VOL. XXX NO. 34 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 TUESday : MaRCH 15, 2016 www.thestandard.com.ph editorial@thestandard.com.ph
Duterte: It’s okay not to agree
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Poll boDy looks at two oPtIons By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan
THE Commission on Elections said Monday they are down to two options: postpone the elections by three weeks or hold the elections on May 9 as scheduled with its credibility diminished. Commissioner Christian Robert Lim said the Comelec en banc would decide which way to go, after the Supreme Court ordered the poll agency to issue printed receipts to voters. Lim also said that contrary to
earlier reports, the Comelec is not considering a return to manual voting. Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista, who said the Supreme Court ruling on printed receipts would set back preparations for
the elections, said they never considered a no-election scenario, but said a postponement was possible. He admitted, however, that a postponement would require that Congress pass a law. “I want to emphasize that the primary duty of the Comelec is not just to conduct elections but elections that are orderly and credible,” Bautista said. On Monday morning, the Comelec officials held a meeting with its Comelec Advisory Committee and Technical Evaluation
Committee to seek advice on what steps to take in the wake of the Supreme Court decision. The Comelec then met with representatives from the political parties, where both options were presented. Most of the political parties urged the Comelec to push through with the elections on May 9 no matter what, said Nationalist People’s Coalition legal counsel and former Comelec commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal. “We said there has to be a consensus that we have to have
a credible automated elections on May 9, 2016. And everybody in the room agreed to that. They have to reach that goal. There is no option. We have to have automated elections and the preparations to achieve that goal just have to be met,” Larrazabal told the reporters. He added that the political parties also rejected manual voting, which he said was illegal. “If you postpone the election, that will be a huge political upheaval. The people won’t agree to that,” Larrazabal said. Next page
VP debate. From left, candidates Senator Chiz Escudero, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Rep. Leni Robredo and Senator Antonio Trillanes meet at the Go Negosyo debate. EY ACASIO
Ex-chief justice slams Poe’s foes
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Marcos: We’ll abide by any court ruling IN A debate among four vice presidential candidates Monday, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said his family would abide by any decision of the courts that were hearing cases against them. Marcos was responding
to a question about human rights abuses during the Martial Law rule of his father, and President Benigno Aquino III’s attacks on him during the 30th anniversary of the People Power Revolution. “I enjoyed the attention
that the President was giving me,” Marcos said during the Go Negosyo: Meet the Vice Presidentiables Forum at the Manila Polo Club. He also acknowledged that he dyed his hair. “I don’t notice his hairdo,
so I was surprised that the President noticed mine,” he said in Filipino. Senator Francis Escudero said it was not appropriate for the President to make personal attacks during the Edsa People Power anniNext page versary.