Comelec Decisions Must Be Respected

A fresh development from the brewing crisis brought out by a flurry of protests from losing candidates about alleged fraud and cheating in the last national elections is a threat from a losing senatorial candidate to file a petition to the Supreme Court to nullify the results. The candidate was not specific in the news report if he is asking for the nullification of all results of the May 10 polls. The Comelec, although a constitutional body assigned to conduct elections, has been sidetracked by protesting entities affected by supposed fraud and cheating and instead, have brought their case before the media. Without allowing the Comelec to conduct a formal investigation on electoral protests, the losing candidates and groups who are in the center of these protests, are pushing the country to the edge of a political crisis. It is not known whether there is an unseen hand in charge of these protests that unknowingly have spread and grown in number. It would not be a suprise if all the provinces in the country would have electoral protests. In effect, it would complete an answer to the question on whether the cheating is massive and nationwide. At any rate, it is still the Comelec as a constitutional body that will decide whether there is systematic cheating that favors a winning candidate over the loser.
It is difficult to assess the involvement of the Supreme Court, the Congress, or the Excutive branch in this problem. The Comelec, as a constitutional body, must be respected and its decision to declare a winner a winner or a loser a loser, must remain unsullied and should be followed. No other constitutional body must overrule what the Comelec has done. Otherwise, this country will enter into a crisis mode that is difficult to get out of.