KIKO PANGILINAN TO COMELEC: SALVAGE THE SITUATION, SPARE THE COUNTRY FROM MANUAL ELECTION NIGHTMARE

Independent Senator Francis 'Kiko' Pangilinan blasts Comelec on its botched bidding process to automate the 2010 national election.

"It sends the impression that government is inutile and incapable of providing urgent reforms. It suggests that our leaders are incapable of seeking solutions and fulfilling the most basic requirement of any democracy, which is a clean and honest election process. If government were a private corporation, it would have closed shop a long time ago for failure to meet its bottom lines, and its CEO and its top management team would have been fired."

Pangilinan is dismayed at Comelec's suggestion to go back to manual voting. He expresses his fear of a "Hello Garci" repeat.

"We urge the Comelec to be creative, think out of the box, and salvage the situation. Our country, our children do not deserve the mediocrity, the mess and the inutility being displayed here by government in this botched deal. Mga bulok na pulitiko lang at mga galamay nito ang matutuwa na manumbalik ang manual elections. Kumuha na lang tayo ng bato at ipukpok sa ulo dahil ganun din ang magiging resulta. Sakit ng ulo at perwisyo dulot ng pandaraya sa halalan ang kahihinatnan natin kung hahayaan natin manumbalik ang manual elections. I don't think the nation can survive another Garci or Lintang Bedol fiasco."