The Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday said it will strive to modernize, reform and redeem the integrity of the agency through a five-year program.
Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes said the program, the Comelec Strategic Plan 2011-2016 or Comstrat, is anchored on the guiding principles of independence, integrity, accountability, transparency, impartiality, professionalism, efficiency, service orientation and rule of law.
“Comstrat is the summary of the five programs that we will be doing at the Comelec. It will start this year up to 2016. Most of us (commissioners) will not see the end of this program because we shall be retired by then,” he said. “But Comstrat had been ratified by the Comelec en banc so it will have to be implemented in the next five years.”
Comstrat is a product of a series of discussions among top Comelec officials, directors, regional directors, election supervisors and election officers across the country over the past months.
Brillantes added they intend to make Comelec an “independent, empowered and fully modernized institution conducting transparent electoral processes with credible results in strong partnership with election stakeholders.”
Each of the seven Comelec commissioners had been assigned specific “pillars” to handle to ensure the effective implementation of the program.
According to Commissioner Elias Yusoph who was assigned the voters’ education and legal policy and framework, there is a need to harmonize “all election laws, rules and regulations through the passage of a new Omnibus Election Code.”
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