[ad_1]
Malacañang on Friday rejected a lawmaker’s proposal to postpone the 2022 elections, saying the Constitution must be respected.
During deliberations on the House budget on Thursday, Pampanga representative Juan Miguel Arroyo urged the Elections Commission (Comelec) to consider suspending the 2022 elections because voters would be too afraid of contracting the 2019 coronavirus disease. (Covid-19) to go out and vote.
However, in a statement, Palace spokesman Harry Roque Jr. said that postponing the elections “presents constitutional challenges.”
Roque stressed that the Constitution “is clear on the date set for the national elections, which is the second Monday in May.”
With the national elections still two years away, “we still have enough time to prepare. We can learn from the examples of other countries, such as the United States, which will hold elections later this year, about how they conduct surveys during the Covid-19 pandemic, ”he said.
“We must not use the current global health crisis as a reason to cancel and reschedule elections, as this would not sit well with the public,” added Roque.
Arroyo said fear of the pandemic would result in few people being able to register to vote, along with other possible logistical failures.
On Friday, Arroyo, the son of former president and president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, clarified that he did not want the elections to be postponed entirely and said the idea was a “last resort” if the Covid-19 pandemic lasted until 2022.
Senators on Friday also rejected Arroyo’s proposal.
Senate President Vicente Sotto 3rd said the idea raises a number of controversial and unconstitutional issues.
“To name a few, who will fill their positions? If not, who will appoint their replacements? The term of elected government officials is fixed, ”Sotto said.
Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said he was not surprised by Arroyo’s proposal. “This is the ongoing effort in a no-the (no-elections) stage. The postponement could be a prelude to the primary goal of extending the terms of members of Congress and elected officials, ”Drilon said.
Senator Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the Senate’s national defense and security committee, said that canceling or postponing the elections is a clear violation of the Constitution.
“Any discussion or debate on this topic is a futile exercise, if not a waste of time and energy,” Lacson said.
Senator Maria Imelda Josefa “Imee” Marcos, chair of the Senate Committee on Popular Participation and Electoral Reforms, said that South Korea, Taiwan, Belarus, Singapore, Iceland and Poland had held elections during the Covid pandemic and that, in November , The United States do it too.
“However, we must explore all possible scenarios: Comelec’s in-person recommendation for three days, extended early voting, mail-in ballots and, even in selected cases, live streaming of the online vote,” Marcos said. .
Arroyo’s proposal also found no supporters in the House of Representatives. The representative of Cagayan de Oro, Rufus Rodríguez, said that all elected officials must “face the crucible of facing the judgment of our people in regular elections as required by our Constitution.”
“If the virus still persists, Comelec will make preparations for effective and efficient methods to hold elections, observing social distancing and other precautionary measures so that our people can vote safely,” Rodríguez said.
Agusan del Norte representative Lawrence Fortun, a member of the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reform, said that elections “are essential to our democracy.”
“The postponement of the national and local elections in May 2022 should be the last on our minds. That suggestion will face serious constitutional challenges. The specific day for holding national and local elections is already set by the Constitution. Not by Comelec. Not even by Congress, ”Fortun said.
The deputy leader of the minority and representative of Bayan Muna, Carlos Isagani Zárate, said that Comelec, Congress or even Malacañang could not decide on the postponement “without altering or without going against the wisdom or the mandate of our Constitution.”
The representative of the Gabriela party list, Arlene Brosas, said the proposal had no objective basis and is a strategy of “conditioning” of the “Duterte clique” to keep the president in office.
Veteran election lawyer Rómulo Macalintal said that postponing the 2022 presidential election is not only unconstitutional, but also goes against the government’s claim that it is winning its fight against Covid-19.
Macalintal said in a statement on Friday that the president and his allies should reassure the people that the 2022 elections would go ahead to be consistent with his claim that the Philippines is winning its fight against the pandemic.
He also agreed with the position of former Comelec commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal, Senator Lacson and other legislators that postponing the elections is unconstitutional.
Macalintal advised Comelec to closely observe the November presidential elections in the United States.
“The Philippine government and its agencies can learn many lessons from the results of US polls.
Comelec spokesman James Jiménez said the 2022 elections cannot simply be postponed unless the Constitution is amended.
Jiménez said that Comelec is considering a series of elections in the Covid-19 scenario, including the acquisition of additional counting machines and the extension of the polls to two or three days.
WITH JAVIER JOE ISMAEL, DIVINA NOVA JOY DELA CRUZ AND WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL
[ad_2]
