ELECTION 2007: SAME OLD STORY

Senator Richard J. Gordon today said that the May 2007 elections is a testament to the dire need for automation and a failure to learn from the past. "We have a very antiquated system. One that creates and promotes a perception of massive cheating, a culture that creates and fosters electoral violence, vote-buying and disenfranchisement of voters. Enough is enough. I have always said that we should fix the problem and not the blame. But the inaction of the COMELEC on automation, its refusal to even bother to try it in two provinces as mandated by law, has cost us the credibility of yet another election," Senator Gordon said.

After the passage of the Automated Elections Law in January 2007, COMELEC adamantly refused to implement the same in the 2007 May polls allegedly for lack of time or resources. Senator Gordon, through a series of discussions and meetings with the COMELEC to advocate automated elections, explained the necessity of the implementation and the solutions to overcome technicalities cited by the COMELEC, but the explanations fell on deaf ears. Gordon noted that as of this release, exactly one week after the elections, the counting has not yet been concluded. Media reports are flooded with allegations of election violence and massive cheating.

Gordon said that automated election is a worthy and apt solution to our messy electoral process. "RA 9369, as proposed, requires a verifiable paper audit trail and allows electronic transmission. Within a couple of hours, we will know the results. This will obliterate the tedious and dangerous process of lugging around ballot boxes. It eliminates manual mistakes and propagation of dagdag bawas. The old system requires too much paperwork to be done. It taxes our people and institutionalizes vote-buying," he explained. Gordon reminded the COMELEC and the people that " On October 29 this year, we are holding the synchronized Barangay and Sanguniang Kabataan elections. COMELEC has a good seven months to prepare for it. Implement RA 9369. The elections is the bedrock of our democracy. A clean, fair and honest elections will foster unity among our people. Automation will restore the confidence of our people and the international community in our country." END