Options mulled for ARMM polls

MANILA, Philippines - With time running out, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is now open to manual balloting or the open election system (OES) in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) elections.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said the poll body wants to automate the ARMM elections but it would be “taking a very high risk” if it would proceed given the uncertainty of whether the exercise would push through or not.

“We don’t want a very tight timeline because it may only lead to problems or failure of the automation. We don’t want to take that risk also,” he said.

With the manual process, voting, counting, and canvassing will be done without machines, while in OES, voting and counting are done manually but transmission and canvassing of ballots will be automated.

Barely two months are left before the scheduled Aug. 8 ARMM polls, but the Senate has yet to decide on Senate Bill 2756 seeking the postponement of the regional elections.

The Comelec was intent on fully automating the ARMM elections using precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines. But because of the unresolved issue, it could not yet sign a contract with PCOS supplier Smartmatic International Corp. and Total Information Management Corp.

If the Comelec signs a contract and the ARMM polls are eventually postponed, Brillantes said it would have to pay a penalty.

“It’s very high, definitely not less than P100 million… Smartmatic will not move unless we pay a downpayment,” he said.

Brillantes said the timeline has been adjusted several times and the longest the Comelec could wait for the Senate to decide is until the end of this month before going full-blast in the preparation – be it manual, fully automated or partially automated.

“If they decide we should postpone, no problem with that. If they say it will push through but much later, let’s say June, we may be able to automate,” he added.

Meanwhile, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who chairs the Senate committee on local government, yesterday said Malacañang does not need to remind him to act on the Palace-certified bill postponing the ARMM elections, although he is against it.

Marcos was reacting to a statement by presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda urging him to come out with a committee report so the bill could be voted upon.

“I don’t think Mr. Lacierda should worry about the committee coming out with a report soon after our last hearing on Senate Bill 2756 (HB 4146) to be held early next week,” Marcos said.

“I assure Mr. Lacierda that we have not forgotten the stakeholders of ARMM and quite the contrary, we are giving them a say that is rightfully theirs and no less enshrined in the Constitution,” he added. – With Marvin Sy