I still remember, when the
Commission on Elections initially introduced the automation of the May 10, 2010 elections
utilizing the PCOS technology numerous groups and personalities gang up the
Comelec and Smartmatic-TIM. The opposition apprehensions and fears for the technology
even result to a petition also filed with the Supreme Court seeking to put a
halt to poll automation.
But when the cloud that shrouds the May
10, 2010 electoral exercise was over said groups and personalities were proven all
wrong after the 2010 elections have been widely praised as generally
successful, not only by most Filipinos but also by the international community.
The lawyer of the group known as Concerned
Citizens Movement (CCM) said, “The elections, despite our worse apprehensions,
did not fail." The “credit should be given to both the Comelec and Smartmatic-TIM
for this triumph of democracy. As we have repeatedly stated, we would be more
than happy if history were to prove us wrong. And by God, we’re absolutely
thrilled," he said.
A noted columnist also offered his
apologies to Comelec, saying “I was wrong about the automation, I was wrong
about the Comelec commissioners, I was wrong about Jose Melo, I was wrong about
Smartmatic. And, boy, am I absolutely ecstatic to be so. They did a fantastic
job despite an un-fantastic past. I owe them my deepest apologies.”
The manual auditing conducted by the
Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) showed that the May 10
elections—the country’s first national automated polls—were 99.6% accurate. According
to PPCRV Chairperson Henrietta de Villa, there were minor discrepancies discovered
but it was due to “clerical” errors and "mathematical errors" or
wrong computations by the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI).
The House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral
Reforms who conducted a hearing on electoral complaints regarding the AES,
headed by Makati Representative Teddyboy Locsin, called the May 2010 automated elections
a “mixed success,” saying that while the technology used was successful,
“sporadic cheating” still occurred.
And because of the positive outcome of the 2010
automated election process Commission on Elections Chairman Jose A. R. Melo expressed
confidently that, “It is a very encouraging report. It means that the machines
worked 99 percent”. He further exclaimed that “Automation is here to stay. As
long as we have the money, we will automate.”
Meanwhile, when Chairman Melo was
asked regarding the automation of the forthcoming May 13, 2013 election he
replied that even if the Comelec and the people want automation it all “depend
on the Congress and the President.” Because, “if Congress doesn’t appropriate
money”, the Comelec can’t do nothing.
To realize the automation of the May
13, 2013 National and Local Elections the Commission on Elections had proposed
a budget of P10 billion for the said political exercise, but Congress only gave
P7 billion. This practically has tied up the hands of the Commission on its financial
resources. Thereby, it has to adopt measures and option that would augment the
appropriated money.
Due to limited funding allocated by
Congress the Comelec opted to take advantage of the "low" cost of acquiring
the machines under the purchase option from Smartmatic. The 82,000 PCOS machines
including the software for the Automated Election System (AES) technology and a
new Consolidation and Canvassing System at a discounted 1.8 billion worth. It is
probably the right and best way to deal with the limited time frame and the 30%
cut in its budget. For Chairman Sixto S. Brilliantes, Jr. it would be the most
prudent and practical alternative for the poll body.
But in the midst of the situation the
ghost of apprehension, fears and opposition resurrects to go off the course of the
Comelec and people’s desire for a continuous automated elections. The very
essence of Republic Act No. 9369 which authorized the use of automated election
system in pursuit of modernizing the election system of the country.
Lately, mostly self-styled election
reform activists and some election upright groups filed a petition urging the Supreme
Court to stop or to cancel the Comelec PCOS purchase citing legal technicality.
The petitioner said, “It is, therefore, evident that Comelec’s exercise of the
expired Option to Purchase, despite acceptance of Smartmatic’s offer of
extension is, with due respect, tantamount to giving the winning bidder, after
its contract ended, a benefit that was not known and available to all bidders
during the bidding for the 2010 AES,” the group said. The Comelec decision is “clearly
dubious maneuverings of a private company to avoid the strict requirements of
Philippine procurement and bidding laws.” The group added that the Comelec
entered the contract with Smartmatic-TIM despite “incontrovertible findings of
glitches, malfunctions, bugs and defects of the PCOS machines.” This move of
the group would derail and gave a hard time for the Comelec ongoing preparation
for the May 13, 2013 elections.
Let’s look and consider whether the Comelec
committed grave abuse of discretion when Chairman Sixto S. Brillantes, Jr. and
the four other commissioners, Commissioners Rene V. Sarmiento, Lucenito N. Tagle,
Armando C. Velasco and Elias R. Yusoph, in agreement decided to purchase and reuse
the already tried and tested PCOS technology. Commissioners Christian Robert S.
Lim and Augusto C. Lagman dissented from the majority decision.
Atty. Romulo Macalintal a noted ‘election’
lawyer stressed that IT experts must respect the poll body’s choice because it
has the authority to decide whether or not to buy and reuse the PCOS machines. “Only
the Comelec has the constitutional mandate to enforce and employ all means
necessary to ensure a clean and honest election,” he said. Accordingly,
“only the Comelec has the recognized expertise on matters relating to the use
of machines and instruments to carry out its functions, in which the Supreme
Court or any other agency cannot intervene.”
Atty. Macalintal is in accord with the majority
decision of Comelec Commissioners.
