Comelec must address reasons for opposition to PCOS machines

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC), under the leadership of Chairman Sixto Brillantes and Commissioners Rene Sarmiento, Lucenito Tagle, Armando Velasco and Elias Yusoph, has decided to exercise its option to purchase Smartmatic’s 80,000 Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines in the amount of P1.9 billion considering the following factors:

1. Limitations of the budget provided by Congress (P7 billion).

2. Voters’ familiarity with the PCOS machines.

3. The PCOS system is better than a manual system prone to manipulation and fraud.

In light of this decision, Gov’t Watch chairman Raul T. Concepcion said that, “COMELEC must be able to justify its decision to the public so that the credibility of the 2013 Midterm Elections will not be doubted.”

This decision to purchase and reuse the PCOS machines in the 2013 Midterm Elections was made despite a formal resolution by the Comelec Advisory Council (CAC) team of technical experts dated February 8, 2012 stating that:

1. The option to purchase should not be exercised since this prevents COMELEC from taking advantage of the best possible and less expensive technology currently available.

2. Exercising the Smartmatic option will prevent other prospective vendors from participating competitively in the bidding process.

The CAC also said that Smartmatic should be penalized accordingly for the shortfalls with respect to its guarantees including the failure to provide 100 percent transmission and the time stamp issue — valid reasons for voters to doubt the system.

While COMELEC has stated that “almost all” the faults that have caused the glitches in the 2010 elections have been fixed, Concepcion still urged caution.

“The credibility of the 2013 Midterm Elections is crucial as it lays the foundation for the 2016 National Elections,” he said.

Concepcion further urged COMELEC to assure the public that the following reasons for opposition to the PCOS machines have already been addressed:

1. Presence of a prohibited console port in the PCOS machines. This could allow easy unsecured access to the machine’s operating system and make tampering child’s play.

2. The absence of crucial identifying digital signatures in the machines thereby making it impossible to pinpoint and verify the source of transmitted results.

3. Ineffectiveness of the ultraviolet sensor lamps in the machines thereby allowing the use of non-security ballot paper.

4. Various bugs and flaws in the system software causing errors in election returns.

5. Incorrect date and time stamps, thereby making an effective audit trail impossible.

In addition to the PCOS machines, Concepcion enumerated other pending electoral concerns that require COMELEC’s immediate attention:

1. All voters must undergo electronic re-registration using biometrics.

“Electronic Re-registration using Biometrics will create highly credible elections because it will minimize, if not totally eradicates multiple registrants and even ghost voters,” Concepcion said.

2. COMELEC must encourage active participation from civic organizations to be “credible election watchdogs” similar to NAMFREL to protect the integrity of the ballot.

“Gov’t Watch is willing to work closely with NAMFREL in this regard,” Concepcion offered.

3. Gov’t Watch will request from COMELEC the updated biometric list of voters.

“This should be disseminated through mass media, Facebook, and other social networking sites on a per district basis two months before Election Day,” Concepcion added.

Finally, Concepcion urged P-Noy to rise to the challenge and put into place an electoral system with unquestioned credibility.

“This is possibly the most meaningful legacy he could ever leave,” he concluded.