MANILA, Philippines - The General Instructions (GI) for the country’s first automated polls will finally be released next week, two months after it was supposed to come out.

Commissioner Rene Sarmiento told abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak that the GI, which will serve as the Bible for all candidates, poll watchers, lawyers and Comelec staff on the conduct of the automated elections, would be issued before the year ends.

Sarmiento said the only contentious issues remaining before the instructions are released pertain to the protest mechanism and the continuity plan in case of a poll automation systems breakdown.

The GI, which serves as the guideline for all stakeholders on the conduct of polls, was supposed to have been released last October. The Comelec said before that it was waiting for the final resolution of the Penera election case before finalizing the GI.

Yet, the GI remains in limbo even if the Supreme Court has already resolved the Penera case. The Penera case is a premature campaigning case.

To fast track the release of the GI, Sarmiento said the poll body is considering releasing a supplemental GI to cover the protest mechanism and the continuity plan or the contingency measure.

Fine-tuning

Comelec law department director Ferdinand Rafanan said the continuity plan is being fine-tuned to cover potential systems problems related to automation.

“It will cover instances like, what if the machines breaks down, what if the machines fails to scan the ballot, what if transmission fails,” Rafanan said.

As for the protest mechanism, Rafanan said the old guidelines in pre-proclamation cases will have to be overhauled since automation has rendered some of these irrelevant.

For instance, under automation, appreciation of ballots by the Board of Elections Inspectors is no longer applicable since the machines have replaced them.

Rafanan said the Comelec is anticipating potential issues in the GI like what should be done in case there is a discrepancy in the election results for purposes of filing a protest.

He acknowledged that the release of the GI is long overdue.

The delay in the release of the GI is just one of the problems facing Comelec in the conduct of the first ever nationwide automated polls.

Training for teachers and technicians for the machines has yet to start, while production of the machines is facing similar problems of delay.