Gradual poll automation pushed

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. has urged Congress and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to pursue a gradual implementation of the automation of the country’s electoral system in the light of the experiences of other countries with the complexity and hazards of poll modernization.

Pimentel also said lawmakers and election authorities should consider a suggestion made by some experts who propose to computerize only the counting of votes but not the voting itself.

Likewise, he said it would be better to first computerize elections in pilot areas instead of going nationwide at once.

Congress approved a nationwide computerization of the national and local elections in 2004, but the plan did not materialize because the Supreme Court voided the contract for the purchase of the automated counting machines and disallowed the use of these ACMs.

Pimentel said hindsight dictates that it was wrong to aim for the immediate, wholesale poll automation because of the risks involved and the need to familiarize the voters with the machinery and technology involved in the new poll process.

He cited the experience of Belgium, which has a population of only 10 million. Belgium started its poll automation over 10 years ago, yet its automated polling system covers only 60 percent of the voting population.

"(Belgium is) doing it on a gradual basis because they want the people to understand how the counting machines work before their use is made compulsory," he said.

In Italy, the automation of elections applies only to counting of votes, and not to the voting procedure itself, he added.

The Italians believe that irregularities can easily be monitored if the poll automation is limited to the counting of votes.

On the other hand, there is greater risk of cheating if voting is automated, Pimentel said.

He also assailed Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. for taking the stand that the incorporators or companies that formed part of the MegaPacific consortium may still participate in bidding for new contracts with the Comelec, including those related to the Automated Electoral System (AES) that is nearing final approval by Congress.

He said it would be prudent for Comelec to bar incorporators and firms that were part of the MegaPacific consortium — especially since they defied the Supreme Court order to refund the cost of more than P800 million paid by the government for 1,991 ACMs that remain idle.

"Out of delicadeza, these contractors that used to be part of the MegaPacific group should inhibit themselves from bidding for Comelec projects," Pimentel added.

He also expressed disgust over the leniency Abalos and other Comelec officials have shown to MegaPacific’s incorporators and owners.

Pimentel also criticized the Comelec officials for supporting MegaPacific’s claim that there was nothing wrong with the P1.3-billion poll automation contract they were awarded or with the ACMs they supplied under the botched contract.