Heads of the National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice and Peace, from the 89 dioceses in the country, will meet today in Tagaytay City for a two-day post-election evaluation.

The NASSA meeting precedes the scheduled general assembly of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines set next month.

Each participant will present an assessment of the May 14 polls and the problems encountered during its quick-count operation, Fr. Aniceto Buenafe of Bacolod Social action Center said.

Buenafe admitted that a systems failure in its computer program messed up the operation resulting in a "slow-count". The same problem was experienced, not just in Bacolod City, but in other dioceses in the country as well, he said.

"To mitigate the situation, we had to design our own program. Other dioceses employed similar contingency measures," Buenafe added.

He said that while the election proceedings in Negros Occidental were generally peaceful, as monitored by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, massive vote-buying and disenfranchisement of some voters actually occurred.

These incidents make it inconclusive to say that the May 14 election was credible and honest, Buenafe said.

He added that NASSA will submit the results of its meeting to the CBCP.*NAB

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