Into the lion’s den

This column is going to support a friend who’s taken on a Herculean task, who’s stepped in where angels fear to tread, as they say.

Andy Bautista has agreed to lead the Commission on Elections through the next elections. I think he’s mad, but I fully support him in his madness. He’ll be attacked by all kinds of shady characters as he assumes what is, quite simply, a mess—a mess we’d not be in if we had a Comelec chair who had done his job. But we didn’t, and now emergency measures must be taken.

Here we are, but 10 months from voting, and the Comelec doesn’t have a system in place. It’s incredible, frightening. And to get a system in place, it’s almost certainly going to have to cut some corners—corners that some benighted lawyers will undoubtedly challenge, and in fact already have. I’d like to appeal to them: Think of your country, we need these elections to proceed successfully. I want—no, I demand—that the Automated Election System Watch tell us what it would do to provide clean elections in May 2016 if its petition to the Supreme Court succeeds. Otherwise, it should withdraw its blockage so we can have elections that work.

The group of bishops and others should withdraw their petition, too. Anyway, what are bishops doing interfering in what a secular government does? It’s a group that’s anti-Aquino and pro-Arroyo, making its appeal highly questionable and politically oriented. The Supreme Court should just throw it out.

If full automation is to be used, then what is important is that the system be decided upon urgently. The Comelec needs about 100,000 machines to maintain a ratio of 800-1,000 voters to a machine. On July 9 the special bids and awards committee agreed to lease 23,000 optical mark readers from Smartmatic. Like it or not, this must not be challenged.

Next, the Comelec must choose whether to rehabilitate 82,000 Smartmatic machines that are almost six years old, or buy 71,000 (70,977, to be exact) new ones. The cost differential is some P5 billion. So, some will argue, you must choose the cheapest. But, no, you mustn’t. Quite frankly, cost is inconsequential; an accurate, open system that works is what must be chosen. You don’t risk the outcome of who’ll run the country over a few billion pesos. The cost of it all going wrong is far, far higher.

And if there’s only one company that offers machines, then you have no choice but to accept that. Fair, open bidding will just have to be dispensed with. Now we have a Comelec chair we can trust. I believe we can be assured it will be an honest deal. I don’t like Smartmatic any more than anyone else, but if that’s the only option, so be it. What we have to be assured of is that: 1) the PCOS machines actually work; 2) the cost is reasonable, not the cheapest possible; and 3) the system this time is transparent, credible and accurate, as the law mandates. All of those were under suspicion in 2010.

Tests must be done—real tests of the system in toto—with all the necessary safeguards in place and working.

The test and examination of the system should be done by an independent group of experts. I’d include one foreigner with experience in automatic elections elsewhere. The fairness of the price should also be confirmed.

There’s an alternative system on offer where a test was recently done led by Gus Lagman, IT expert and former Comelec commissioner (thrown out because he was too good). Under this hybrid system, voting and canvassing at the precinct level would be done in the old-fashioned way (manually), but transmission, collating and canvassing at the municipal and regional levels would be done electronically. The advantages are that a manual count can be checked and cross-checked at the poll center before transmission, and that the subsequent, collation and counting, etc. can be done with ordinary computers (which can be donated to schools afterwards). No special, one-use machines needed.

The test was done two weeks ago in Bacoor. It wasn’t too successful, but the reasons are correctable. However, the Comelec says there’s no more time to switch to a completely new system, so, along with Congress, it decided not to use it. Gus disagrees, and he justifies well that the hybrid system can be set up in the limited time; also, the Comelec estimate of the cost is completely wrong and is thus not a factor for rejection. It’s a system I’d much prefer. I really don’t trust Smartmatic and I do trust Gus. Whatever the choice, there’s little time to make it.

The Comelec board needs to decide. A final decision must be made soon enough to provide leeway to distribute the units, install and test. And then test the system throughout. It’s very, very tight. Nitpicking delay can’t be tolerated.

There are two other things that must be done. Some 4.3 million people have not had their biometrics taken, so they can’t vote. The government—not just the Comelec but also the social welfare and education departments—needs to help. Elderly people particularly need to be found and helped to register. Many more centers to register are needed, particularly in more remote areas. Voters, young and old, need to register; otherwise they won’t be allowed to vote. Media must help publicize the need.

The second thing needed is how to vote intelligently, and to refuse to be enticed or forced into a vote some unscrupulous pol wants. Voters need to look at the qualifications, experience and expertise, not the “good looks.” A widespread education program is needed to get this message across—something I’m glad to say business has offered to support.

What can’t happen is no elections. So I’ll repeat it: Stop running to court and let the Comelec under its new chair do its job.

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