Archive for August, 2009

COMELEC refutes Migrante’s ‘sluggish’ claim

27 August 2009 at 4:31 pm · Filed under 2010 Elections, COMELEC News, Continuing Registration, Overseas Absentee Voting

The Commission on Elections today denied the allegations of a Filipino migrants’ group who claimed that the poll body had been “sluggish” in approving applications for overseas absentee voters’ (OAV) registration.

Migrante International was quoted Wednesday that the COMELEC’s Resident Election Registration Board (RERB) have met only twice this year and that it has approved only 17,000 applications for OAV registration.

“The COMELEC’s RERB have conducted five (5) hearings already; and contrary to the claims of Migrante, the RERB have acted upon 115,831 applications for OAV registration,” said COMELEC spokesman James Jimenez.

He noted that the RERB have been meeting every month since April and that it will continue hearing OAV applications until October 2009.

The poll body’s spokesman added that of the total number of applications heard by the RERB; only 4,302 OAV applications for registration were disapproved. High on top of the reasons why OAV applications of Filipino immigrants are disapproved, Jimenez said, is the applicant’s refusal or failure to execute an affidavit to return to the country, three years after exercising his right to vote in absentia.

Jimenez said that as of August 26, 2009, a total of 201,328 have applied for OAV registration worldwide. The United States of America (USA) has the most number of OAV registrants, with 29,595; followed by China with 21,204 and United Arab Emirates (UAE) with 15,164. ###

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Two months to go before Oct. 31 deadline: RP has 2.6 million new voters

26 August 2009 at 3:05 pm · Filed under 2010 Elections, COMELEC News, Continuing Registration, bagongbotante

The country now has 2,653,594 new voters, the Commission on Elections announced Wednesday. The poll body’s announcement came after news reports surfaced recently quoting Senator Francis Escudero as saying that the ongoing voter registration has yielded only 841,200.

“We wish to inform the public that as of June 30, 2009, we now have more than 2.6 million new voters nationwide,” COMELEC spokesman James Jimenez clarified.

“We expect the number to even increase especially since most Filipinos prefer to register during the 11th hour,” he added.

Jimenez attributed the high registration turn-out to the active participation of media organizations and citizens’ groups in encouraging the youth to register coupled with the COMELEC’s intensified campaign to promote voter registration. ###

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COMELEC bid body recommends the award of voters’ list cleansing project to UNISON Joint Venture

26 August 2009 at 3:02 pm · Filed under COMELEC News, Modernization, Public Bidding

The Commission on Elections Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), on August 18, 2009, recommended to the COMELEC En Banc to award the P1.6 billion worth of contract on the Cleansing of the Computerized Voters’ List Project to the Unison Joint Venture.

“Based on the Post-Evaluation Report submitted by the Technical Working Group on 18 August 2009, Unison Joint Venture was found to be Post-Qualified and thus declared the bidder who offered the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bid,” said the COMELEC BAC in Resolution No. 27-2009 dated August 18, 2009.

“In view of the foregoing, the BAC hereby recommends to the Honorable Commission En Banc to AWARD the contract for the Cleansing of Computerized Voters’ List Project to Unison Joint Venture as it offered the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bid,” the Bid body further stated.

During the July 29, 2009 Opening of Bids, the COMELEC BAC found the Joint Venture of SAHI-Tiger IT to have offered the Lowest Calculated Bid while the Unison Joint Venture was declared to be the Second Lowest Calculated Bidder.

But upon careful review and scrutiny of documents submitted by SAHI-Tiger IT, the COMELEC BAC – in a resolution issued 06 August 2009 – declared the joint venture “Post-Disqualified” for failing to comply with the standards and requirements as set in the legal and technical specifications in the Bid Documents.

Because of SAHI-Tiger IT’s non-compliance, the COMELEC BAC immediately notified the Second Lowest Calculated Bidder, Unison Joint Venture, to deliver all the necessary requirements for review.

COMELEC BAC Chairman Dir. Maria Lea Alarkon, meanwhile, denied allegations by a group calling itself “Concerned COMELEC Employees” that the COMELEC BAC went out of its way to favor the bid of Unison Joint Venture over that of its rival, SAHI-Tiger IT.

“We vehemently deny that there was favoritism during the bidding process.  Fact is, SAHI-Tiger IT failed during post-evaluation; and it is the law who dictates that if the bidder with the lowest calculated bid fails, we go to the bidder with the second lowest calculated bid,” Alarkon explained, referring to Sections 34.4 and 34.5 of the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

COMELEC Spokesman James Jimenez said the Cleansing of the Computerized Voters’ List Project has four (4) components. The four components, he said, are: 1. Validation of Existing Registration Records Using Biometrics and Data Capture System worth P300 million; 2. Online Data Submission and Synchronization System, P50 million; 3. Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) Matching and AFIS Server Applications, P1 billion; and the Voter ID Cards Generation worth P250 million.

The COMELEC BAC is composed of Dir. Maria Lea R. Alarkon as Chairman; Dir. Allen Francis B. Abaya, Vice-Chairman and members Atty. Maria Norina Tangaro-Casingal, Atty. Martin B. Niedo and Antonio S. Santella. ###

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More than 300 apply for accreditation as partylist, pol parties

19 August 2009 at 12:31 pm · Filed under 2010 Elections, COMELEC News

The Commission on Elections has announced that 256 aspiring partylist groups and 48 political parties have filed for accreditation from the poll body during the deadline of filing of petitions for registration last Monday.

“We were literally swamped with applications especially from aspiring partylist groups,” said COMELEC spokesman James Jimenez.

Jimenez noted that the parties who applied for accreditation ranged from those who claim to represent cock fighting aficionados, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) purveyors, security guards, call center agents, albolaryos (rustic doctors), among others.

While some sectors view the deluge of applications for partylist accreditation as a mockery of the intent and spirit of the process, Jimenez maintained that the COMELEC welcomes all applications from aspiring partylist groups, stressing that this could be a telling sign of growing peoples’ awareness to the fourteen year old partylist system.

“If they truly belong to the marginalized and deserve representation in government, then not even the COMELEC could stop them from participating in the partylist race. But we must understand that we will be strict in screening all applications in order to ensure that the partylist system is not put in ridicule and disdain,” said Jimenez.

The Partylist Act, approved March 3, 1995, aims to provide proportional representation to marginalized and underrepresented sectors in our society in the House of Representatives.

During the 2007 elections, 93 partylist groups were accredited by the COMELEC. ###

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PAMPANGA VOTE RECOUNT

19 August 2009 at 10:28 am · Filed under May 14, 2007 Elections, News

COMELEC starts revision of Pampanga Votes (August 12, 2009)…..

WATCH VIDEO >>>

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