THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) has submitted to Congress a 963-page draft detailing the overhaul of the 39-year-old Batas Pambansa 881, or the Omnibus Election Code (OEC), noting the law needs to be upgraded for present realities.
“Time has changed. There are lots of election offenses that are beyond the authority of the Comelec because there is no enabling law for it,” Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said.
He added that today, vote buying can be done electronically, wherein voters who sold their votes were paid through digital applications like Gcash and PayMaya.
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Garcia. PHOTOS BY J. GERARD SEGUIA
“The Comelec cannot define or pronounce a crime when there is no law which will pronounce that it is a crime,” he added.
The OEC was enacted during the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
Today, Garcia said that in the absence of a law, the Comelec has to cite old Supreme Court decisions applicable to the cases or problems on hand.
“We need to update [the law]. We should not always refer according to the Supreme Court. So it must be codified,” he added.
Garcia said it was unrealistic to expect a retooled OEC timely for the 2025 midterm elections, adding that it would be more practical for Congress to revise it per subject matter or part by part.
“It is possible to amend first the party list law, then the filing of CoC (certificate of candidacy) and amendment of substitution… and so on,” Garcia said.
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