Bro. Eddie urges remedy for poll glitches

by BENG ANSULA (Manila Bulletin)

http://mb.com.ph/articles/244298/bro-eddie-urges-remedy-poll-glitches

Bangon Pilipinas presidential bet Bro. Eddie Villanueva Friday urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Friday to completely obliterate, resolve, and remedy all possible glitches in the poll automation system as soon as possible.

Villanueva made the request amid reports that poll automation preparations are not making good progress.

According to Villanueva, they received disturbing reports about the problems on transmission, as well as excess or lack of markings or shades in the ballots could disenfranchise the voters.

“Hindi naman pwede kumuha ng another ballot kasi hanggang isa lang bawa’t botante,” he said.

While listing the risks involved in the process, Villanueva pointed out that “a voter who exerts all efforts to exercise his right to cast his vote is open to many risks that would compromise his ballot and render it useless.”
He emphasized the fact that the poll body has yet to adequately address not only critical and substantial issues but also other concerns like the integration of manual with automated counting.

“How do we treat manually counted ballots and integrate them with the automated system?” Villanueva asked. “Also, at what percentage of random audit of results should be made and at what point could we be assured that the ‘source code’ and the automated system process – from the PCOS machines to the Comelec server – are, indeed, free from external and internal intervention,” he noted.

“These are vital voting issues that still need to be addressed by the poll body,” Villanueva said while pressing the Comelec to immediately come up with guidelines on these matters, including the canvassing of ballots.

The Bangon standard-bearer warned that if these issues remained unresolved, it could lead to massive electoral fraud worse than 2004.

“Our concern is that instead of having better, clean and honest elections, we will again be victims of another wholesale election swindle,” Villanueva said. “Do we want this to happen again?” he asked.

Villanueva also dwelled on other challenges facing the Comelec, such as the possible power outages and the disruption in the transmission of results.

Villanueva said the observation last Tuesday by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and the Legal Network for Truthful Elections that preparation delays could jeopardize the automated polls leads him to believe that the exercise may end up not only costly but also “as a very dangerous experiment.”

Another thing he found disturbing, Bro. Eddie remarked, is the result of the Pulse Asia survey conducted last Jan.22-26 that showed seven out of 10 Filipinos are “clueless” on how the automation works.

“The Comelec must see to it that the automation system will assure the Filipino people that their sacred votes will be counted for their future,” Villanueva said.

He emphasized, “then as now, absolute vigilance is still our greatest weapon in preserving the sanctity of the Filipino vote.”