PPC doing own quick count through texting

The administration People Power Coalition (PPC) is doing its own quick count of the election results through modern technology – the sending of short cellular phone messages or what has come to be known as texting.

"We are trying this new technology in quick counts on an experimental basis. We are experimenting on texting," PPC campaign manager Paul Aquino told reporters yesterday.

He said their canvass, dubbed TXTCount 2001, could be faster than those of other organizations doing their own tabulations since it would rely on cellular phones and their users.

"But it is very, very unofficial because we don’t have the hard copies reflecting the votes," he said, referring to the official certificate of votes, a copy of which will be available only to the National Movement for Free Elections, the citizens arm of the Commission on Elections.

Aquino explained that under their texting-based canvass, data gatherers and cellphone users have been tapped in as many precincts as possible to monitor the tabulation in the precinct-level.

These field men will text the results to several phones at the People Power Volunteer office at PPC headquarters in Pasig City. The receiving phones will download the data every 20 seconds to computers which will then automatically tally the votes.

The regions, provinces, cities, and towns where the figures will come from, and the senatorial candidates from both the PPC and the opposition Puwersa ng Masa have been given different codes to expedite the texting process and prevent duplication of votes.

Aquino assured the public that the administration coalition will not resort to trending.

He said they hope their count could cover most of the country.

He reiterated his prediction that the ruling coalition would win a majority of the 13 Senate seats at stake in the elections.

"If we go by SWS (Social Weather Stations), the results will be 8-5. But if we go by Pulse Asia, they can go as high as 12-1," he said.

He said in both the SWS and Pulse Asia surveys, PPC is assured of eight seats with its candidates occupying the second to ninth slots.

"The difference between No. 9 and No. 10 is four million votes. Opposition candidates cannot hope to overcome that," he said.

He added that Puwersa and the other PPC candidates will fight for slots 10 to 13.

He also revealed that in some areas in Metro Manila and Panay island, he received reports that the names of opposition candidates Edgardo Angara and Juan Ponce Enrile have been inserted in their sample ballots.

"We are looking into this. It is possible that those whose names have been inserted or our local candidates supplied the samples. But definitely, it is not the PPC or our candidates," he said.

He said the elections appeared to be generally peaceful since his headquarters did not receive any violence-related report.