PHILIPPINES ELECTION REFORM PROJECT IFES Fin A L Project Report October 2007 - December 2009 This publication was produced by IFES for the U.S. Agency for Interna- tional Development concerning cooperative agreement NO. 492-A-00-07- 00018-00. IFES FINAL PROJECT REPORT PHILIPPINES: PHILIPPINES ELECTION REFORM PROJECT UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT USAID COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT NO: 492-A-00-07-00018-00 PROJECT PERIOD: 1 October 2007 – 31 December 2009 1 IFES is an international nonprofit organization that supports the building of democratic societies. Additional information is online at www.ifes.org. 2 December 31, 2009 This publication was produced by IFES for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Agreement No. 492-A-00-07-00018-00 Disclaimer The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) or the United States Government. 3 Final Project Report Philippines: Philippines Election Reform Project Copyright © IFES. All rights reserved. IFES 1850 K Street, NW Fifth Floor Washington, D.C. U.S.A. Notice of rights All rights reserved. No part of this report can be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means without the prior permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. 4 IFES Acknowledgements This publication was made possible through the generous support of the American People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), under the terms of Agreement No. 492-A-00-07-00018-00. IFES would also like to express appreciation to USAID for its continuing support during this project. Special thanks are due to Raymond Edler, Steven Edminster, Gerry Porta and Maria Rendon. IFES also thanks the US Ambassador Kristie Kenney. And, while the list of local stakeholders who provided IFES with access, information, and cooperation is too long to mention, IFES would like to recognize the following people for their contributions to this program: Chairman and Commissioners of the Commission on Elections: Jose Armando R. Melo (Chairman), Rene V. Sarmiento, Nicodemo T. Ferrer, Lucenito N. Tagle, Armando C. Velasco, Elias R. Yusoph, Gregorio Y. Larrazabal, and former Commissioners Leonado L. Leonida and Moslemen T. Macarambon, Sr. Senior STAFF: Jose M. Tolentino (Executive Director), Bartolome N. Sinocruz (Deputy Director for Operations), Estrella P. De Mesa (Deputy Director for Administration), Ret. B/Gen. Edgardo M. Gurrea (Chief of Staff, Office of the Chairman) and the rest of the Senior Directors, Assistant Directors, and the Regional Election Directors International Consultants: Michael Yard, Alistair Legge, Fernanda Lopes, and Linda Edgeworth. Local consultants: George Carmona; Luie Guia; Benjamin Barretto; Emmanuel Miraflores; Artemio Romasanta, Jr. We also want to thank the following: Philippine Commission on Human Rights (CHR), the Philippine Judicial Academy (PHILJA), and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP). IFES Pakistan Chief of Party Peter Erben for his assistance during the Commissioner Retreat. IFES Indonesia program staff, under the leadership of Adam Schmidt, for their assistance and support to the COMELEC observation mission. For the International Election Administration Workshop in Mexico, we thank: Martin Landi, IFES Regional Director for Latin America; Magdy Martinez, UNDP Mexico 5 Resident Representative; Héctor Dávalos, Coordinator for International Relations, Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación (TEPJF); Dr. Leonardo Valdés Zurita, Council President, Federal Electoral Institute of Mexico (IFE); Manuel Carrillo, IFE Chief of International Affairs Unit; Maria de Lourdes Gonzalez, IFE Director for Liaison and International Politics; Mark Seniuk, Second Secretary, Embassy of Canada in Manila; and Tiffany Y. Urrutia, Program Assistant Political & Economic Relations/Public Affairs, Embassy of Canada in Manila. IFES Philippines staff members Chyn San Juan, Garie Briones, Karla Guia, Stella Platon, Mariam Ali, Melody Cacas, Leabel Jordan, Flora Rivera, and Alberto Conde. IFES would also like to thank Mara Krier, former IFES Philippines Operations Coordinator. It would have been impossible to carry out this project without their able assistance, commitment, and expertise. IFES would finally like to recognize Washington based staff support to the program, including Andrew Matthews and Megan Ritchie, as well as the research, editing and publication assistance to this report provided by Beverly Hagerdon Thakur, Juhani Grossmann, Vasu Mohan, Paulina Ojeda, and Megan Greeley. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS IFES: PHILIPPINES ELECTION REFORM PROJECT I. Overview………………………………………………………………………………………………..