MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday, July 29, said leaders of Congress have supported moves to automate the 2016 elections in the face of 3 petitions before the Supreme Court (SC) “seeking to halt automation.” 

“The legislators were unanimous in saying that Republic Act 9369 clearly mandates both the automation of elections and the use of a system that must have demonstrated capability and have been successfully used in a prior electoral exercise here or abroad,” Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said in a statement sent to reporters.

Quoting the lawmakers, the Comelec said, “Automation is the only way forward.”

Signed in 2007, RA 9369 amends the automated election system law. The Philippines has conducted its first two automated elections, in 2010 and 2013, based on RA 9369.

The Comelec said its 7 members discussed automation a week ago with Senate President Franklin Drilon and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

Other representatives joined the meeting “to discuss the parallel automation options” considered by the Comelec. 

The Comelec is considering the two options to ensure automate elections in 2016:

• to repair and supplement its existing vote-counting machines; or 
• to buy 100,000 new ones for the presidential elections in 2016

3 petitions vs automation

“We explained the pros and cons of our parallel options to our legislators, in the context of numerous petitions filed by various groups, seeking to halt automation,” Bautista said.

Election watchdogs have filed 3 separate petitions before the SC against the Comelec’s last-ditch effort to ensure automated elections in 2016. (READ: Poll automation faces 3rd Supreme Court petition)

Critics have also urged the Comelec to blacklist technology provider Smartmatic from providing election-related services. They claim that Smartmatic’s PCOS machines can be easily rigged. 

Smartmatic provided the Philippines’ precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines in the 2010 and 2013 automated elections.

In any case, Bautista said that by the middle of August, the Comelec will announce the chosen election system for 2016. (READ: Comelec fails to meet poll automation target)

Further delays, he earlier said, “will materially impact our elections in 2016” as to “how we can conduct it in a credible fashion.” – Rappler.com