SC: Digitized ballots can be used in poll-related cases

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court has ruled the digitized representations of the ballots cast through the Precinct Count Optical Scan machine are legal and could be used in determining the number of votes in election-related cases.

In a 20-page ruling dated Jan. 22, 2013 and written by Associate Justice Estela Perlas-Bernabe, the SC en banc denied for lack of merit the petition filed by former Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Liwayway Vinzons-Chato against the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal assailing the latter's verdict directing the copying of ballots for her election protest against Camarines Norte (2nd District) Rep. Elmer Panotes.

In the May 10, 2010 elections, Panotes won with 51,878 votes over Chato by 3,882 votes.

Chato sought redress before the SC after the HRET proclaimed Panotes as the rightful winner in October 2012.

HRET Chair Senior Associate Justice Presbitero J. Velasco, Jr. and members Associate Justices Lucas P. Bersamin and Diosdado M. Peralta took no part in the ruling while other justices concurred with Bernabe's verdict, including Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. Aranal Sereno.

Chato cited Republic Act 9369 or the Election Automation Law as the basis of her petition.

She argued the official ballot is the paper ballot printed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas or the National Printing Office was paper-based since the 2010 Automated Election System.

In dismissing Chato's petition, the SC said "the acts complained of in these cases pertain to the HRET's exercise of its discretion, an exercise which we find to be well within the bounds of its authority and, therefore, beyond our power to restrict or curtail."

It said while in the May 10, 2010 elections used a paper-based technology, "each voter was then required to personally feed his ballot into the [PCOS] machine which scanned both sides of the ballots simultaneously, meaning, in just one pass."

"As established during the required demo tests, the system captured the images of the ballots in encrypted format, which, when decrypted for verification, were found to be digitized representations of the ballots cast," the SC ruling said.

It also agreed with both the HRET and Panotes that "the picture images of the ballots, as scanned and recorded by the PCOS, are likewise official ballots that faithfully captures in electronic form the votes cast by the voter, as defined by Section 2(3) of R.A. No. 9369."

"As such, the printouts thereof are the functional equivalent of the paper ballots filled out by the voters and, thus, may be used for purposes of revision of votes in an electoral protest," the SC said. PNA