Lawmakers vouch for accuracy of PCOS machines

MANILA, Philippines - Lawmakers yesterday vouched for the accuracy of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines used in the 2010 and 2013 elections.

Parañaque City Rep. Gustavo Tambunting and Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe issued the statement as private groups, including the Automated Election System Watch (AES-Watch) and the Clean and Credible Election (C3E), have repeatedly made pronouncements calling for a return to the old system of manual voting and counting of votes.

Tambunting said the automated poll system has drastically eliminated the “human error” factor, particularly in the canvassing of votes.

“I believe the automated system has done a lot to improve the accuracy and precision of our elections,” he added.

He also noted that the dismissal of most electoral protest cases, where the results were affirmed following the checking of PCOS results, showed that the system was airtight against possible manipulation.

“It would be a nightmare and terrible decision to go back to the old system of manual counting of votes, which takes forever and which allows miscounts and ballot switching and snatching,” he added.

Batocabe, on the other hand, deplored what he said were the recycled claims of electronic fraud in the 2010 and 2013 elections, noting that it was in the obsolete system of manual voting and counting that massive cheating was committed in previous elections.

“The worldwide trend is toward automation and we should not go back to Jurassic age where outcome of election results is known only after several weeks, even months,” he said.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. earlier hit critics of the country’s automated election system, saying such groups are motivated to serve their own interests.

Belmonte said such groups were creating trouble but have not offered better alternatives to the PCOS machines.