……8 II. Project Context………………………………………………………………………………………..……8 III. Program Activities……………………………………………………………………………………..…..9 1. Component 1: A More Transparent, Professional and Credible COMELEC ……………..9 A. Building the Capacity of the COMELEC……………………………………………….…...9 B. Updating the Legal Framework on Elections……………………………………............16 C. Introducing an Integrity Framework to COMELEC……………………………………...16 2. Component 1: Issues and Developments/Lessons Learned……………………...………..18 3. Component 2: Civil Society's Capacity to Advocate for Electoral Reform………...........19 A. Legislative Reform Needs Identified…………………………..……………………….….19 B. Ensuring Complete and Proper Implementation of the Political Party Bill…………19 4. Component 2: Issues and Developments/Lessons Learned………………………............20 5. Component 3: Civil Society's Election Monitoring & COMELEC Collaboration…..........21 A. Increased Civil Society Oversight of COMELEC Procurement……………………….21 B. Increasing Civil Society Capacity to Monitor Campaign Finance………………...….22 C. Implementing Voter Education and Election Monitoring Activities for ARMM Elections.........................................................................................................................23 D. Increasing Vulnerable Sector participation in 2010 Election....................................28 E. Ensuring the Credibility of the 2010 Elections Through Long-Term Domestic Monitoring…………………………………………………………………………………..….30 F. Increasing Access to Election Results and Data………………………………….........31 6. Component 3: Issues and Developments/Lessons Learned………………………............31 7. Component 4: Improving the Efficacy of Election Adjudication………………………...…32 A. Seminar on Election Fraud and Ballot Validity…………………………………….........32 B. Applied Research on Election Adjudication……........................................................32 C. Roundtable on the Automated System & Election Adjudication in the ARMM..…..32 D. Seminar on Teaching Law Related Studies………………………………………………32 E. Forum on Election Adjudication Under an Automated System in 2010…..….…..….33 F. Manual on Voting Rights and Remedies…………………………………………………..33 G. Creation of Website on Election Adjudication………………………………..………….33 H. Workshops to draft recommendations for Congress……………………………..........34 8. Component 4: Issues and Developments/Lessons Learned……………………………….34 IV. Overall Impact/Recommendations………………………………………………………………….…..34 V. Attachments……………………………………………………………………………….........................38 A. Technical Report by Mr. Michael Yard B. A Roadmap to Updating the Legal Framework C. Monitoring Report for the August 2008 Elections (Citizens CARE) D. Baseline Study on the Vulnerable Sectors (Task Force 2010) E. Evaluation of the Impact and Efficacy of the New Rules Concerning the Adjudication of Election Cases in the Trial Courts (LIBERTAS Study) 7 I. Overview This final report concludes the implementation of IFES‟ activities carried out under the program “Philippines Election Reform Project” (PERP) with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The program was implemented from 1 October 2007 through 31 December 2009. IFES is an international NGO that supports development of democracy around the world. Since 1987, IFES has been engaged in a broad range of democracy and governance programming, including elections assistance, in more than 100 countries. IFES is widely known for the nonpartisan role it maintains in elections and for the consistent quality of the technical electoral assistance services it provides. IFES‟ initial involvement in the Philippines began in 1998 with technical assistance to the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) in areas such as voter education, training and media outreach. In March 2004, IFES consultants assessed the political situation and proposed recommendations for supporting a modernized electoral reform process in many areas, including voter education, legal framework and institutional change within the election administration itself. The PERP program continued to address their recommendations while building from the success of IFES‟ previous Philippines programs including: Advancing Reforms in Philippine Election Administration and Management, Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (2004 – 2005) and Advancing Reforms in Philippine Election Administration program (2005 – 2008). The PERP Program successfully addressed the goal of supporting a modernized electoral reform process through the following objectives: 1) Assist the Commission on the Elections (COMELEC) to become more transparent, professional, and credible; 2) Increase civil society‟s capacity to advocate for electoral reform; 3) Increase civil society‟s involvement in the electoral