tomorrow afternoon. I’m sure napakahaba ng agenda niyan. So useless na...," Lagman said.

"'Di ko pa alam kung kailan ang aming scheduled meeting pero most likely we will meet before elections," he added.

Lagman underscored that Namfrel is on the same side with Comelec in achieving peaceful and genuine election.

Last week, Namfrel turned down the accreditation as the citizen’s arm of Comelec.

This came after the poll body denied Namfrel’s accreditation bid for the Open Election Data project thus limiting the group to participating with the random manual audit and monitoring the preparations for the upcoming elections. —KG, GMA News