The 2nd Impeachment

MANILA, Philippines – Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Jose Melo should be impeached if the 2010 general elections fail to push through, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said Friday.

Enrile was reacting to Melo’s pronouncement that a no-elections scenario was possible if losing bidders for the P11.3-billion automation project could ask the courts to stop next year’s elections.

“That [no elections] can’t happen. He [Melo] will be impeached if there will be no elections,” Enrile said in a phone patch interview.

“It’s his duty to see to it that there will be an election. He’s the chairman of the Comelec... We have provided money for automation,” he said.

Enrile said it was doubtful that the Supreme Court would allow a no elections scenario.

“The Supreme Court is not that crazy. I don’t think they have lost their mind to do that. They know what it means if there’s no election, even the SC will not exist at that point,” he said.

Enrile said the Comelec could return to manual balloting if the automation project fails.

Senator Francis Escudero agreed, saying it would be “impossible” not to have an election next year because the Comelec could return to the manual process.

Escudero also echoed Enrile’s warning that Melo could be impeached.

“Chairman Melo knows very well what happened to the Mega Pacific case. He should therefore have a plan b, otherwise he and his colleagues will have to answer to the people,” he said in a statement.

Escudero was referring to the alleged anomalous contract between the Comelec and the Mega Pacific Consortium for the purchase of counting machines for the 2004 elections, which the Supreme Court rescinded.

The senator, who is reportedly eyeing the presidency in 2010, said Melo should be afraid “if automation is carelessly done” because “that is a nightmare we may never wake up from.”

The Comelec is studying the appeals of four of seven bidders that were disqualified from bidding for the P11.3-billion automation project.