Commission on Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr., today announced that the poll body can no longer pilot test full automation in May 2007 due to the lack of time.
In a meeting with the members of the press, Abalos explained that the Advisory Council recommended not proceeding with end-to-end automation because of insufficient time. “Automated voting and counting have been given the thumbs down by the Advisory Council,” Abalos told reporters, The Advisory Council also pointed out that the Automated Election System bill has not yet been signed into law, and that no budget had been set aside for the implementation of the automation pilot tests.
However, Abalos said it is still possible for the COMELEC to implement electronic transmission if Congress would be able to enact the law authorizing the COMELEC to use such a system. According to him, the Council had expressed the belief that it would be more prudent to focus on electronic transmission since this required less preparation time than the automation of voting and counting.
“For the electronic transmission it would still depend on whether the bill would be a law,” he said. “We remain hopeful that the lawmakers would be able to decide if they would allow the electronic transmission to be used in the May 2007 polls.” Abalos cited the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and Batanes as possible pilot areas for electronic transmission.
No poll automation next year: Comelec at Cyberbaguioboy said
[...] Due to lack of time, money, and a law to make this project a legitimate one, the technical advisory group to Comelec decided not to push through with partial poll automation next year. Good decision! I was in one of the meetings (I managed to sneak in despite a “ban” imposed by a Comelec director), and listened to the discussions. That prompted me to write a report that day, quoting officials that there was “little time to do automation.” You can go here to read what Comelec had to say. But here’s an interesting blog that provides more inside info on what’s happening. [...]
Diego K. Guerrero said
The lack of time is not an acceptable excuse for the pilot-testing of computerized elections for May 2007. The failure of the House of Representatives to pass the automation of election systems bill before the end of the session may be done deliberately to pave way the manually tested Dagdag-Bawas scheme. Those shameless lawmakers who raped the constitution will be definitely trash by the electorate in a clean and honest election. Poll automation pilot project is long overdue. It should be implemented last 2004 national elections. Why the delay? I have the reason to believe that manual election favored Mrs. Gloria Arroyo in a dagdag-bawas scheme. History repeats itself over and over again until total revamp of the Comelec. Peoples’ trust and confidence to the election body is eroded and it may take years before it can redeem itself. How to restore Comelec’s reputation? Leadership and neutrality are the main public concerns. Poll automation may prevent massive electoral fraud.
Diego K. Guerrero
San Francisco Bay Area
United States
Scooby Doo said
Actually, the lower house passed their version of the bill way ahead of time almost a year ago… it was the senate that couldnt get its act together and only passed their version of the bill last october..
Congratulations to the Comelec for this wise decision… we need clean and orderly elections more than we need fast and chaotic ones.
minor said
Lack of time? i don’t think so
jaywalker said
Lack of time? Since the law was passed 10 years ago this has been the excused used by Comelec for its failure to implement the automation law!
How much time does Comelec need to ensure that the elections would be modernized? Baka naman you start preparing for the polls a few months before the date of election?
Diego K. Guerrero said
It appears that the Lower House leadership and Malacanang Palace are not interested in partial poll automation and 2007 midterm elections. GMA and De Venecia are still pushing the discredited charter change. It seems that Malacanang is not committed to credible elections. The Arroyo administration is delaying the partial automation of elections in six provinces and highly urbanized cities in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao in May 2007. It’s a political disaster for administration candidates because majority of Filipinos in urban centers know the real score of the inept Arroyo regime. The political survival of Mrs. Gloria Arroyo will be determined by the outcome of May 2007 elections. An opposition-controlled House of Representatives and Senate means an impeachment and possible conviction in the Senate.
Scooby Doo said
Yes, there is no more time… you need to be familiar with government procurement rules, large scale IT deployment projects, and the law making process to understand this. The existing law cannot be used since it is intrinsically flawed.
As I said before… Malacanang had no hand in the delay of the passage of this bill…
Concerned Voter said
1. Make Comelec more credible by removing commissioners tainted with the anomalies of the last election.
2. Recover the funds paid to the ‘winning’ bidder declared void by the SC.
3. Weed out ‘operators’ within Comelec ranks and prosecute where necessary.
4. Fully computerize elections to do away with all-fashioned cheating. Are there enough good, ethical people in the IT industry to ensure the security of the programs to be used in the computerization?
