SO, who the heck are the five Commission on Elections nominees whose names have been submitted to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?

Here’s an excerpt from the “Lack of transparency in Comelec selection process hit” Breaking News story of INQUIRER.net reporter Veronica Uy:

On Monday, the Malacañanag-formed search committee submitted its five nominees to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo but refused name them.

“[This] lack of transparency is unconstitutional… The people have the right to know who the nominees are,” said Majority Floor Leader Francis Pangilinan.

The seven soon to be vacant seats in the poll body are currently being occupied by Resurreccion Borra as acting Comelec chairperson, Commissioners Florentino Tuason, Romeo Brawner, Nicodemo Ferrer, and Rene Sarmiento, and the still-to-be-confirmed Moslemen Macarambon.

By Lawrence Casiraya
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines–The Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) will begin its six-month evaluation to determine which technology the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will use for automating the 2010 presidential elections.

CICT chair Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua said eight vendors have been selected to test their solutions within the six-month period in selected areas nationwide.

“These vendors have solutions that use OMR (optical mark reader) and DRE (direct recording electronic) machines,” Roxas-Chua said during a meeting Wednesday with the IT Association of the Philippines (ITAP).

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Beverly T. Natividad
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–If the police can’t do it, perhaps the citizenry can.

Now considered as a “fugitive from justice,” Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol is now being offered for citizen arrest.

As Bedol continued to evade an arrest warrant issued against him, Commission on Elections Acting Chairman Resurreccion Borra cited on Monday the right and the power of every citizen to arrest the poll supervisor on site and bring him to the nearest local police.

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By DJ Yap
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–Candidates running for barangay (village) or Sangguniang Kabataan (youth council) posts in Makati City were warned not to violate election laws on the posting of campaign materials, lest they get fined.

The city government of Makati, through its environmental services department, also asked the candidates to minimize the use of campaign posters and to post them only on exterior walls allowed by the Commission on Elections.

“These campaign materials are eyesores and we do not want our city to be littered with them,” city environment department chief Danilo Villas said on Thursday.

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By Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has accredited the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) as its citizen’s arm for the October 29 Barangay (village) and Sangguniang Kabataan (youth council) elections.

In a resolution, the Comelec en banc granted the PPCRV’s August 10 petition seeking accreditation.

The Comelec said that it has considered PPCRV’s commendable participation in past electoral exercises as well as its commitment toward honest, clean, credible, and peaceful elections, for its accreditation of the group.

It added, the PPCRV has also sufficiently complied with the Comelec’s accreditation rules.

The Comelec said that the PPCRV will conduct poll watching and assist voters in various precincts, and assist the Comelec in providing voter’s information and values education in municipalities, cities and provinces. Beverly T. Natividad