PET now officially informed of Comelec rule

IN the ongoing recount of votes in the Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. protest against Vice President Leni Robredo, the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) followed a rule set by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the 2010 elections – that only votes where ovals shaded 50 percent for a candidate should be counted. It was not aware, it said, of any subsequent Comelec resolution allowing a 25 percent threshhold in determining the validity of a vote.

Last Wednesday, the Comelec – responding to a PET order to comment on the Solicitor General’s position in favor of 50 percent shading – officially informed the PET that for the 2016 elections, it had used the 25 percent shading threshold in the counting of votes by the electronic counting machines in the nation’s voting centers.

The PET has thus now been officially informed of the Comelec’s rules for the 2016 elections. The Comelec is the constitutional body which enforces and administers all laws and regulations in the conduct of an election.

The PET, in its ongoing recount in the MarcosRobredo protest case, had been following the original rules set by the Comelec in 2010. As a result, its recount of vice-presidential votes in Camarines Sur and Iloilo were drastically different from the official count of the Comelec in 2016.

This prompted even the Makati Business Club, which was not identified with either of the contesting candidates, to urge the PET to apply rules consistent with those set and used by the Comelec for 2016, as inconsistent application of the rules would be a blow to the credibility of the elections, not just for vice president but also for all other positions, including that of the president.

With the official statement of the Comelec submitted to the PET, there should be no further dispute on the matter of ballot shading, as the PET had not been aware of the new Comelec rule for 2016. In the thinking of many people, the ovals should be really shaded at least 50 percent, as originally set in 2010. But that should be decided at another forum.

For now, the PET recount should just determine if votes in the three test provinces of Camarines Sur, IIoilo, and Negros Oriental, were counted by the Comelec’s machines in accordance with its rules. If too big a discrepancy is found, the recount will continue in 24 other provinces and cities. We just hope it will all be finished and a decision is made before the vice-presidential term ends in 2020.