5. Failing to computerize, public must be made aware of how cheating can be done and how they could be checked.
6. Else, let’s pray there’s enough good people inside Comelec to ensure clean and honest elections who will act and not just watch.
james jimenez said
Hey Jaywalker.
In 1998, we automated the elections in the ARMM.
The next elections scheduled to be automated were in 2001. Unfortunately, the bidding for that project failed because all the bidders overshot the agency estimate. Then, in 2004, when we were actually ready to automate, it all went south.
In 2005, we asked the Supreme Court to let us automate the ARMM elections. It refused. Since then, we’ve been asking Congress (Senate + House) to amend RA 8436. These amendments are necessary so that we can use better election automation solutions and also to allow electronic transmission. Unfortunately, these amendments haven’t come out yet.
Thought you might be interested.
Diego K. Guerrero said
Scooby Doo said: “As I said before… Malacanang had no hand in the delay of the passage of this bill“.
You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out what really going on. Mrs. Gloria Arroyo speaks with a forked tongue. If the existing law is the problem, then, the Lower House leadership can work double time as they did in the quick passage of fraudulent constituent assembly resolution. Are they really committed for poll automation? Politicos say one thing and do something different. The Arroyo administration and political allies are sending mixed signals to confuse the public.
Excerpts: Philippine Inquirer 12/27/2006 GMA asked to sign poll automation bill
“She has to sign it. She will be seen as insincere [if she doesn’t]. She certified this bill; I’m puzzled why she has not acted on this measure, which is part of her 10-point agenda. When we passed this measure, I didn’t hear her say `I’m glad we’re going to have automated elections. She should have signed it right away. It will boost her credibility“. Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments.
Scooby Doo said
Dear Diego,
Sorry but the facts of this case do not support your theory… if you are really interested in this topic, please review the news stories about this bill for the last 12 months so you can see for yourself what really happened.
Diego K. Guerrero said
I’m more interested in the waste of taxpayers’ money. What went wrong? Why has the poll body failed to recover the P1.04 billion it paid to Mega Pacific e-Solutions? Why is the Comelec shouldering the cost of storing the machines @ P3.9 million per year? Comelec Chairman Abalos needs another P3 billion to automate the polls.
jimenez said
Dear Diego,
The COMELEC has already filed a collection suit with the Regional Trial Court of Makati. So, as you can see, that’s where the process is taking a lot of time, not with the COMELEC.
If we don’t store the machines and preserve them in pristine condition, how can the Courts ever compel the supplier to take them back? So, the COMELEC is preserving these machines precisely to ensure that we can recover the purchase price eventually. In any case, the Court may direct the supplier to reimburse the COMELEC for the cost of preservation.
Thanks for your interest in this matter, Diego.
Diego K. Guerrero said
Thanks for the update. Please post any development on collection suit filed against Mega Pacific e-Solutions.
Lazarus Makabayan said
What collection suit at RTC? Comelec Chairman Abalos gives up on Mega Pacific refund handsdown. Kapag sa sabong TSUPI.
Abalos gives up on Mega Pacific refund
By WILLAM B. DEPASUPIL, The Manila Times Reporter
Despite the Supreme Court’s decision voiding the Commission on Elections-Mega Pacific contract to automate election-results counting and ordering the poll body to get back the money paid to the consortium, the poll body cannot take the first step of making Mega Pacific take back the counting machines it delivered.
“How can we compel [Mega Pacific] to take back the [machines] when in the first place we qualified them, entered into a bidding and they were the best complying bidder?” COMELEC Chairman Benjamin Abalos said Thursday.
Abalos said the COMELEC has no choice but to keep and maintain the machines, hoping that the Court would reverse its ruling and allow the machines to be used in the 2007 elections.
“We have investments here. We have to take care of these machines,” he said, adding that the machines were manufactured according to COMELEC specifications and had passed the accuracy test. The high court, however, saw that the so-called accuracy test was flawed or was not even administered.
As to the money paid for the machines, Abalos said the issue is still pending in court.
The COMELEC had already paid P850 million of the P1.2-billion deal with Mega Pacific before the Court voided the contract in January 2004.
At the Court’s behest, the COMELEC sued the consortium to get back the P850 million.
