Comelec reconvenes technical evaluation committee for 2013 polls

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has reconvened its Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) to ensure that the requirements for next year’s automated elections are complied with.

In Resolution 9380, the Comelec said the members of the TEC are Dennis Villorente, director of Department of Science and Technology-Advanced Science and Technology Institute and officer-in-charge of National Computer Center; Ferdinand de Leon of the Comelec’s information and technology department; and Reynaldo Sy of DOST-information and communications technology office.

Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said the TEC will monitor the preparations for the 2013 elections to ensure that the provisions in Republic Act 9369 or the poll automation law will be followed.

Under the law, TEC’s main task is to certify that the automated election machines to be chosen by the Comelec will be operating “properly, securely and accurately.”

The Supreme Court earlier stopped the Comelec from executing its deal with Smartmatic International Corp. to buy some 82,000 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines used in the 2010 polls.

The temporary restraining order (TRO), however, did not cover non-PCOS related preparations like voters’ education.

Asked about the possibility of next year’s elections reverting back to manual, Sarmiento noted that RA 9369 mandates the holding of automated elections.

“The issue now in SC is that there was no bidding and the Comelec just wanted to buy Smartmatic’s machines… If the Supreme Court will order us to hold a bidding, then we will follow,” he said.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez expressed confidence that the high tribunal would rule in favor of the Comelec and that the TRO was just a temporary setback.

‘ATM could help in autonomous polls’

In a related development, poll watchdog Automated Election System (AES) Watch asked the Comelec yesterday to study how automated teller machines (ATMs) are being operated, saying it could help in automating the elections.

“We urge the Comelec to study the project management practices of our local banks on how they implement automated tellering machines or ATMs with BancNet or MegaLink,” AES Watch co-convenor Nelson Celis said in a statement.

An umbrella organization of various poll reform advocates, computer experts and civil society groups, AES Watch had questioned before the high tribunal the move of the Comelec to buy and re-use the PCOS machines of Smartmatic.