SOMEHOW the Comelec’s accreditation of the Namfrel as its quick count arm surprises no one.
They are in the same boat. When after the 2004 election the media and civic groups denounced the massive frauds, both the Comelec and the Namfrel reported that the cheating was not rampant and did not affect the outcome of the election.
They each had thousands of workers assigned to the election. They saw no cheating, an issue which up to this day is denied closure.
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The Comelec chose the Namfrel over Nassa, the Catholic social action organization.
The church, which in 2004 found the election to be relatively clean, has now seen the light: There were massive frauds.
It is to prevent a repetition of that massive cheating that the church has assigned the Nassa to do the quick count in place of Namfrel.
Nassa will protest the Comelec’s accreditation of Namfrel. It may point to Namfrel’s dismal performance in 2004, not only its failure to report frauds but also its abandonment of the count with 20 percent of the votes still to be accounted for.
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In order to repair the Namfrel’s image, its Chairman Joe Concepcion has offered to resign – not for anything but to show "humility."
In the Comelec, nobody is resigning. Except for the celebrated Virgilio Garcillano, the leadership and rank and file who conducted the 2004 election remain intact.
With its sorry past, the Comelec should make an effort to at least appear evenhanded, such as excising nuisance candidates from the roster. The betting is that the Comelec will let Joselito "Peter" Cayetano stay on to take votes away from oppositionist Allan Peter Cayetano.
The other night, the respected lawyer Mario Ongkiko, head of the idealistic Kapatiran party, called for honesty in the Comelec.
Among opposition candidates, their worry is "Will our votes be counted?"
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