Escudero fears failure of elections
MANILA - Despite assurances from the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Sen. Francis Escudero on Wednesday said he continues to harbor fears of a failure of the May 10, 2010 national elections.
Escudero, chairman of the Senate Oversight Committee on Automated Elections, cited indications that Comelec and its partner Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) consortium were not prepared to carry out automation of the polls.
“May eleksyon nga sa araw na ‘yon, pero gaano tayo kasigurado na handa tayo para sa automation para matiyak na walang failure of election?” warned Escudero.
The senator cited that Comelec and Smartmatic-TIM were reportedly behind schedule in the delivery and testing of the precinct count optical scanner (PCOS), the machines that would count the votes on May 10, 2010.
“Dapat November nag-deliver na ng mga makina pang-testing. Dapat by November nag-deliver na ng mga makina na pwedeng gamiting panturo at training sa mga Board of Election Inspectors and watchers. Tapos na ang Oktubre, papasok na tayo sa Nobyembre. Ni anino ng makinang pang-testing hindi pa nadedeliver ng suppliers,” said Escudero.
Earlier, Comelec and Smartmatic-TIM said recent typhoons damaged the PCOS factory in Taiwan, so the manufacturing of the more than 82,000 machines needed for the 2010 automated polls has been outsourced to a facility in Shanghai.
The Comelec said it will send a team of IT professionals to check on the manufacturing process.
Poll automation sabotage
But Sen. Richard Gordon, who authored the election automation law, has a different concern.
Gordon said there are attempts to sabotage poll automation.
“Alam ko merong mga nagpaplano. Ewan ko, mga congressman nababalitaan ko. ‘Wag na raw gamitin muna, i-postpone muna ang automated elections. Aba’y lalo tayo dapat matakot doon,” said Gordon.
Gordon declined to identify those allegedly out to sabotage poll automation, but he said the Senate would not allow another postponement of automated elections.
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Lack of transparency!
This automation of elections is a big failure of the people in Comelec in charge of it. It's not clear to most people that the automated system is free of any problem, performance or security.
The Philippines and the Filipinos are at stake. Therefore, the system should be audited by an expert group with members commissioned by all parties, opposition, administration, and church groups.
There is still plenty of time unless these people are lazy!
remember Murphy's Law: ANYTHING THAT CAN GO WRONG WILL GO WRONG.
then there's this law that stupid people say: SHIT HAPPENS!
Right now I'm not convinced that the system is designed to be free from unfair manipulation, secure from hacking, and reliable in the field.
COJUANGCO COUNTRY
BAYANI IS THE BEST CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT.ACTION IS LOUDER THAN VOICE.
noynoy is the best candidate for COJUANGCO COUNTRY.
teodoro is the best candidate for COJUANGCO COUNTRY.
escudero is the best candidate for COJUANGCO COUNTRY.
villar is the best candidate for realtor.more flooding,landslide and alabang mall is former public cementery for poor FILIPINO.
erap is the best candidate for gambling,drugs and plundering.
We are so upset to all celebrities to endorse noynoy or other politicians.Please don't watch or buy their movies and shows ,if they are wrong.
chase no more
correct ka jeremiah, this man is hopeless..kawawa naman at his young age dreaming an impossible dream. laging me palusot in his failure..it is not failure of elections but failure of his candidacy i think was his primary concern. wrong moves, man! better luck next time and you better improve your monotonous singsong tune dialogue. what more, serve your constituency first by bringing progress on your own backyard.
2 Senators
Escudero a young thinker (though he think he's smart), typical politician that plays the mind of Filipinos. He creates doubt to the mind of Filipinos - to quote“May eleksyon nga sa araw na ‘yon, pero gaano tayo kasigurado na handa tayo para sa automation para matiyak na walang failure of election?”. And what this doubt brings???, not very positive - we need solution. Read his comments line by line and you will understand that he is not the solution man. (This type of comment is so common though it comes in different ways)
On the other hand, I think Gordon is right – we should be scared if automation won’t happen.
Remember that with this computerization, the error of margin is very less, anomalies can be easily check, traceability is available, etc. Lets be open to changes and we should start now.