Dec. 18, 2009 - Comelec officials confirmed on Dec. 17 that if preparations for the first full automated election in May 2010 are insufficient the contingency plan is to go manual. They said however that a final decision about this will be on March 10, 2010 or two months before election day.

Officials from the Commission on Election (Comelec) led by Commissioner Rene Sarmiento were grilled during the hearing of the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee (JCOC) on poll automation presided jointly by Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero and Rep. Teddy Locsin, Jr. Other members present were Sens. Alan Peter Cayetano, Juan Ponce Enrile, and Aquilino Pimentel and Reps. Edsel Lagman and Rufus Rodriguez.

Representative Rodriguez revealed that, based on Comelec’s original calendar submitted to Congress, preparations for the automated election are delayed by 96 days or three months.

The hearing was set to allow Comelec to respond to a set of 15 questions posed by representatives of the Automated Election System Watch (AES Watch) 2010, a broad formation of citizens’ groups and individuals monitoring the Comelec preparations for poll automation.

In the AES Watch panel were Lito Averia, a systems security specialist; Dr. Pablo Manalastas, Fellow of CenPEG and IT faculty of the University of the Philippines and Ateneo; Toti Casino of Philippine Computer Society (PCS), and others.

Composed of about 50 citizens’ groups, AES Watch through its conveners has asked the Comelec for the full disclosure of its preparedness in connection with the first automated election in May 2010.

The conveners of AESWatch include leaders of the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines, Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG), the UP Alumni Association (UPAA), IT educators from DLSU, Ateneo, and UP, CBCP-Nassa, Transparentelections.org,, and PCS. They asked 15 key milestones that must be attained to show 100 percent readiness for the 2010 automated election.

Comelec officials, including Executive Director Atty. Jose Tolentino, also virtually admitted delays in their preparations. Only about 9,800 Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines have been shipped to the Philippines. While promising to achieve 40,000-deployment by end-December only 30,000 units have been fabricated.

They also said that the source code that will run the 80,000 machines has not been completed and that its study by the US-based SysTest Labs has been by installment. A request for the source code review from the Center for People
Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) had been approved by Comelec in June this year but the computer program is yet to be released by the poll body.

JCOC committee members asked the Comelec to respond to the questions of AES Watch and the JCOC not later than January 4, 2010. Escudero also asked Comelec to submit vital documents related to the poll automation. Committee members also recognized the AES Watch coalition to represent citizens groups, NGOs, and civil society movement in monitoring the automation system.

Among the key questions presented by AES Watch are Comelec’s compliance with the source code review and E-Commerce Law, the security of transmission, training and deployment of thousands of teachers and IT personnel, technology certification, voters’ and teachers’ education, and mechanisms for election protest adjudication.

The coalition has adopted the System Transparency, Accountability, and Readiness Score Card (“STAR Card”) to measure the state of preparedness of Comelec.

The AESWatch 2010 has been formed in the light of mounting concerns with regard to Comelec preparations for the automated poll. Among these concerns are the issuance of General Instructions (GI) in lieu of IRR, manufacturing and delivery of poll machines, minimum requirements such as source code review and secure transmission, voters’ verification of ballots, and digital signature.

The automated election is barely five months away but Comelec has not been transparent in addressing these issues, installing safeguards, as well disclosing fully the state of preparedness for the AES system, the Conveners said.

Aside from the groups mentioned, other conveners of the AESWatch are leaders of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), Pagbabago (movement for social change), Financial Executives (Finex), Computer Professionals Union (CPU), Ecumenical Bishops Forum (EBF), Solidarity Philippines, National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP), Caucus-Philippines Computer Science, Concerned Citizens’ Movement (CCM), Association of Public Administrators of the Philippines (ASPAP), Dilaab-Hearts Foundation, various schools, and others. (CenPEG, Dec. 18, 2009)