Poll machines certified by DOST, says lawyer

Science and Technology Secretary Estrella Alabastro has attested to the technical superiority and efficiency of the automatated counting machines (ACM) procured by the Commission on Elections from a private firm through a contract, which the Supreme Court had voided.

In last Thursday’s clarificatory hearing at the Office of the Ombudsman, Alabastro, through a power point presentation detailed how the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) had conducted a thorough evaluation of the ACMs supplied by Mega Pacific Consortium (MPC).

The evaluation tests proved that ACMs supplied by MPC were not defective as had been earlier believed, she explained.

On the other hand, lawyers for Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos and other commissioners, who are facing investigation by the Office of the Ombudsman, said tests conducted by the DOST showed that the ACMs from MPC were "far more technologically advanced and are equipped with even more sophisticated security and encryption features" than the machines supplied by the other qualified bidder, Total Information Management Corp. (TIMC).

In a letter on Jan. 20, 2004 to Commissioner Resurreccion Borra, Alabastro said: "The verification test on the MPC ACM yielded a 100 percent accuracy rating for all three environmental conditions: cold, normal and harsh."

Alabastro also made it clear to Borra that "the result of the retest for the ACMs given for testing by TIMC did not yield a passing rating for the harsh conditions. "

Alabastro also pointed out in her letter to Borra that the 1,991 ACMs delivered by MPC already contained the security feature on the proper feeding of ballots.

"In addition, the ACMs supplied by MPC have been also proven to be inexpensive for the Comelec to procure," she said.

Earlier, Rolando Viloria III, DOST executive director and technical evaluation committee chairman, also wrote Borra to inform him that "the verification test would show that the (MPC-supplied) machine is 100 percent in reading and counting the votes that are properly shaded, provided that the ballots are fed with the right orientation."

Viloria’s letter of Oct. 24, 2003 pointed out that this problem of properly feeding the ballot has already been adequately addressed by a security feature in the software installed in the machine, which rejects improperly fed ballots and allow the operator to re-feed them in accordance with Comelec guidelines.