MANILA, Philipines - For lack of an enabling law, the chief of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday ruled out the possibility of holding early election in six provinces in the country that are considered election hotspots.

In an interview, Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said both houses of Congress failed to approve proposed bills that would allow early voting due to lack of quorum. Congressmen earlier passed on third and final reading a bill allowing early voting for media men while the Senate version allows early voting in election hotspots.

"Some quarters are advocating that [Comelec] issue a resolution allowing early voting but the law is very clear that elections should be held on the 2nd Monday of May every 3 years unless otherwise provided by law," Melo told ANC.

In a separate interview, Sen. Francis Escudero said passing the early voting bill will not happen unless the House of Representatives adopts the Senate version. Under parliamentary procedure, differing versions of the same bill in the House and Senate will have to be reconciled by a bicameral conference committee, which can no longer convene since both chambers have adjourned.

Melo said Comelec has designated 6 provinces as election hotspots. Three of the election hotspots were identified as Abra, Nueva Ecija and Masbate.

The Comelec chairman said holding early elections in designated poll hotspots would have allowed security forces to focus on those areas when people vote. "Holding the elections in those hotspots with the rest of the country would mean that security would be spread out," he said.

He said most voters in the hotspots want the military to safeguard the elections especially since the police are usually influenced by local officials.

He also ruled out the possibility that the military could be used to rig the 2010 elections, noting that poll automation would negate that possibility.

25% of RP doesn't have cellphone signal

In a related development, the poll body said up to 25% of the country, mostly in the hinterlands, are not within transmission range of cell phone companies, which will be crucial for the electronic transmittal of vote results.

Comelec Executive Director Jose Tolentino said that for this purpose, the Comelec and poll automation supplier Smartmatic TIM are deploying mobile satellite devices to ensure electronic transmission.

Melo, meanwhile, said the poll body has delayed delivery of the source code for the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines and canvassing software to Tuesday, February 9.

Melo told the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Automation that the Comelec has to wait for a Monetary Board resolution authorizing the use of a Bangko Sentral vault in safekeeping the source code as mandated by the Poll Automation Law.

The source code is the blueprint for how the machines will behave and carry out their automated functions on election day.