It is unfortunate that owing to time constraints, it’s back to manual voting in this month’s Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections. This upcoming political exercise would have been an excellent opportunity for election personnel and the Filipino voters to familiarize themselves more with the automated manner of conducting the elections.
Under the Automated Election System (AES), the system of computerized balloting that was provided by the Comelec’s private partner, Smartmatic-TIM, winners for local positions were known within hours of the following day, while the victors in the national races were known as early as two days after the elections.
This is why the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), the citizen’s arm in the May 10 elections, was correct in urging the Comelec to use pre-printed ballots in the barangay and SK elections to provide continuity to voters still familiarizing themselves with the AES.
We agree with PPCRV chairperson Henrietta de Villa that preprinted ballots are more voter-friendly, because it spares voters the chore of writing down the names of our chosen candidates. Shading ovals is way much better than writing down over 15 names in a single ballot.
Using preprinted ballots on Oct. 25 could form part of the Comelec’s voters’ education program, so that voters would no longer be fumbling their way around when the next national elections, which is expected to be automated, are held in 2013.
We expect the 2013 elections to be automated, because reverting to the manual method would be like going back to the Stone Age, and ignoring the electorate’s widely positive response to the country’s first-ever automated polls last May 10.
In the survey conducted by Pulse Asia between July 1-11, seven out of 10 Filipinos believe that the May 10 polls were more credible than previous elections held in the country. It also showed that 89 percent believe the counting of votes for senators, party-list groups and local posts was faster than before, while 90 percent said the canvassing of votes for president and vice-president was faster.
These results were validated by an earlier survey by the Social Weather Station which showed that three out of four Filipinos were satisfied with the conduct of the May 10 automated elections.
This SWS survey also showed high approval ratings for the Comelec in relation to the counting of votes, the consolidation of vote counts, voter registration, and the dissemination of information about the automated election system.
The Supreme Court, in upholding the validity of the Comelec-Smartmatic-TIM contract, cited a report of the Comelec’s Special Bids and Awards Committee-Technical Working Group (SBAC-TWG) showing that Smartmatic-TIM’s system and Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines had passed all end-to-end demo tests using a 26-item criteria, including an accuracy rating of at least 99.955 percent.
During a House inquiry, Dennis Villorente, director of the Advanced Science and Tech Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), confirmed that the PCOS machines garnered 100 percent accuracy reading results during the tests he had done ahead of the elections, while Al Vitangol III, a certified hacking forensic investigator, said the vote-counting results could not be tampered with.
The Comelec itself has admitted during a recent Senate committee on local government hearing that the government would have to spend P15 billion to P20 billion to automate the 2013 elections, on the premise that another round of public bidding for new technology and machines would be held.
But if the Comelec would take on Smartmatic-TIM’s offer of purchasing the PCOS machines it had rented last May 10, the government would only have to shell out an additional P2 billion for the units. The government would also save money on training expenses because the personnel that would handle the machines are already familiar with the units. Not to mention voters’ familiarity with the process and the machines.
Getting a new provider and a new set of machines for the 2013 elections would mean flushing down the drain all the gains achieved last May 10 via the AES mode.
Aside from automating the election process, Smartmatic still has a lot to offer in terms of preserving the integrity of the Philippine voting process.
For instance, it has 15-year old automated teller machines that are still operational and decades-old voting machines that are still being used in other countries.
Experts say that the PCOS machines provided by Smartmatic and TIM in the 2010 elections are durable, no-frills pieces of equipment that can effectively carry out its functions for years without need for an upgrade.
This may be the reason why the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has selected Smartmatic to provide new technologies for the improvement of the electoral register in the Republic of Zambia, after rigorous testings of numerous identity and registry technologies.
Smartmatic has also partnered with Cross Match Technologies in Mexico to supply new technologies to improve and safeguard the country’s national registry.
Resolving the Payatas issue
It looks like acting Environment Secretary Ramon Paje has inherited a controversial issue and he may not have the luxury of passing this on to his successor.
The challenge to Secretary Paje has been triggered by the resurgence of interest on the Payatas dumpsite issue, 10 years after the tragedy that hit that place, and a year after Typhoon Ondoy. It may have been a “misfortune” on Paje’s part that he should be at the helm of the DENR when these ecological disaster milestones were marked.
Several cause-oriented groups and even media have once again raised the issue that the continued operation of the Payatas dumpsite is “illegal”. They cite as basis Republic Act 9003 or The Ecological Solid Waste Act of 2000 and its implementing rules for the allegation that the non-closure of the facility violates the law.
Paje’s attention has been called to a provision in the IRR which says that “no open dumpsites shall be established and operated by any person or entities, including the LGUs,” and that “within three years following the effectivity of the Act (year 2000, we presume), all open dumpsites shall be converted to controlled dumpsites to operate only within five years”.
Based on this, the year 2006 appears to be the start of the presumed “illegality” of the Payatas dumpsite which was converted into a “controlled facility”.
Although the Payatas issue has definitely caused him unwanted headache, Paje will have to admire the dedication of these groups and of media to the Payatas cause. He must admit they have put together sound arguments to support their cause.
One important point in these issues being raised should be particularly interesting to him - that the controversies hounding the Payatas facility are rightfully the concern of the DENR.
The groups have correctly pointed out that the DENR secretary is the chair of the so-called National Solid Waste Management Commission, a creation of RA 9003.
Among the powers and functions of the commission is approving so-called solid waste management plans of the LGUs. We presume that the operation of waste facilities should be part of that plan.
In tandem with that responsibility is the review and monitoring of these plans. Ergo, nothing escapes the DENR’s eyes if it is bent on doing its job.
It may interest Paje to know that some people are betting that he would be indifferent to the Payatas issue since he is simply warming the DENR boss’ seat for someone who will come in after the one-year ban on the appointment of losing political candidates.
But there are those who say that Paje is a cut-and-dried ecologist who just might have the will to use the mandate and power of his office to address important environment concerns.
At the end of the day, he would be in the best position to put an end to the controversy by doing what the law mandates him to do.
Those who continue to champion the Payatas issue have raised a valid concern. They are right: this issue is a decade old and must now be resolved once and for all.
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