Garcia seeks Omnibus Election Code amendments after Basilan ballot incident

Commission on Elections Chairman George Erwin Garcia said the first Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao parliamentary elections have highlighted the need to amend the decades-old Omnibus Election Code.

“Ang sinusunod po kasi natin 1985 pa na election code,” Garcia said.

“So sana po mabago na ‘yun,” he added.

Garcia made the call after pre-shaded ballots were discovered Sunday night at the local treasurer’s office in Maluso, Basilan.

Comelec found that ballots intended for 36 of the municipality’s 68 polling precincts had been compromised and needed to be replaced.

Garcia said the incident showed the need to reconsider rules governing the custody of ballots before elections.

“Mukhang dapat talaga ang batas ay baguhin at ang possession, custody ng balota, number one election document, ay hindi po sa partisan o ‘yung maaaring maimpluwensyahan ng mga pulitiko,” he said.

Garcia said Comelec would recommend to Congress that ballots no longer be stored in local government treasurers’ offices.

“Isa sa mga isusugest sa ating Kongreso tama na po ‘yung ganyang klaseng proseso,” he said.

He noted that vote-counting machines remain under the custody of local Comelec offices before being distributed to polling precincts.

“Kung pinagkakatiwala nga kay Comelec ang mga makina, bakit hindi mapagkakatiwala sa amin ang mga balota,” Garcia said.

The Comelec chief also assured the public that those responsible for the pre-shading of ballots would be held accountable.

“Effective po ‘yung ginawang pagbabantay ng Comelec kasi kami po ang nakahuli, kami ang nakakita,” he said.