EDITORIAL - Mongol saves day for mock poll

The front page photo in the Philippine Star issue of last Sunday, February 3, showed one of the mock polls conducted by the Comelec at different sites in the archipelago in preparation for the May 2013 automated elections.

At first perusal, nothing seems to be amiss in the photo. Even the photographer who took the photo probably saw nothing wrong with it, as did the editors, who otherwise would have noted something in the caption.

The seeming regularity with what was depicted in the photo seemed to coincide with the general picture of regularity that the Comelec wanted to project regarding the conduct of the mock polls. To the Comelec, everything was well and they are ready for May.

But then nothing ever escapes the notice of a veteran journalist. A couple of days later, who else but Philippine Star columnist Federico Pascual would notice that in the photo depicted, lo and behold, a Mongol pencil was being used to hold a spool of paper in the PCOS machine.

From a picture of general regularity and ordinariness, the photo becomes the single biggest indictment against the capability and preparedness of the Comelec to conduct the May 2013 automated polls.

Thank God that fabled Filipino ingenuity managed to come up with the make-do solution of inserting that Mongol pencil into that darn PCOS machine to keep it functioning. But what if no Mongol pencil had been found?

This incident not only raises questions about Comelec readiness. It also raises questions about its efficiency as well. Clearly, somebody forgot to bring all that were needed to make the PCOS machines function properly.

What a big disaster it would be if a PCOS machine failed to work because one tiny little part such as a spool holder got misplaced or left behind. What then must be done — pray that someone has a Mongol pencil?