Finally, Comelec accredits Namfrel

After several weeks of anxiety, poll watchdog National Movement For Free Election (Namfrel) was finally granted accreditation yesterday by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to conduct a parallel quick count for the May 2004 elections.

Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos said the resolution granting the accreditation of Namfrel will be promulgated today but the decision was not unanimous since Commissioner Luzviminda Tancangco maintained her position against conducting an independent quick count.

Abalos said the Comelec decided to allow Namfrel to proceed with its parallel count "to preempt any possible allegation of manipulation (of results) from interested sectors."

"Of course we cannot satisfy everybody. There would always be opposition," Abalos said.

The Comelec earlier called on Namfrel to present a new procedure in relation to the full computerization of the May 2004 general elections.

Although Namfrel has been conducting the unofficial quick count during elections in the last 20 years, the Comelec noted the need for the poll watchdog to justify how it can work in conjunction with the computerization of next year’s polls.

The Comelec had said the dramatic improvement in the speed of ballot counting renders Namfrel’s role in the counting "potentially confusing."

Namfrel, however, lobbied for its accreditation for a parallel count with added safeguards to ensure that their results would not conflict with that of Comelec.

Tancangco maintained the Comelec should do away with Namfrel since its role in the coming polls would not be significant in relation to the full computerization of the poll results next year.

Namfrel and Tancangco once swapped accusations of irregularities, their feud spilling over before the House of Representatives when the poll watchdog initiated an impeachment complaint against her. It was later dismissed by the lawmakers for lack of substance.

Abalos explained Namfrel’s primary role in the conduct of next year’s elections would be to assure the public that there are no manipulations in the counting process.

Namfrel’s role will enhance the credibility of the elections amid skepticism and fears that the election results could be rigged by hacking into the computers, Abalos said.

He said Namfrel is allowed to pursue its principal mandate to conduct its usual unofficial quick count.

However, he noted the possibility Namfrel will not be needed to conduct a quick count in the future.

"How can they hold a quick count when all the while we would be ahead of the?" Abalos asked. "Eventually, they (Namfrel) will phase themselves out."

Namfrel admitted that the coming electoral exercise could mark the last time it would participate.

The poll watchdog admitted the possibility that its quick count role will eventually be rendered obsolete if the computerization of the elections next year will be a success.

Namfrel would be basing its own quick count on a copy of the election returns printed out by Comelec’s counting machines.

The Comelec, however, has required Namfrel to indicate the regions or areas from which their latest tallies are based.

The Comelec used to take several weeks to count all the certificates of canvass. But with the help of the much-vaunted, although limited, supply of counting machines, the poll body hopes to complete the tally in a week’s time.

Next year’s elections will be historic since it will be the first time computers will be used, despite criticism by some sectors that the Comelec is not ready for full computerization and could be influenced into manipulating the results.

The supplier of the counting machines had guaranteed that their systems cannot be hacked, citing their advanced security protection.

Aside from its internal security features, only authorized Comelec officers and operators with 16-digit Personal Identification Numbers (PIN) and restricted USB key with 1024-bit Digital Certificate can operate the counting machines, supplier Mega Pacific Consortium (MPC) said.

MPC officials maintained that local election results in the municipal city level would be known in about 24 hours, while provincial and national election results would be known in 36 hours because of the machine’s capability to read 50 ballots per minute.

The counting machine reads both sides of the ballot simultaneously and detects both fake and previously read ballots with Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) coding as required by law.