By GLENDA SOLOGASTOA
ILOILO City — Vice President Jejomar Binay appealed to officers and members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Eastern and Western Visayas chapters to be vigilant against possible high-technology tampering in the 2016 election.
Binay, in his keynote speech during the IBP Eastern and Western Visayas joint convention yesterday, said there were reported plans to hold high-tech tampering to favor certain candidates, especially for higher offices.
“If true, such an act will be an affront to the people’s sovereign power to confer their mandate to leaders of their choosing, and this we could not allow to pass,” he said.
Binay stressed that the seeds of advocacy for fair and honest election in 2016 must be sown and nurtured to defend the people’s sovereign rights.
“I sincerely hope the IBP will pick up the gauntlet and be among the vigilant guardians of a clean electoral process,” he appealed.
On the other hand, the vice president lauded the initiatives of the IBP.
Relating it to the convention’s theme, “Enhancing IBP’s Regional and National Relevance,” Binay said the organization rises remarkably to the occasion when lawyers provide pro bono professional services to supervisors conducting legal clinics, dispensing advises for construction of lives and properties, drafting affidavits, giving counsel for the reconstitution of land titles, documentation for insurance claims, and other badly needed services.
This, according to Binay, is on top of “Operation Yolanda,” which IBP had launched to set up special funds for the victims, including its affected members./PN
