Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal on Tuesday, March 15, lamented the Commission on Election’s (Comelec’s) printing of official ballots without the presence of candidates’ observers, saying such act of the poll body is an “unforgivable disservice to the electorate.”

Last week, the poll lawyer said he received a letter from Comelec’s executive directing advising him “that Commissioner Marlon S. Casquejo has disallowed in the meantime the request to allow the watchers and/or representatives of Vice-President Robredo to observe the printing of the official ballots as there are critical areas within the premises of the National Printing Office (NPO).”

The letter also noted that “even personnel of the Automated Election System (AES) provider and the NPO are not allowed to access due to security reason, and that the Comelec is at the peak of printing, verifying, and hauling the Final Testing and Sealing (FTS) and Official Ballots. Any additional activity other than the above mentioned may cause delay in the preparations and timeline.”

Such ruling rendered by only one member of the Comelec, according to Macalintal, is “clearly arbitrary and so whimsical and a clear violation of the parties and candidates’ right to due process as they were denied a lawful right without due notice and hearing.”

“Since Commissioner Casquejo’s act is a complete deviation from what the law mandates, the decision should have the concurrence of the majority of the members of the Comelec,” he pointed out.

“More so, if we consider the fact that, under Section 188 of the OEC, the committee on printing of these documents is under the ‘general supervision and control’ of the Comelec which means that any deviation from what is required by law should have the concurrence of the majority of the Comelec,” the veteran poll lawyer added.

Macalintal said that Comelec should have advised political parties and candidates that it would start printing the ballots without the presence of their watchers.

“Printing this sensitive official document to be used in the exercise of our constitutional right to vote without the presence of the parties and candidates’ watchers as mandated by the law is a clear violation of their constitutional rights to due process as they were unlawfully denied of their right to be represented during the printing of such very important election documents. As suggested by some affected parties, the Comelec could have live-streamed it for transparency’s sake,” he noted.

‘Compromise’

As a compromise, Macalintal said they would ask Comelec to conduct a random testing of printed ballots which were printed without candidates’ observers.

“Baka pupwedeng magkaroon tayo ng random testing of the official ballots, perhaps, as a compromise for what they have done, maari tayong mag-request sa Comelec ng random testing tayo ng mga balotang it,” he said.

“We will verify if these are really genuine official ballots, if they bear all security markings na kinakailangan, if these will be accepted by PCOS machines. We would suggest that sa Comelec for transparency’s sake,” the poll lawyer added.

He said that at least two or three ballots should be randomly selected per municipality.

‘Unforgivable disservice to Filipino electorate’

The poll lawyer said the Comelec has done “an unforgivable disservice to the entire Filipino electorate for ignoring and disregarding the law that will insure transparency in our electoral processes when, in all apparent secrecy, it started the printing of the official ballots for the May 9, 2022 elections without notice to the political parties and candidates.”

Under the law, political parties and candidates are entitled to send their watchers or observers during the printing of the ballots and other election paraphernalia, Macalintal noted.

He went on by citing the second paragraph of Section 187 of the Omnibus Election Code (OEC) which directs the Comelec to allow representatives of political parties and any candidate to send their watchers to observe the “proceedings of the committee on the printing of official ballots and election returns, file objections, if any, and witness the printing and distribution of the ballots and the returns and guard the premises of the printer.”

“Section 189 of the OEC gives the dominant majority and minority parties the right to send their watchers who ‘shall verify the contents of the boxes containing the shipment of official ballots, election returns and sample official ballots received by the treasurers’,” said Macalintal.

He noted that of Section 189 of the OEC is an election offense under Section 262 of the OEC.

“Meanwhile Section 15 of RA 8436, the Automated Election Law, as amended by RA 9369 provides that ‘accredited political parties and deputized citizens’ arms of the Comelec shall assign watchers in the printing, storage, and distribution of official ballots.’”