GMA wants nationwide computerization of ’04 polls

President Arroyo wants the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to implement its computerization program for the 2004 polls on a nationwide scale, Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said yesterday.

"We know based on prior announcements by the President (that) she would wish fully automated elections in 2004," Bunye said. "Let’s find out how things develop. We’re just responding based on prior declarations of the President."

Malacañang also expressed willingness to hear the side of the Comelec, which has asked the President to veto a joint concurrent resolution approved by both chambers of Congress that will limit the poll body’s computerized voting and canvassing to selected areas in the country.

Presidential Legislative Liaison Office Secretary Gabriel Claudio told The STAR that the Palace has not yet received a copy of the joint concurrent resolution.

The Senate ratified the resolution on Nov. 10, while the House of Representatives ratified it on Nov. 19.

"We’re prepared to listen to the arguments of the Comelec. It’s their prerogative to react on a piece of legislation that would affect their conduct of elections," Claudio said.

He explained that Comelec officials "said they can do the full automation, but Congress said they could not."

Claudio said this issue will be resolved as soon as a copy of the resolution reaches the Palace and the Comelec submits its comments for consideration by the President.

Mrs. Arroyo has repeatedly said the holding of clean and honest elections in the country through the use of computerized voting and canvassing is one of the legacies she wants to achieve.

Earlier, Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos appealed to the public to give Comelec a chance to prove the viability of its controversial P3 billion modernization program for the May 2004 elections.

In a five-page statement, Abalos said allegations that the country’s first-ever automated elections may fail are undermining the poll body’s efforts in "restoring the people’s faith in the election system."

He said the decision to downscale to selective automation was initiated by Congress, through its bicameral conference committee, which sought to implement it in selected geographical areas.

Abalos added that this decision was based the on congressional panel’s contention that the number of automated counting machines was limited, and it named certain areas where these machines can be used.

These are Metro Manila; the cities of Baguio, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu and Iloilo; the provinces of Albay and Bataan; Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue and Talisay in Cebu; and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, namely, the provinces of Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, and the cities of Cotabato and Isabela.

These areas have a total voting population of 12 million or 22 percent of the country’s expected 38 million voters, Abalos said.

The congressional panel also said it is dangerous to transport the machines in certain areas as they could be the target of sabotage schemes.

Abalos also challenged the Comelec’s detractors to tell them specifically how the system they are putting up could be used for fraud.

Mega Pacific Consortium Inc., which supplies the automated counting machines, assured the Comelec that their machines have safety features that can prevent "dagdag-bawas," or vote padding and shaving, operations.