| |
.
. |
|
Comelec
says ARMM election will be manual
|
|
from
NAMFREL Election Monitor Vol.2, No.13
|
|
. |
During the May 31 hearing conducted by the
Senate Committee on Local Government on the ARMM election
postponement, Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Sixto
Brillantes, Jr. said that due to time constraints, the Comelec
cannot automate the ARMM election anymore, and would have to use the
manual process if the polls are held in August as scheduled. The
chairman also said that the Comelec would need to start preparing
for the manual election on June 15, by which date the conduct or
postponement of the polls should already have been ascertained. The
day before the Senate hearing, the Comelec Steering Committee
submitted to the Comelec en banc a resolution regarding the conduct
of an automated election in ARMM, recommending to the En Banc “not
to proceed with either full or partial automated elections and
instead to undertake immediate contingency plans for the conduct of
manual elections...in order to avoid failure in the automated
elections due to the lack of remaining time for the proper
implementation thereof.” (The Comelec en banc voted to approve and
adopt the steering committee's resolution on May 31, after the
Senate hearing).
Brillantes told the Senate committee that the Comelec would only
spend around Php 600 million to do the manual election, compared
with Php 1.5 - 2.2 billion if automated. He said that since there is
a delay in coming up with a decision on whether to postpone or push
through with the ARMM election, they had to hold back preparations
for automation to not incur expenses, and were unable to finalize
any agreement with technology provider Smartmatic. Regarding the
automation of the 2013 election, Brillantes said that the Comelec
needs two years to prepare, which should have already started this
May. He added that the Comelec can opt to get another technology
provider for 2013, saying that because of the delay in finalizing
any agreement with Smartmatic, the cost for automating the 2013
election using Smartmatic's PCOS would increase. He also said
however that Comelec has the option to purchase Smartmatic's
machines until the end of the year.
Regarding the ARMM election, Brillantes admitted to the Senate
committee that there are more risks with manual election; however,
he
also said that many in the ARMM want the election to be manual,
adding "I don't understand why." He said that the 2008 and 2010
elections in the ARMM, which were both automated, "went well."
In a position paper it submitted to the Committee, the Comelec said
that the Department of Budget and Management had released only Php
480 million of the Php 1.5 billion they would need to automate the
ARMM election. The Comelec would need to get the remaining amount
from Comelec's savings, "which we can otherwise use in our
much-needed modernization and infrastructure projects." Meanwhile,
the Alliance of Comelec Employees in Service (Aces) said in an
earlier statement that "the savings will be better spent if it is
allotted to augmenting the salaries and benefits of Comelec rank and
file employees." The group said that under Civil Service rules,
rank-and-file employees are entitled to as much as 80 percent of the
agency’s savings from Personal Services (PS) and Maintenance and
Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) for their contribution the agency’s
productivity and cost-cutting measures. “The poll leadership must
respect the employees’ right to the savings of the agency,” it said.
Read Comelec Minute Resolution No. 11-0577 here: http://bit.ly/jZjYui
(Additional information from SunStar). |
|
|
| |
.
.
. |
|
| |
| |
|
|
