EDITORIAL - Goodbye to poll automation?

Even without the rumors circulating about the principal snag in the modernization program of the Commission on Elections, the reason cited by the Comelec chairman is worrisome enough. Harriet Demetriou informed President Estrada the other day that due to lack of funds, she was suspending the implementation of the P6.5-billion computerized voter identification system. The project, called the Voters Registration and Identification System or VRIS, was supposed to minimize fraud in the May 2001 polls – the nation’s first electoral exercise in the new millennium.

Earlier, the President had ordered the Comelec to review a draft contract for the bidding of machines for the new ID system. Demetriou said the poll body has only P1.2 billion for its modernization program, and the amount was not enough for the implementation of VRIS. Partial implementation may open the Comelec to accusations of violating the law, Demetriou explained. Furthermore, she said the contract was illegal and had technical flaws. She warned she would push for the impeachment of any Comelec commissioner who insisted on signing the contract.

The public has waited a long time for the country’s voting system to emerge from the Jurassic age. This antiquated system allowed elections to be won through guns, goons, gold and dagdag-bawas. The system allowed even the dead to vote. It also forced the public to rely on exit polls and independent civilian quick counts to learn the results or at least the trend in crucial elections as swiftly as possible.

For years we looked with envy at other countries where official election results were known within 24 hours. And we looked forward to 2001 for a new age in Philippine elections. But with less than two months before the start of the campaign for national positions, the Comelec is still embroiled in wrangling over the computerized ID system. For several weeks now Demetriou has been complaining about funding problems for full poll automation. Although all eyes are on the impeachment trial, national leaders should ask themselves whether they want Philippine elections to enter the modern age in May 2001. Then they should address the Comelec’s problems.