Election is not over

Commissioner Larrazabal of the COMELEC says "enough is enough". The guwapito commissioner from Cebu is asking the public and "losing candidates" to stop pestering the poll body of poll complaints. Yesterday, North Cotabato governor Manny Pinol presented pieces of evidence which, to my opinion, are proof positive of electoral fraud. Former representative Monico Puentevella of Bacolod also presented enough evidence for a recount of all the ballots in his district in Bacolod. In his interview over The Rundown with Ricky Carandang, Puentevella asked him how the hell did it happen that 200,000 voters failed to vote for their vice presidential candidate.

And I imagine that there will be a lot of documents, pieces of testimony and whistleblowers that will be coming out in the future.

Larrazabal should not have said that "enough is enough". The poll body's main task is to ensure the integrity of the elections, and if there are certain pieces of evidence that prove fraud, then, they are tasked to look into it, and not dismiss it outright.

Speaker Prospero Nograles Jr. wants to look into every single piece of evidence of electoral fraud. Nograles says Congress will not sacrifice accuracy over speed. And he's definitely correct.

Nograles is just avoiding the possibility of the public losing its trust over governmental and democratic institutions. He wants to face the issue head-on. Why?

The Hello Garci controversy which happened in 2004, dragged on for years and it still haunts us because no one was ever prosecuted nor put to jail despite overwhelming evidence linking the palace to the anomalous victory of Arroyo.

The Arroyo government failed to effectively manage the issue. By pursuing these issues to their bitter end, Nograles is just doing his job of really canvassing the true mandate of the people, and proclaiming the rightful winner in the polls.

Now, will it delay the proclamation of the winners? No. Nograles says they will start canvassing next week, and expects to finish it on or before June 4. The deadliest deadline for them is on or before high noon of June 30. So, there is nothing to worry about.

If there are pieces of evidence which show fraud or fraudulent acts, then, Congress will have to refer it to the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) for speedy resolution.

And I believe that Nograles is motivated only by his personal desire to really determine who won the elections. Is there a plan to mock the elections and mess up with the proclamation? I doubt it.

We will have a new president by June 30.