The National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) will file on Friday a motion for reconsideration before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to seek anew accreditation as the poll body’s citizens’ arm in the May 10 elections, but stated that whether it gets accreditation or not, it will still be involved.

“We (Namfrel with partners Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines’ National Secretariat for Social Action-Justice and Peace (CBCP-Nassa) are filing a motion for reconsideration with the Comelec. If the commission does not reconsider then we will be forced to go to the Supreme Court,” said, Jose Cuisia, Namfrel national chairman, during a press conference in Makati City last Friday.

Expressing optimism that they could be accredited, Cuisia said they will face lot difficulties if they fail to get the accreditation to pursue their cause for free, fair, and credible elections.

Backed by their expertise through the years, Cuisia said they are ready as the election’s citizens’ arm and enhancing the credibility of the May 10 elections, particularly the conduct of parallel counting to verify the results of the voting.

If they would not be accredited, are somewhat trivial, he can’t afford to take it nice and easy what with the spate of rulings by the Comelec disqualifying certain celebrity political aspirants on the issue of residency.

“Kailangan din nating bantayan ang Comelec (We have to keep an eye on the decisions of the Comelec),” said Brillantes.Cuisia said they could not be able to get the fourth copy of the official election returns from every precinct and be present at polling precinct. So, they would have to rely from other parties and friends to obtain information.

While accreditation process is still on, the Namfrel Council and volunteers said there are still activities that they could do to get involve, he added.

The Namfrel also urges the Comelec to create a contingency plan, amid chances of failure of elections, expressing concerns on the preparedness of the Comelec, its citizens’ partners and its subcontractor, Smartmatic/TIM in conducting full automated elections.

Among the groups’ apprehension include non-stop timeline revision and missed deliverables such as delay delivery of precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines, printing of ballots, hiring of qualified IT personnel, no voters list, among others.

Moreover, the Namfrel also slammed the Comelec for the lack of voters’ education, citing that in the recent Pulse-Asia survey, seven out of 10 Filipinos have little or no knowledge of the new automated election process while an earlier SWS survey that showed 40 percent of Filipinos are unaware or lack of knowledge rate.

The Namfrel also observed flaws on test and mock elections, saying that even highly urbanized area such as Taguig City encountered difficulties while in the New Era Elementary School, participating mock voters are confused because “no proper mock or actual simulation test on man and machine was conducted.

Until now, no proper or transparent source code review and PCOS testing was conducted that may cause great problems in the election process.

With the weaknesses and inconsistencies the group has been observing, the Namfrel urges the public to continue its vigilance to be the sentinels of the ballot and ensure the first nationwide automated election is credible.