While national attention is focused on the individuals who are likely to slug it out for the presidency in 2010, equal attention should also be given to efforts to ensure that the general elections will push through as smoothly as possible. It will be the first time that Philippine elections will be fully automated, and every effort must be made to ensure the success of this undertaking.
There are still too many hurdles along the road to credible elections. The Commission on Elections and the Smartmatic-TIM consortium, which bagged the automation contract, are set to conduct a physical survey to determine telecommunications coverage nationwide. A reliable telecommunications system is needed for transmitting votes electronically. The voting machines, which have not yet been delivered, must pass several tests before they get the Comelec’s green light for use in the polls. The machines must be protected from any form of tampering until election day.
Last Wednesday President Arroyo appointed Gregorio Larrazabal as the seventh Comelec commissioner, but there is no guarantee that the regional election director for Eastern Visayas will still have his new post by May 2010. Larrazabal is taking over from Leonardo Leonida, who quit after failing twice to get the nod of the Commission on Appointments. By November, the Comelec will be busy weeding out nuisance candidates and ruling on petitions for disqualification.
The Comelec said the country has more than two million new voters. The poll body is also busy trying to clean up voters’ lists and preparing for voting by millions of Filipinos working overseas. Comelec officials have admitted that they lack the personnel and resources to fully enforce laws and regulations on campaigning, including rules — limited as they are — governing campaign finance. Election-related violence has already started in certain hot spots. The military and police, which are tasked to deal with security problems, will have their hands full.
Whoever wins in the 2010 elections, the important thing is to ensure that the vote is credible. The nation can no longer afford to have a president and even senators with a questionable mandate. Certain quarters had opposed poll automation, but proponents argued that at the very least, the new system would ensure that votes would be counted quickly, leaving a smaller room for manipulating results. Now that the new system is being put in place, everything must be done to make it work, and make the 2010 elections reflect the true will of the people.