Press Release
May 11, 2008

GORDON: AUTOMATING ELECTIONS IS MODERNIZING OUR DEMOCRACY

The award by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) of the P525 million poll automation contract signals the first step towards truly modernizing our democracy," Senator Richard Gordon said today.

"I am happy for the country and for our people with this significant progress in our democratic life. With computers in the precincts, our fellow Filipinos in the ARMM are assured that their votes will be counted and counted fast possibly within the hour and their right to choose their leaders protected. Certainly, automation at the polls will create a level playing field in our elections, which hopefully will spread to all facets of our political and economic life," Gordon said.

Under the contract signed between Comelec and Smartmatic last Friday, the company is to supply direct recording electronic (DRE) systems for use in the August 11, 2008 ARMM polls. The contract covers only Maguindanao, one of the six provinces of ARMM. The automation in the other five provinces of the ARMM - Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Shariff Kabunsuan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi - will be covered by other contracts currently negotiated by the Comelec.

For Gordon, chairman of the Senate Oversight Committee on Automated Election Systems, "securing this partial victory has required nothing short of a battle against those who benefited as the country remained stuck in the antiquated system of voting and canvassing." The Comelec had encountered numerous problems in the process of implementing Republic Act No. 9369, authored by Gordon and mandating the Comelec to use an automated election system for the 2007 elections and onwards. The law did not specify any technology, thus giving the Comelec a huge leeway in searching for appropriate systems to use.

"There is no substitute for clean, honest and orderly elections. The true interest of poll automation is to make sure that the vote of the poor equals the vote of the rich," said Gordon.

The present manual system belongs back in the 18th century. It is archaic, open to abuse and abused. It takes too long to get a result, and time taken to count the votes encourages dagdag-bawas and other electoral fraud" says Gordon. "If people feel they have been cheated, that their right to honest elections has been taken away from them, they have no trust in the system of government and they feel that violence is the only way to achieve their rights."

Only last month, Comelec claimed it "was running out of time" to automate the ARMM elections and had seem bent on resorting to the manual voting process. Gordon called for no less than four hearings of the Senate and House panels, chaired by Rep. Teddyboy Locsin of Makati , to monitor the status of the Comelec's preparation for the polls. The P525 million contract for Maguindanao is part of the P867,329,200 earlier released by the Department of Budget and Management for the automation of the ARMM elections.

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