‘Parallel manual count not needed’

MANILA, Philippines - Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. is lukewarm to a proposal to have a parallel manual count for the May 13 elections.

“A parallel manual count is required under the law but there is already such a thing as Random Manual Audit (RMA), which will be done on election day, immediately after the counting,” Brillantes said yesterday.

The Comelec chief believes the RMA is enough to validate the accuracy of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines.

Under Republic Act 9369, an RMA must be conducted in one polling precinct per congressional district randomly chosen by the Comelec.

The law states that “any difference between the automated and manual count will result in the determination of the root cause and initiate a manual count for those precincts affected by the computer or procedural error.”

“If we do automated and manual counting, election will drag on for at least five days. In the first place, we are set for automated elections only,” Brillantes said.

An election watchdog represented by Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo has urged the Comelec to conduct a parallel manual count of votes in all precincts.

Pabillo said their group, Tanggulan Demokrasya (TanDem), believes that a manual count would put to rest questions regarding the accuracy and credibility of the elections.

Meanwhile, teachers who will serve in the May elections will be given legal assistance from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO).

“There will be enough legal assistance for the teachers. Before, only Lente was helping them,” Brillantes said.

Lente, which stands for Legal Network for Truthful Elections, is composed of a group of lawyers, law students, paralegals and other trained volunteers advocating for electoral reforms.

Close to 234,000 teachers will be serving as Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) in the more than 77,000 polling precincts across the country.

Members of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) yesterday trooped to Comelec to demand a P6,000 honorarium for the BEIs.

For the coming elections, BEIs stand to get P4,000 for three days of work. Of the amount, P3,000 is for honoraria while P500 is for transportation and another P500 for meals. – With Evelyn Macairan