“We ought to computerize our elections but we ought to do this wisely. Spending P21 billion for an election is a very foolish thing to do”
by Ducky Paredes
This is an entry in Wikipedia, the Internet equivalent of an encyclopedia: “Presidential elections, legislative elections and local elections in the Philippines are scheduled to be held on May 10, 2010. The elected president will become the 15th President of the Philippines, succeeding President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is barred from seeking re-election due to term restrictions. If current Vice-President Noli de Castro should not retake office, his successor will be the 15th Vice-President of the Philippines. The legislators elected in the 2010 elections will join the senators of the 2007 elections and will comprise the 15th Congress of the Philippines.
“The 2010 election will be administered by the Commission on Elections in compliance with the Republic Act No. 9369, also known as Amended Computerization Act of 2007. It will be the first national computerized election in the history of the Philippines.”
Remember that in 2004, we were also supposed to have had “the first national computerized election in the history of the Philippines.” But, that one in 2004 was derailed by the Supreme Court which ruled that the bidding was all wrong, the machines were the wrong ones and that using them would only result in confusion and chaos.
Considering how little time the SC spent on deciding the case and that there was no complainant about the bidding and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) tested and passed each and everyone of the machines in question, I must conclude that the SC at the time of the greatest political challenge to Gloria Arroyo in the person of Fernando Poe, Jr. (arguably the most popular person in the country at the time), decided that it had to save the country from a mere movie actor and to continue to impose on us the benighted rule of the said Gloria Arroyo.
Now, we are again talking of computerizing our elections. What will this cost us taxpayers?
The question is important because there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the cost of each of the various computerization attempts we have had.
The first election computerization was in 1996 for just the ARMM elections. This cost P38.43 per voter. The next one – in 1998 – was also for the ARMM where for the elections, there was a repeat order of 26 units of Automatic Counting Machines. The cost per voter was even higher — at P50.48.
In 2004, the whole country would have been covered at only P31.20 per voter! This would have been the lowest cost of them all!
This year, we tried two systems – Direct Recording Equipment (DRE) and Optical Mark Reader (OMR). Good grief! These two cost P2,094.32 per voter for the DRE and P64.25 for the OMR, which were even just leased at about the same cost if they had instead been bought!
Senator Richard Gordon is talking of spending P21 billion to computerize our elections!
No wonder that computer sellers from all over the world are traveling to the Philippines to try to get in on what may become the best place to sell election computer technology. Why do I say that? Isn’t it obvious that we are fools! We are willing to buy just about anything when the machines that were bought by the Commission on Elections in 2004 which were certified as all working at 100% efficiency are lying idle and unused in an air-conditioned storage area just because the SC ruled without any technical proof that these would not work.
The whole world sees that we are fools who are only too willing and ready to be taken to the dryers. The world sees that we deserve to be separated from our P21 billion!
P21 billion for a computerized election when the 2004 automatic counting machines (ACMs) cost only a fraction what we now want to spend and when we have perfectly good ACMs that will work if they are ever freed from their mothballs?
The rest of the world are right to think the worst of us. Why will we spend so much only to choose the poor quality of leaders we have always elected? Isn’t that money better used building homes and providing food for our people. Where are our priorities?
Will spending P21 billion for equipment for an elections elect us a better president or more qualified senators and congressmen? Of course not. However, we elect them, their quality cannot exceed that of the voters who choose their leaders.
We ought to just use the ACMs we already have. Let the Supreme Court be proven to have made a foolish and a political decision when it banned those 2004 Mega Pacific ACMs. The SC should be taught a lesson that it should not involve itself in things of which it knows very little such as but not limited to what machines will work and which will not! Clearly, such matters are best decided by engineers, not lawyers!
We ought to computerize our elections but we ought to do this wisely. Spending P21 billion for an election is a very foolish thing to do. Frankly, considering the expenses for the last ARMM elections whose final results came only after almost a month, one see no trace of wisdom in the present composition of the Comelec or of the legislators pushing for their favored contractors to be unduly enriched.
If they were wiser men, the cost of the computerized election ought to have decreased from the 2004 attempt. That this has instead increased ten-fold and more is a sure sign that wisdom has not been the strong suit of those presently pushing for the computerization of our elections.
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The Fifth Leg of the San Mig Sugar-Free Coffee Senior Tournament for the Federation of Philippine Amateur Senior Golfers, Inc. (FPASGI) will be tee-off at the Canlubang Golf and Country Club on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 at seven in the morning.
This is the first time that the tournament will be held at Canlubang. The FPASGI chapter in Canlubang is expected to roll out the red carpet for all participants, A lot of raffle prizes and great food is expected by FPASGI members. The San Mig Senior Tournament is exclusive for FPASGI members.
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The Fifth Pasig City Pista sa Bayan Golf Tournament is scheduled for November 6, 2008 at Valley Golf Club. This will also feature the Congressman Rufino “Pinong” Javier Cup. There will be lots of raffle prizes and a prized automobile for a hole-in-one prize.
All funds raised will go to charity.
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hvp 10.27.08)
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