Election Fraudsters working early?

From the Tribune:

Fraud ops on; 07 voters list bloated by 8 million

By Angie M. Rosales

11/09/2006

Election fraud operations appear to have started this early, with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) already bloating the voters’ list with an additional 8 million voters, an increase in just six months, which statistics senators found impossible and incredible.

Not only was the proposed national appropriations for next year found to bloated but that the number of Filipino voters expected to participate in the May 2007 senatorial and local polls, are also just as bloated. This early, the Comelec took the position that the numbers will swell by at least 8 million voters, in just a matter of six months.

Senators present at yesterday’s budget hearings discovered this, with the finance committee headed by Sen. Franklin Drilon yesterday morning unearthing what they detected as suspicious statistics and unjustifiable figures being presented by the Comelec under its proposed P6.2 billion 2007 budget.

While there is a difference of only P800 million compared to the current expenditures of the poll body, senators, immediately caught on to what they said were overstatements, noting that the increase in the proposed election budget is huge, and is by as much as P1.8 billion, compared to the last round of the electoral exercise two years ago that accommodated the present number of registered voters.

Senators were told by Comelec officials that the increase is based on their assumption on population where the current 41.7 million total voters are projected to reach 49 million by year-end due to the ongoing registration of new voters, whose deadline is on Dec. 31, 2006.

And because of the increase of 8 million in the electorate, the Comelec also told the senators that an additional 94,000 precincts will be created.

With a projection of 49 million voters, the Filipino voting population would be comprised of 57.6 percent, or well over half of the total population of 85 million, which is an incredible voters percentage.

“You cannot avoid the suspicion that the budget is being bloated to this extent. The budget is being increased for national and local elections to P792 million compared to 2004,” Drilon said.

“But more alarming is the proposed increase in the Sanggunian ang Barangay elections,” he stressed.

“In 2002, the budget for the barangay elections was P1.4 billion. For a similar exercise, five years later, the budget will be increased to P2.4 billion or an increase of P1 billion. So that the total increase for the electoral exercise by the Comelec for the national, local and barangay election, if you compare it with the years when a similar political exercise was done, the total increase is P1.7 billion.

“This cannot be justified...You cannot justify that. The total budget in 2004 of the Comelec is P5.4 billion for local and national elections. For 2007, the total proposed budget is P6.2 billion or an increase of nearly P800 million. In the SK and barangay elections, as I said, the budget in 2002 was P1.4 billion; the proposed budget for 2007 is P2.4 billion,” he said.

Drilon was quick in shooting down the assumption of the poll body on the projected number of voters by year end, pointing out that such a huge additional voters’ figure is just not feasible

“Unless they justify it, we will reduce the budget substantially,” he said, referring to the Comelec’s proposal to increase the number of precincts from 216,000 in 2004 to 310,000 for the coming mid-term elections.

“Under their (Comelec) proposal, they want to establish 94,000 more precincts compared to 2004. And yet, there is no substantial increase in the number of voters registered for 2007. As of the end of 2006, second quarter, there was approximately 41.7 million registered voters, which is almost the same as the 2004 number of voters. And yet, in the budget for 2007, there is a proposal to increase the number of precincts by 94,000 on a presumed number of registered voters of P49 million.

“It is certainly questionable to project that between June 30 or July 1 2006, and Dec. 31, 2006, another 7.5 million to 8 million voters will register to justify the increase of 94,000 precincts. This is very suspicious. We will closely scrutinize the budget at this point. The additional 94,000 precincts being established are suspicious,” Drilon said, adding that the initial impression gathered is one that says the budget of Comelec is bloated by about P1.8 billion.”

This was stated by Drilon to reporters in a briefing after the hearing, as he explained the contrast of figures presented to the senators in similar exercises done in the past.

“Moreover, the estimate of registered voters is overstated by, at this point, about nearly eight million,” he further pointed out, citing what he called an erroneous assumption arrived at by poll officials.

“It is not reasonable to accept the assumption that between July 1 and Dec.31, 2006, another eight million voters will register. Therefore, the assumption is erroneous on the basis of what actually transpired.

“They (Comelec officials) said this is their assumption based on population. But obviously, their assumption is totally erroneous. If you base it on the number of registered voters as of June 30. 2006, only 41.7 million registered and only six months remain for the registration period. It is not reasonable to assume that another eight million will vote unless you get (lawyer Raul) Lambino (of the Sigaw People’s Initiative move) to bring signatories to the Comelec,” he said.

The remark was an allusion to Sigaw’s ghost voters.

Read this too from Conrad de Quiros: The Cheating machinery still exists.