Poll watchdog wants IT expert at Comelec

MANILA, Philippines –  Poll watchdog Consortium on Electoral Reform (CER) urged President Aquino to appoint an information technology (IT) expert to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Another group, the People for Empowerment and Truth (PET), also urged the President to appoint a commissioner to the Comelec that could initiate guidelines and measures in resolving electoral protests more quickly.

CER executive director Ramon Casiple proposed the IT expert should be appointed as Comelec commissioner to oversee the automated elections since it is “likely here to stay.”

Casiple said it would be better if the Comelec would have someone familiar with technology and not just rely on other opinions in deciding poll automation matters.

“Considering what happened in the May 10 elections, the Comelec should not just have lawyers but also an IT expert as a commissioner. There are six commissioners and not all of them must be lawyers,” Casiple said.

Casiple noted the May 10 elections were marred by “misconfiguration” of the compact flash (CF) cards installed in the precinct count optical scan machines. The CF cards were supposed to contain the names of candidates and voters assigned in a particular precinct.

Some civil society groups have also doubted the integrity of the elections as the Comelec ignored calls to subject the computer source code to a transparent review, among the other technical aspects that they questioned about the automated election system.

The source code is human-readable computer programming language that dictates what a computer should do. If the source code changed, it was supposed to mean that the system had been hacked.

Casiple also noted that it would also “strike a good balance” if a woman would be assigned to the Comelec.

Early next year, the Comelec will have three vacancies following the resignation of Comelec chairman Jose Melo to take effect on Jan. 31, 2011.

Commissioners Nicodemo Ferrer and Gregorio Larrazabal are scheduled to retire two days later.

Melo, however, said it would be a disadvantage to have a non-lawyer as a commissioner.

“I don’t want to be teaching anybody what to do…but I was thinking, how can someone who is not a lawyer decide on cases (being handled by Comelec)? The lawyer of the commission may only dictate on him. He may not have an independent decision but that is my opinion only,” he said.

Comelec Commissioner Lucenito Tagle, for his part, said it is a good idea to have an IT expert on board but the bulk of the commissioners’ work involves legal aspects of the elections.

“A non-lawyer may have difficulty adjusting because the bulk of our job involves deliberation of cases. We rely on laws in doing this,” he pointed out.

The PET took this cue to call for the appointment of a commissioner to implement more effective measures in resolving election cases.

Mike Domingo of the PET said their call was prompted by the mounting complaints over the apparent failure of the Comelec to attend to its basic duties in resolving election protests.

“I believe that the new Comelec head should come out with faster but efficient and reliable guidelines in resolving election protests,” Domingo said.

Domingo added the new Comelec chief should look into the problem of lack of available space in the Comelec’s warehouse at the Post Office building where ballot boxes containing the contested election returns are stored.

“Without the said space, the Comelec could not assume jurisdiction of ballot boxes and consequently could not initiate moves to start necessary action on poll protests,” Domingo said.

Domingo said the Comelec has no “updated” guidelines in resolving the electoral protests, numbering almost 50 cases, yet the poll body has already collected a hefty sum from the complainants as filing fees, among other miscellaneous payments. – With Nestor Etolle