‘VRIS to push through’

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Benjamin Abalos said yesterday he would support the long-delayed Voters’ Registration and Identification System (VRIS) once the Supreme Court upholds the legality of the winning bid for the poll automation project.

Abalos said problems in the just-concluded barangay elections showed how badly the government needs to maintain a secure list of voters.

"If the SC decides in favor of the winning bidder and rules that the deal with the Comelec is legal, I would recommend the implementation of the VRIS," he said.

The Comelec chief admitted that there have been numerous complaints regarding the voters’ lists in the synchronized barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections conducted July 15. His office also received several reports of "flying" voters in several polling precincts.

Special voting was held yesterday in areas where the elections had been postponed due to floods. Again, there was confusion among voters who could not find their names in the list.

"This really shows that a total re-registration is needed. As long as the SC uphold the legality of the deal, we are willing to use the VRIS. Once ruled legal, there is no question, we can adopt it," Abalos said.

The VRIS provides a comprehensive and integrated solution for voter registration, including the development and maintenance of a secure electoral database that would serve as the foundation for clean and honest elections.

Photokina Marketing Corp. was awarded the project two years ago following one of the most exhaustive and highly technical bidding procedures ever conducted by the Comelec. The consortium bested the field by garnering the highest technical score and submitting the lowest price, outbidding its closest rival by more than P500 million.

The VRIS Project Team is made up of Photokina, Polaroid, Unisys, Headstrong, US-based IBM and French security company Sagem.

Despite having already been given a notice of award by the poll body, Photokina was prevented from implementing the project last year.

Then Comelec chief Harriet Demetriou discontinued the project after claiming there had been anomalies in the bidding process.

Budget constraints also delayed the implementation of the VRIS. Photokina’s bid was P6.5 million while the Comelec budget was only P1.2 billion.

Demetriou’s successor, Alfredo Benipayo, also refused to honor the deal with Photokina.

Abalos said the Photokina’s VRIS project would not be in conflict with the Comelec’s own program of re-registration.

"It would be part of the scheme," he pointed out. "We really need to computerize and get rid of the usual irritations suffered during elections."

Inherent in the approach to voter database cleansing under the VRIS is the use of a sophisticated Automated Fingerprint Identification System technology that ensures the uniqueness of each voter’s record.

A secure, tamper-proof voter ID card will serve as tangible proof of the clean voters’ list, to be issued only to duly validated registered voters.