'Congress may ask SC to stop full poll automation'
MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Francis Pangilinan on Thursday announced that the joint congressional oversight committee on poll automation may ask the Supreme Court (SC) to prevent the full automation of the May 10 national elections.
"As member of the automated election oversight committee, we are now studying the option of pushing for partial automated instead of full automation," Pangilinan said in a statement.
The senator, who is also a spokesman of the Liberal Party, said the oversight committee may also ask the SC to issue a writ of mandamus to prevent the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from fully automating the national elections "should we see that automation as it stands may lead to possible failure of elections."
Comelec officials had told the House of Representatives' oversight committee on the status of the automated elections that they have prepared a contingency plan for a 30% manual elections in May.
Comelec Commissioner Armando Velasco said the contingency plan would be implemented in case of failure of elections in particular precincts.
The Comelec had earlier admitted that some of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines may malfunction. They, however, assured that it would not be widespread.
Velasco insisted during the hearing that the possibility of implementing the contingency plan is "a remote scenario."
Comelec Commissioner Jose Melo told the joint congressional oversight committee that only 72 PCOS machines have been tested by the poll body and the Smartmatic-TIM at their warehouse in Cabuyao, Laguna.
Comelec executive director Jose Tolentino said that after the field tests and the mock elections scheduled on February 6, they will immediately start the inspection and "acceptance" tests at the Cabuyao warehouse.
He assured lawmakers that the Comelec has enough time to finish testing all the 82,000 machines before May 10.
He said they will be using 300 people to conduct the inspection and acceptance tests. Inspectors will work 24/7 until all the voting machines are reconfigured and declared ready for the automated elections, he added. With reports from RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News and Carmela Fonbuena, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak
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PARTIAL AUTOMATION MUNA
Ngayon lang ako nakakakita ng IT project na unang sabak pa lang full operation na. May mga steps ang pag implement ng IT project at never na mangyari na ang bagong project ay maging fully operational sa unang takbo pa lang. Maraming test ang kailangan at bago maging totally operational dapat dumaan muna sa partial operation. Hindi eto basta bastang project, madaming factors ang kailangan i-consider di lang from technology side kundi pati na din sa user side at sa operating environment side. Madami tayong lugar na primitive pa ang pamamaraan at walang stable communication and transportation facilities, so its not practical to have automation in these places. Peace and order is another problem.
Kung sino man ang nagtutulak ng full automation na to, isa lang ang adhikain nya - failure of election. Dapat tingnan na ngayon ng mga mambabatas at tagabatikos nito ang nightmare na scenario habang sinasagawa ang election. Dapat talaga partial automation lang muna sa mga places na pwedeng isagawa eto. Dapat mag develop ang comelec ng criteria para ma evaluate ang isang lugar kung pwede sa automation tapos yung places na hindi papasa, wag na munang mag automate, manual voting lang muna.
Ano ba talaga?
Bakit ba COMELEC ang nagkukumahug na patakbuhin ang automation. Hindi ba responsibilidad ng kontratista na magdeliber ng umaandar na sistema, hindi lang makina? Bakit parang COMELEC ang gumagawa ng mga paraan at mga testing, at pagkukumpuni ng mga hindi tumatakbo? Sa ganitong klaseng kontrata, hindi ba dapat ang binabantayan lang ng COMELEC ay kung nasa oras ang performance ng bawat deliverables, at i-penalized ang kontrator kung nawawala na sa iskedyul. At kapag hindi matutupad ang iskedyul, patakbuhin na ang alternative plan - ang manual system. Hindi dapat akuin ng COMELEC ang magpatakbo ng sistema. Kung hindi tumakbo, ayos lang, pero dapat parusahan ng mga penalty ang kontraktor at paandarin na ang manual system.