PCOSed

For better or for worse, we are wed to the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) system — at least for the 2016 elections. For the 2013 elections, the Comelec decided to purchase the machines leased for the 2010 elections. They are now ours to love or to leave.

The system is not without its critics. There are those who claim systematic fraud using the existing system — including the repeating 60-30-10 voting pattern for senatorial candidates in the midterm elections. Some blame the system for installing the current chief executive.

The Comelec, however, argues that accusations of systematic cheating involving the PCOS machines have not been conclusively proven. The random audit showed no systematic manipulation. There are isolated instances of human error but not of machine error.

Comelec says that the automated electoral system used in the two previous elections proved reliable. It earned the praise of international observers. Poll officials are familiar with the machine and no extensive training programs will be required to run them again in 2016.

There is broad popular acceptance of the voting system, according to our poll officials. Our voters, they say, will never want to return to the old cumbersome process we had before PCOS. A return to manual voting and counting is out of the question. Automated counting is here to stay.

There is actually some new technology out in the market. One is the Direct Electronic Recording (DRE) system that uses touchscreens. This system, however, is too expensive. It is estimated that we will have to spend something like P55 billion to shift to this new system.

Unless our legislators return all the money squandered through the DAP, a new automated system for our elections is simply beyond reach.

Comelec did ask for P16 billion in next year’s national budget to prepare for the 2016 elections. The DBM, however, slashed that to only P10.3 billion.

Out of that amount, the poll body will spend about P6.9 billion upgrading the 80,000 PCOS units it owns, buying about 6,000 more units to address shortage, and procuring more printers and ballot boxes. That is about all the money available for automated elections technology.

The tighter budget will leave Comelec only about P3.4 billion for other poll-related programs and projects.

Nevertheless, the Comelec is hopeful it could still pilot some new technologies in select areas in the next elections. Among the new technologies our poll officials want to test is the DRE, which they hope to deploy in some urban areas.

The use of multiple or mixed technologies was one of the recommendations of the Comelec Advisory Council (CAC). This is a multisectoral panel of experts convened by the poll body to advise it on the continuing improvement of automated elections, considering the rapid change in the technological environment.

Among CAC’s recommendations are: partial use of the Biometric Voter Identification Apparatus which identifies the voter by way of thumbprint; the use of Internet voting for our overseas voters; reduction of precinct size from 1,000 voters to as little as 600 to avoid long queues; and, institutionalization of early review of the source code by political parties.

Last month, the CAC passed a resolution endorsing the re-use of the existing optical machine reader (OMR) system as the primary technology. It is a system that voters and election officials are already familiar with. Because of this, according to CAC, minimal voter education is required.

It might have been preferable to supplement the PCOS backbone with other technologies. This was what the original Comelec request for a P16 billion budget envisioned and includes building an “integrated system” with supplemental technologies. With the reduced budget, the “integrated system” recommended by the CAC will be tested only in a limited way.

This may be further enhanced in future elections. The Comelec is confident obsolescence is not an issue with the PCOS system. It is a system used in many other countries (including the US, Brazil, Venezuela, Belgium and India) with negligible issues. The same system is foreseen for the 2019 elections — and maybe even beyond that. The more electoral cycles using the same technology backbone, the more economical this will be.

Comelec requires an accuracy rating of 99.955% for the automated system in use. The director of the Advanced Science and Tech Institute of the DOST confirmed before a recent House suffrage committee hearing that their tests of the system ahead of the elections produced a 100% accuracy rating.

The PCOS system now in use was introduced for the 2010 elections by Smartmatic and its local partner Total Information Management (TIM). At the time the selection was made, it was clearly the most superior design and technology for automating our elections and preventing the trauma of long delayed results.

Dismissed

It does seem that the Filipino contingent to the Golan Heights has been dismissed.

The 300 Filipino troops were due to arrive at the Villamor Air Base yesterday — although, as this is being written, numerous flights have been cancelled at the Manila airport due to a breakdown of the radar service and the severe effects of tropical storm Mario. They are returning over a month ahead of schedule.

In his most recent report to the Security Council, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon recommended the continued deployment of the UN Disengagement Observation Force (UNDOF) at the Golan Heights since the force carries out an “important mandate.” The situation there, says Ban, is “evolving rapidly and remains volatile.”

Ban’s report makes no mention of the controversy between the Filipino troops and UNDOF Commander Lt. Gen. Iqbal Singh Singha. The commander earlier described the “escape” of Filipino troops from their post as an act of cowardice.