Oreta urges Comelec to pursue VRIS with care

The Commission on Elections should persist in modernizing the country’s "antiquated" electoral process despite a recent Supreme Court order, Sen. Tessie Aquino-Oreta said yesterday.

The opposition solon said that the Comelec should not be disheartened by the SC decision nullifying the P6.5-billion contract with Photokina to implement a voters registration and identification system (VRIS).

She said that the SC decision set back the election modernization program by five years but this should not deter the poll body from initiating fresh moves to finally implement the program.

She called on Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos to approach this task with renewed vigor so he could leave a lasting legacy to the people as head of the poll body.

"If there is a single legacy that he should leave to the Comelec, it should be the transformation of our antiquated ballot-counting and voters’ registration setup into a computerized system at par with those of other countries," Oreta said.

She said that the Supreme Court decision merely confirmed the haphazard and roughshod manner by which concerned government agencies and private parties have handled the sensitive task of poll modernization.

"But there is no use crying over spilt milk. The decision should serve as a lesson to election officials to be more careful and prudent in carrying out the computerization of the electoral system," Oreta stressed. — Efren Danao