With regards to the bidding "benefits" that the
2010 AES was not known and available to all bidders? Comelec spokesman James
Jimenez writes, “The invitation to apply for eligibility, and to bid for the
automated election system, elicited positive responses from the following
corporations: Smartmatic International Corp. and Total Information Management
Corp.; Avante International Technology Inc.; Syrex Corp./Scantron; Data Voting
System/Samsung; Universal Storefront Services Corp.-Sequoia; Indra Sistemas
S.A.; All Data Hub International Inc.; Gilat Satellite Network Ltd.; AMA Group
Holdings Corp.-Election System & Software; and Mega Data Corp.”
“Of these 10, only seven went on to
submit their sealed bids on May 4, 2009, and none of them represented homegrown
talent. Although they all had local partners—as Smartmatic does—these seven
offered election solutions that were based on technology that came from nearly
everywhere but the Philippines: the United States, for instance; Spain and
Israel.”
“Apart from that, there is also the
law to contend with. Republic Act 9369 clearly states that the system to be
procured “must have demonstrated capability and been successfully used in a
prior electoral exercise here or abroad.” Which only means that, even if the
Comelec did conduct a public bidding for the automated election system to be
used in 2013, the chances of a Filipino-developed solution to even qualify for
bidding would not be all that great since it would not have the “demonstrated
capability” called for by the law.” A transparent transaction, indeed!
Spokesman Jimenez continues, “About
a couple of weeks ago, one of the most vocal oppositors” the Kontra Daya 2010
group comprising the AES Watch “to the Comelec’s purchase of the PCOS
grudgingly admitted that the offer had, in fact, been extended”. “Inexplicably,
despite this admission, he has clung to his allegation of expiration. Since the
group does not seem disposed to believe the Comelec’s repeated debunking of
that claim, perhaps they can be persuaded by one who stands with them in
opposition to the Comelec decision.”
In the issue of the incontrovertible
findings of glitches, malfunctions, bugs and defects of the PCOS machines. Again, Atty. Romulo Macalintal also said in no
uncertain terms: “The complaints of some IT experts against PCOS pertain merely
to technical defects which have not been proven to have affected the accuracy
of the ballot counts and consolidation of results in the election returns and
certificates of canvass. This is the reason no election protest involving the
PCOS count has ever progressed at the Comelec, the House of Representatives
Electoral Tribunal or trial courts”.”
Admittedly, PPCRV Chairperson
Henrietta de Villa said, there were minor discrepancies discovered but it was
due to “clerical” errors and "mathematical errors" or wrong
computations by the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI).
Both Chairman Brilliantes and
Smartmatic head Cezar Flores reiterated that "The system has complied with
the mandates of the law," Mr. Flores said. Mr. Brillantes agreed, adding
that most of the alleged glitches were due to "human error and not to
machine error."
To sum it up most of alleged glitches,
malfunctions, bugs and defects of the PCOS machine are mainly due to human
error rather than a technical or system error.
In a Comelec statement it says that the
Smartmatic has already corrected all these reported glitches and defects in the
system. These corrective measures were done when the Comelec prepared for the
elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in August last
year but which were subsequently aborted by a Congress-approved law. The ARMM
polls have been synchronized with the May 2013 midterm elections.
As part of the preparation for the
2013 elections the Comelec assured the people that Smartmatic is making
corrections to eliminate “deficiencies” in the machines that were recorded in
2010. Mr. Cesar Flores of Smartmatic said the Comelec, when it availed of its
option to buy the PCOS machines, asked for Smartmatic to include new features,
improvements and enhancements. With the improved features and changes in
safeguards in PCOS machines against tamper and fraud as required by Comelec,
Flores declared they are ready for our country’s next automated elections.
“The
system is auditable, secure and accurate,” Flores added.
In justifying the decision for
“option to purchase” Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said getting the machines
at a huge discount removed the headache of sourcing funds for the 2013
elections.
Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said
that aside from the familiarity of the voters with the machines, they also
considered the limited budget of the Commission on Elections. “We decided to
buy the machines for practical reasons. It is much cheaper [and] PCOS was
proven effective,” Sarmiento said. They approved the decision to acquire
the machines since they were satisfied with the action taken by Smartmatic in
correcting the problems they encountered in the 2010 national and local polls.
This only shows that the Comelec
stands pat on PCOS technology? “There are things that can be improved, not all
those things have to do with PCOS machines, it’s important that we know what
really can be improved through technology, what can be improved through better
project management and better education and other areas that are not technology
related,” Smartmatic-Asia President Cesar Flores said.
Former Comelec Chairman Jose A. R.
Melo admitted that there is “vast room for improvement” on the part of Comelec.
“We have to improve to make it almost error-free, criticism-free, we can
improve in terms of our education program, the instruction of voters. Like the
digital signatures—not so many people understood that system that’s why we need
an information drive.”
Likewise, former Comelec
Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal, who is now External Vice President of the
Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), said “information is
key to the success of the next elections. Information dissemination, letting
people know what has been done, what is to be done, and what will happen in
2013 to allay the concerns of some people," he explained.
Just like what happened in May 10,
2010 National and Local Elections, criticism and opposition on every sides, which make Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal
and Smartmatic President Cesar Flores an instant celebrities on print and
broadcast media, the Commission on Elections takes stand in continuously making
history for Philippine Automated Election System and in making May 13, 2013 National
and Local Elections automated.
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