Mega Pacific filed a countersuit, demanding payment of the balance of the contract.
Records show that Mega Pacific was ineligible to participate in the bidding for the automation of the election system because it failed to present documents that the members of the consortium—Mega Pacific eSolutions, Inc.; SK&K; WeSolv; Election.com; and ePLDT—actually formed a group known as Mega Pacific Consortium.
The consortium that the court saw as something nonexistent won the COMELEC bidding, but the poll body signed the contract with a company called Mega Pacific eSolutions Inc.
Abalos maintained that such an arrangement was allowable because there was an arrangement among the members of the consortium naming one of them to represent the group.
He doused allegations that the awarding of the contract, which enabled the government to save some P100 million, was anomalous.
“There was no graft here. People had the impression that the commissioners made a killing. There is none,” Abalos said.
“The bidding price was P100 million less than the agency estimate. The agency estimate was not made on my watch,” he added.
As if to help COMELEC make light of the Supreme Court’s decision, spokesmen for Malacañan have allegedly said the palace is bent on computerized elections in 2007 using the controversial Mega-Pacific machines. ABS-CBN NEWS
jimenez said
Dear Lazarus,
Despite the article you quoted, the case IS pending in the Makati RTC. Check it out. “As to the money paid for the machines, Abalos said the issue is still pending in court.”
As for the implication – or insinuation – that the COMELEC has given up, well at this stage it really isn’t up to the COMELEC. The suit is being prosecuted by the Solicitor General, not the COMELEC, as is proper in these cases.
As for Abalos’ position that there was nothing wrong with the contract, well, that really doesn’t make much of a difference. Like I pointed out, it’s in the Court’s hands now.
Oh and, much later articles – although not those written by Mr. Depasupil – clearly show that the COMELEC no longer seeks to use the MPC ACMs. In fact, the COMELEC doesn’t even want to pilot test full automation for 2007, just electronic transmission.
Thanks for weighing in, Lazarus. Hope we read more of you around here.
Marie Osalvo-Miller said
SUNTOK SA BUWAN! Itaga mo sa bato Atty. James Jimenez imposibleng mangyari ibalik ng Mega Pacific iyong P850 million paunang bayad. Kung sabihin ng Mega Pacific ibalik muna ang mga komisyon. Palagay natin 10%-20% ng P1.2 B, di kaloboso ang labas ng mga komisyoner. Pagputi ng uwak bago magyari ang refund. Hugas kamay si Chairman Abalos dahil may malaking milagro sa public bidding. Isa pa OBSOLETE na ang mga ACM bago matapos ang kaso. Puwede sa junk shop por kilo. Ang labas lugi ang ating gobierno. Walang tiwala ang taong bayan kay Chairman Abalos. Dapat walang dating politiko sa Comelec.
Marie Osalvo-Miller said
Concerned Voter: “Weed out ‘operators’ within Comelec ranks and prosecute where necessary”.
That’s mission impossible to weed out ‘operators’ because they are well-protected by influential local politicos or warlords. Hello Garci poll manipulators were promoted instead of prosecuted for their alleged election related dirty works. We don’t expect justice as long as bogus President Gloria Arroyo is in power.
jimenez said
Dear Marie,
Salamat sa mga komento, Marie.
At, kung ok lang sa iyo, James na lang po ang itawag niyo sa akin.
Joseph Dilanglasa said
I don’t think computerization can still be possible with the time remaining. i was one of the satellite technicians last 2004 elections. even if congress will push the computerization for this election, its gonna take a lot of money and work but i dont think its possible. money talks…
Sheng-Sheng said
hay naku… TITA GLUE had just made her approval on the poll automation bill… but then that grrrr-faced ABALOS tried to reiterate that there is no more time for that automation shit…. wag na kayong mabigla, baka isa na naman yang delaying tactics ng ating pinakamamahal na BOGUS president in the history of the Philippines…. she’s doing that just to confuse the filipino people….
naisioxerloro said
Hi.
Good design, who make it?
dexter said
hello poh..,,
meron poh kasi kaming reaserch, anu poh bang
addvantage ng poll automation at disaddvantage poh nito???\
anu poh bang masasabi nyo sa pagpapatupad nito dito sa philipinas???