The Philippine Online Chronicles

With only 80 days left before the country faces the breakthrough on its electoral system, leading candidates and the public have expressed fears on the Automated Elections System (AES).

Come May 10, instead of the burdensome and fraud-prone manual elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) together with Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) will implement AES for the first time.

The AES law was signed by Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as early as 2007 through Republic Act 9369. We’ve had more time to prepare but lately, Comelec is cramming its way through the polls - late delivery of machines, delayed ballot printing, late teacher and voter orientations, unsuccessful mock elections and unfamiliar technical problems are definitely not helping.

Ticklish technology

In the first round of machine tests done by the COMELEC last January 27, the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines were unable to transmit data to waiting servers due to defective SIM cards.

According to COMELEC Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal, the SIM cards that were used during the field test were faulty and not the PCOS machine itself. Each machine will be entitled to three SIM cards from different networks. This is supposed to guarantee that defective SIM cards will not interrupt the transmission process after the votes are cast.

In the second field test in Aguho Elementary School in Pateros, all three SIM cards from different networks, malfunctioned and failed to transmit data.

In the same field test, the PCOS machine failed to read 4 out of 10 ballots. “The Comelec could not accurately explain why the same machine and ballots used in the test failed,” said BAYAN Secretary General Renato Reyes, an observer during PCOS field tests.

Gene Gregorio, Smartmatic-TIM spokesperson told reporters that the machine did not read the ballots probably because the ballots were already crumpled.

Lack of signal will also hamper the election process. In the PCOS field test in Taguig City, the transmission of counted votes were unable to complete because of weak cellular site signals.

In the PCOS machine test done in Congress, the machines, once again, failed to transmit the cast votes to the main destination server.

Smartmatic-TIM promised to resolve the technical problems that were encountered during the test polls. “We already acquired 5,000 satellite antennas,” said Smartmatic International Sales Director Cesar Flores. The satellite broadband global area network (BGAN) machines, clearly, will not be enough to solve the signal problems that may happen during the actual election.

According to Rep. Teddy Casino of Bayan Muna, the machine tests failed because the most important step to complete the election process – transmission of votes was unable to proceed. Therefore, the tests were insignificant. But COMELEC spokesperson James Jimenez said the tests were done only to show how the voting process will take place.

COMELEC further stoked fears when it revealed that 5,000 signal jammers were imported to the country. Jimenez said there is nothing illegal about the shipment. “But given the proximity of the elections and the number of jammers involved in the shipment, it is but prudent for us to worry.”

Post-mock election reports noted that the voting could take as much as 22 hours for a precinct with 1,000 registered voters. IBP said that if precints will only be open for 11 hours, there would be disenfranchisement of about 50 percent of total voters.

Based on independent electoral watch-dog Kontra Daya, the two most common problems that occurred during the field tests are 1) often rejection of ballots and 2) the actual time it takes for voters to finish the entire process.

Worst scenarios

Worried voters are dwelling on the uncertainties of the coming national elections. Due to the delays and technical hassles, many remain skeptic with the AES, a technology that we will experience for the first time. They said advanced technology doesn’t ensure clean and fraud-free polls.

Critics anticipate that Pres. Arroyo will remain in her seat if the COMELEC announces failure of polls if automation won’t succeed.

Even administration standard bearer Gilbert Teodoro Jr. said he has doubts on the automation saying the integrity of the elections is vital. Dick Gordon said there is no reason to go back to manual counting because the government had invested so much in the system. Nick Perlas proposed a manual-count option in a hybrid balloting.

In his column, Former Supreme Court Justice Artemio Panganiban cited several scenarios that may lead to failure of elections - “(1) the automated machines (called PCOS) fail; (2) they are stolen, disabled or burned; (3) the ballots are erroneously printed; (4) the PCOS and/or ballots are misdelivered; (5) the election results are not transmitted properly; and (6) massive disenfranchisement due to long queues.”

According to Malacanang, despite the setbacks, the public should not panic. They believe that COMELEC has the capability to implement fully automated elections. “We just need to trust COMELEC that they will have contingency plans to prevent any more trouble.

"Let us not panic and abandon the Comelec," said presidential spokesman Gary Olivar. He said that if full automation fails to push through, the Palace is confident that the poll body will still conduct clean elections come May 10.

“We assure the public that Comelec is prepared for any eventuality. There are plans in place and the plans are up to plan D,” declared COMELEC’s Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) Chairman Atty. Ferdinand Rafanan.

But even lawywers from the The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) and Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente) said that delays in preparations could put in jeopardy the first automated national elections.

They say “if not properly handled, the automated could lead to massive fraud unparalled in local history.”

But according to Jimenez, failure of elections is not an option and going manual will be the last resort if worse comes to worst. “Automation is a system added to the manual system to make it faster and easier. So going back to manual counting would not be a problem if ever there will be difficulties with the automated," Jimenez said.

But many sectors are not convinced with Comelec’s explanations. They demand for effective contingency plans to prevent massive disenfranchisement of voters, including a failure of elections.

As of now, Comelec has yet to release the contingency plans for a failure of elections and the processes for electoral complaints before a proclamation.

Photo from Kontradaya.org. Some rights reserved.