EDITORIAL - Preparing for 2016

The two companies bidding to supply 23,000 optical mark reader machines for use in the 2016 elections were disqualified yesterday by the Commission on Elections. Smartmatic-Total Information Management Corp. and Indra Sistemas S.A., however, can still seek a reconsideration of their disqualification.

Smartmatic-TIM earlier bagged a P240-million deal to repair and rehabilitate 82,000 precinct count optical scan or PCOS machines used in the 2010 and 2013 elections. The deal, awarded without bidding by the poll body and signed three days before the retirement of Sixto Brillantes Jr. as Comelec chairman on Feb. 2, has been questioned before the Supreme Court, with petitioners assailing it as a midnight deal. So far the SC has not granted a petition to issue a temporary restraining order on the contract.

With only a year to go before the official start of the campaign for the general elections, the Comelec must be able to choose with finality the voting machines to be used and the company that will maintain whichever machine is selected. The machines must still hurdle several tests. In case technical glitches mar the May 2016 elections, these must be so slight their impact on the results will be negligible.

Controversies have hounded the use of the PCOS machines since these were first used in the 2010 general elections. Both Smartmatic and Comelec officials have defended the performance of the machines. Filipinos for the most part accepted the results and liked the speed of the vote count since elections were fully automated in 2010.

There’s no going back to manual counting, but the Comelec is expected to ensure the accuracy of the automated count. For this the machines must be put through their paces over several months. Questions about the supply and maintenance contracts for the voting machines must be settled ASAP.

President Aquino must do his part by speeding up his selection of replacements for the Comelec chairman and two commissioners who recently retired. He must pick a person who is known to be non-partisan and has a reputation for integrity. The President’s choice must dispel suspicions that his party, whose presumptive standard bearer is rating low in surveys, will resort to poll fraud to maintain its hold on power. The President’s peace program is in disarray, but he can still aim for another legacy: clean, orderly and credible elections.