EDITORIAL - Pass the budget

After the chairman of the Commission on Elections said it was up to Malacañang to submit a supplemental budget for the automation of the 2010 elections, the Palace finally did so the other day, proposing P11.9 billion to finance the poll modernization program. The quick action might have been due to criticism that Malacañang was sitting on the budget proposal in hopes that the general elections would not push through.

Whatever sped up the submission, the ball is now in the hands of Congress, which has yet to approve the national budget for this year. The two chambers of Congress, busy with congressional inquiries, leadership changes and attempts to amend the Constitution, failed to pass the General Appropriations Act of 2009 before the Christmas break. Now Congress will have to pass both the regular annual budget and the supplemental appropriation that is needed if the country will finally have its first modern electoral exercise.

The elections next year will be crucial for reforms. This makes it all the more important to overhaul the voting system. The country cannot afford another “Hello, Garci” vote-rigging scandal that casts doubts on the legitimacy of the mandate of the nation’s highest official. That scandal, which erupted in 2005, is unresolved as the nation heads toward another presidential election.

Some recent developments have not been encouraging. Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said that in the absence of poll automation equipment, it was too late to purge voters’ lists. This means the names of people who have changed addresses or who have left the country or died will still be in those lists, which were put together manually. This also means that the names of double registrants — a number of whom are flying voters — will still be in the rosters. A Comelec official estimates that about two million names must be purged. Considering that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was declared a winner by a margin of only about a million votes in 2004, that two million can decide the presidential race next year, plus the winners in the congressional and local elections.

Is it too late to clean up those lists? Automation can help. But before the elections can be automated, a budget must be passed.