To bid or not to bid?

While we’re all busy watching the Corona impeachment trial and keeping Congress preoccupied, time is running out for the Commission on Elections to meet its target date of March 2012 to complete all the necessary preparations for the 2013 elections. Now that the Comelec Advisory Council (CAC) has given its recommendation for the adoption of the optical mark reader technology (using the same Precinct Count Optical Scan or PCOS configuration used in the May 2010 presidential elections), the Comelec needs to fast track a decision whether to exercise its option to purchase the 2010 PCOS machines from Smartmatic or conduct another bidding to lease brand new machines.

For people with enough common sense, the issue is a no-brainer: Comelec has a P7 billion budget and purchasing the PCOS machines from Smartmatic will cost P1.8 billion while leasing brand new machines will cost, at the very least, P6 billion — leaving the poll body with little money for other operational requirements and expenses. Insiders divulged however that one of the reasons why Comelec chief Sixto Brillantes seems to be in a quandary is due to alleged pressure and agitation from a certain group, claiming to be well connected with the current administration, for the Comelec to adopt a hybrid (some describe it as half-baked) technology involving manual counting and partial automation.

According to some businessmen, the leaders of this group project themselves to be reformists but are in reality revisionists who want to throw the country back to the old days of “dagdag-bawas” by advocating a voting system that makes use of manual counting at the precinct level where, as everyone knows, the opportunity for cheating begins. This group has been relentless in downplaying the success of the 2010 automated elections — the first in the history of this nation — even going to the extent of questioning the credibility of the polls by imputing “manipulation” of results.

Yet nobody is questioning the victory of Noynoy Aquino in 2010 — with Filipinos gratified and proud to see the results in just a matter of days after casting their votes — so very much unlike the ancient days when people had to wait for months — and with great agony — to know the results which, more often than not, were always questioned. International observers including the US-based Carter Center have lauded the automated presidential polls, recognizing it as a critical step in achieving credible and transparent elections.

While there may have been initial glitches, these were described as minor by Brillantes. This was echoed by CAC member and Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting chairperson and former Ambassador to the Vatican Henrietta “Tita” de Villa who said the problems encountered in May 2010 were understandable considering that it was the first time we conducted automated elections. De Villa also admitted that one other reason why the CAC recommended the PCOS for the 2013 elections had to do with the fact that voters are already familiar with the technology and they have also come to accept it. Clearly, it would be more practical to buy the 2010 PCOS machines rather than go through another bidding for the same kind of technology that would incur more expenses and eat up precious time for another long preparation.

I am told Smartmatic has already given assurances that the machines are “in perfect condition” and that the changes and modifications requested by the Comelec were addressed early on in preparation for the August 2011 ARMM elections, which was eventually shelved to be synchronized with the 2013 polls. A Smartmatic executive also explained that the issues hurled by detractors against the PCOS machines were not technological in nature but rather, had more to do with procedural, managerial and even deadline problems. Thus, fears that massive cheating could occur are unlikely to happen with poll automation.

President Noy has made clear his dislike for Chief Justice Renato Corona, repeating it again in his speech commemorating the 26th anniversary of EDSA 1 where he explained that a major reason why the Chief Justice must be removed was because it was obvious he wanted to protect former president Gloria Arroyo from getting convicted with electoral sabotage for the alleged cheating that happened during the 2007 senatorial elections — a period before automation where everything from voting to counting to transmission and all other electoral processes were done mano-mano. P-Noy explained in his speech that the prescription period for electoral sabotage is only five years, and had GMA succeeded in leaving the country on the strength of a TRO issued by the Supreme Court against the hold departure order, GMA would have left and stayed away until the prescription period had lapsed.

A number of people told us that one of those who has been vocal almost to the point of vehemence against the purchase of the Smartmatic PCOS machines is Comelec Commissioner Gus Lagman, who is identified with the losing group that pushed for the Open Election System — a semi-automated process where voting and counting would still be conducted manually at the precinct level and already rebuffed by the Comelec precisely because it opens up opportunities for dagdag-bawas operators to be back in business once again.

Former skeptics like Congressman Rufus Rodriguez and Senator Bongbong Marcos are urging the Comelec to seriously consider what would be obviously advantageous to government in terms of financing the elections. To borrow from Shakespeare — the question for the Comelec is not to ask whether “To bid or not to bid?” but rather — to bid goodbye to dagdag-bawas or not? For many self respecting Filipinos, the answer is very clear.

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