Credible or incredible elections?

The statement of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) hits the nail right on the head when it said this country needs credible elections which should not be marred by any allegations of cheating or dagdag-bawas. If that happens, then we can expect another period of political instability, and this time, it could create a real firestorm. Do we want credible or incredible elections? If nobody believes the results of the elections, then we’re back to square one. Once again, the economy will be in trouble with businessmen shying away from investing in this country.

Automation is the answer to put an end to the problem associated with manual voting. But as usual, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is again insisting there is no time to prepare for automated poll this May, giving all sorts of excuses. In the first place, the automation will not cover the entire country but just selected areas — two provinces and two cities each for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Poll automation for the entire country will be in 2010. There should have been enough time to prepare for automated elections this May, if Comelec had not flipped-flopped and wiggle-waggled on the issue.

The group of Raffy Garcia — president and COO of Mega Data Corp. (not to be confused with Mega Pacific e-Solutions whose anomaly-ridden automation contract with Comelec has been junked by the Supreme Court) has the solution through Botong Pinoy, and Raffy said he is making it available to the Philippine government for free. Raffy Garcia’s group is behind the successful computerization of the NBI and the LTO, that’s why applications and renewals are no longer the tedious processes they used to be.

Raffy made a presentation to the Comelec en banc to showcase Botong Pinoy. Asked why Mega Data was giving it away for free — Garcia’s answer was, "Because we love the country." Is that so bad? Botong Pinoy is "idiot-free" — meaning it is interactive and can guide the voter through the whole process. All a voter has to do is point at the candidate of his choice on the computer screen, and after he has made his choices, a print-out of the ballot will be made which will have a 2-D barcode for recounts and auditing. Filipinos are very adept at adjusting to technology — after all, Pinoys are already very familiar with the use of bank ATMs, which is going to be pretty much like what voting through Botong Pinoy computers will be.

Raffy’s group has offered this program to give credibility to the coming elections, but Comelec is saying there is no time to automate because bidding still has to be conducted. But if the software is being provided for free, where’s the need for the bidding? As for the hardware, the Department of Budget and Management already buys "PC ng Bayan" for various government agencies without any bidding — and these PCs can be used to run the Botong Pinoy program. Besides, these computers can be used by the schools where the elections will be held. This will also solve the costly problem of storage which those automated counting machines required. As Raffy said, "Give automation a chance. There is still time. Kung ayaw may dahilan. Kung gusto may paraan."

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The bidding finally begins

Speaking of biddings, we were told that the long overdue bidding for the privatization of the National Transmission Co. (TransCo) is finally set this Feb. 5. Among the three bidders, the Italian transmission operator Terna SpA, which has partnered with the Citadel group, is at the forefront. It’s not a state-owned entity, in contrast to the two other bidding groups — and under existing laws, the privatization of TransCo through the grant of a concession to operate, manage, maintain and upgrade its transmission assets should be done by a private entity, and not to another state-owned entity.

This TransCo privatization is a production that is long overdue. We keep saying we want to attract foreign investors to pour in more capital in this country, but it would be a tough job convincing them if we keep delaying biddings for. We understand projects really take time to implement, but the maximum should be two years, not six years which is the case with TransCo. For one reason or another, there have already been two failed biddings — one in 2001 and another in 2004 — conducted by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM). This time, they better make sure the Feb. 5 bidding pushes through as scheduled. It’s the credibility of government that is at stake here. They should not bungle the bidding again this time.

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