Namfrel, PPCRV want technology expert as Comelec commissioner

MANILA, Philippines - The National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) yesterday called on President Arroyo to appoint an information technology (IT) expert to be the seventh commissioner of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) who will be more knowledgeable about the high-tech automation of the 2010 elections.

Namfrel and PPCRV chair Henrietta de Villa said that since the Comelec is out to automate the 2010 polls, the agency must have an IT expert in its hierarchy “so that they cannot easily be fooled.”

“We were hoping that for the seventh commissioner, it would be somebody who is an expert in IT. All the commissioners are very good now but none of them can be recognized as an IT expert,” she said in an interview.

The seven-man Comelec lacks one commissioner in place of the late Commissioner Romeo Brawner who died of cardiac arrest in May 2008.

Last week, Malacañang had announced the appointment of Marawi City prosecutor Elias Yusoph as the seventh commissioner. He could not assume his post because his appointment letter was dated Jan. 12 when Congress was in recess, but he did not take his oath then. Appointments made when Congress is in session are subject to confirmation by the Commission on Appointments.

De Villa has asked President Arroyo to take a second look at the list of nominees for commissioners they submitted. She said these were thoroughly screened by civil society and poll watchdog groups last year.

Meanwhile, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) National Secretariat for Social Action, Justice and Peace (NASSA) Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo has proposed that Comelec use the Open Election System (OES) rather than Optical Mark Reader (OMR) in next year’s polls.

Pabillo said the OES process is more transparent and less costly.

OES will only cost P4 billion compared to OMS machines which cost P11.3 billion.   – With Evelyn Macairan