UP launches design search for auto poll system

MANILA, Philippines - The University of the Philippines-Diliman together with various government and non-government organizations launched last Monday a nationwide search for the best model and design for an automated election system (AES) that could be used in future polls.

Nelson Celis, chair of the Philippine Computer Society Foundation, said the 4th National Search for Technology Excellence for Automated Election System will run from June 2011 to June 2012.

The contest is open to any Filipino citizen or organization. The rules will be announced during the launch on Monday at the GT Toyota Asian Cultural Center at UP Diliman in Quezon City.

The search is part of the celebration of information technology (IT) month this June.

UP president Alfredo Pascual said that a locally developed AES would be cheaper and will help create a stronger IT industry in the country.

“We’re talking about the market not only in the Philippines but globally... We will not have to subcontract the exercise of our political sobriety to any foreign entity... we will be in full control of our election,” Pascual said in a press conference at the UP Information Technology Training Center.

“This is not an academic exercise, this is for real,” he said.

Celis said he is confident the Filipino-designed AES will be available for the May 2013 midterm elections.

“We can declare the winners by June next year, there will be enough time for us to implement this,” he said.

Maria Corazon Akol, president of the Philippine National IT Standards Foundation, said a prototype could be taken in as an entry in the contest.

Akol said local manufacturers or foreign investors through the government’s public-private partnership program would do the fabrication.

UP assistant vice president for development Jaime Alcaro said there would be no additional costs for the development of the AES model locally.

“This is more cost-effective than tapping foreign companies, if it is taken from foreign company it will be 10 or 100 times more expensive, but if it is a Filipino invention that will be cheaper,” he said.

The 4th National Search for Technology Excellence for Automated Election System is being undertaken in cooperation with the Department of Science and Technology, Commission on Elections, IT professionals and automated election experts in the country.

The consortium of Smartmatic and Total Information Management (TIM) Systems bagged the P11.3-billion contract for the country’s first nationwide automated elections on May 10, 2010.