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Less than 8
months to go before the 2013 elections
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from
NAMFREL Election Monitor Vol.2, No.26 |
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Filing of COCs
All prospective candidates for the May 2013 national and local
elections only have this week (October 1 to 5, 8am to 5pm) to file
their Certificates of Candidacy (COCs). According to
Comelec
Resolution no. 9518 released on September 12, all registered
political parties are also to submit to the Commission on Election’s
(Comelec) Law Department the names and specimen signatures of their
official party nominees not later than October 1. As in past
elections, any person who holds a public appointed office or
position shall be considered resigned from office once he/she files
the COC. Substitutions and withdrawals will be entertained by the
Comelec only until December 21, after which the list of candidates
will be finalized and be used to configure the ballots.
Voting registration is suspended from October 1-5, and will resume
on October 6. |
PCOS machines
Along with the facilitation of the filing of COCs, the poll
body is prepping up as well the technology that will be used
in the elections next year. On July 24 and 25, 2012, the
House of Representatives’ Committee on Suffrage and
Electoral Reforms conducted a mock Random Manual Audit (RMA)
to assess the accuracy of the Smartmatic-TIM’s Precinct
Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines. The Comelec allowed the
committee to conduct the test to allay the apprehension of
people that the machines are inaccurate, as what certain IT
groups were pointing out.
One IT group, transparentelections.org,
claims that in the mock elections/RMA held at the House Committee on
Suffrage, the PCOS just had 97.215% accurate as opposed to the
99.995% accuracy as required by the contract. Smartmatic, however,
contested that the people who were auditing the machines committed
the mistakes and not the machines. |
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The Comelec on the other hand gave
assurance to the public that further tests will be conducted on the
PCOS machines to prepare them for the elections next year.
The Comelec is also currently in the thick of its procurement
activities for the 2013 elections through its Special Bids and
Awards Committee (SBAC). Among the items lined up for purchase are
the CF cards and external rechargeable batteries that will be used
with the PCOS machines. Also in the list of consulting services to
be procured by the commission is the source code review. The poll
body awarded the contract for source code review to SLI Global
Solutions, the same company that provided the same service to
Comelec in the 2010 elections, in the amount of Php 41,331,213.00.
The procurement of this service did not go through the process of
public bidding, which is a deviation from the standard procurement
method that government offices should follow per the Procurement Law
(RA No. 9184), especially if the budget involved is more than Php
500,000.00.
Further reading:
Smartmatic audit report of the July 24-25, 2012 Mock Elections
presented on September 5 to the House Committee on Suffrage &
Electoral Reform (http://bit.ly/P75YsT)
A Review/ Analysis made by TransparentElections.org / CSOs/ IT
groups of Smartmatic-TIM Corp.'s "Mock Elections Summary Report" on
the Mock Elections conducted on July 24-25, 2012
(http://bit.ly/OmWm0x)
Comelec Resolution No. 9521 – In which the Comelec re-acquires the
services of SLI Global Solutions for PCOS source code and
documentation review, upon recommendation of Comelec executive
director Jose Tolentino (http://bit.ly/PRKT6s)
Cleansing of voters' lists
Comelec chairperson Sixto Brilliantes, Jr. has given assurance that
there is enough time to rid the voters' lists of multiple or ghost
registrants in time for the May 2013 synchronized national, local
and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) elections. His
response came amidst concerns that the Comelec might not be able to
cleanse the list, especially in the ARMM, as the Election
Registration Board (ERB) hearings had been postponed and
rescheduled. The new ERB hearing schedules would follow after the
names of registration applicants in the ARMM had undergone the
Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) process, which
would cross-match the biometric registrations of voters to eliminate
double and multiple registrants. The Voter's Registration Act of
1996 gives authority only to the ERB to approve or disapprove
registration applications. The Comelec estimates that they will be
able to remove about 300,000 names in the ARMM voters list after
undergoing the process.
In a Congressional hearing in early September, Chairman Brilliantes
said that 9 million of the 52 million registered voters have yet to
submit to biometrics data capture, using fingerprints, photographs,
and signature of voters. He called for the passing of a law that
would make biometrics capture of all registered voters mandatory,
"to allow a thorough cleansing of the national voters’ registry."
Overseas Filipino voters
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Comelec have said
that the number of new registrants among overseas Filipinos have
surpassed 2009 figures. As of early September, the DFA has managed
to register more than 850,000; in contrast there were only close to
590,000 registrants for the 2010 elections. The Comelec had earlier
said that the target of registering 1 million overseas Filipinos
might not be possible, but with registration to continue until
October 31, the target could be achieved or surpassed.
The DFA attribute the surge in number to social media, specifically
Facebook and Twitter that are being utilized by Filipino media
outlets and other organizations to encourage Filipinos abroad to
register. In Israel for example, where the Philippine embassy has
registered the highest number of overseas voters for the past three
elections, mass text messaging is being utilized to reach out to
potential registrants, in partnership with an Israeli telecom
network. Field registration has also been carried out in Israel,
Malaysia, New Zealand, and other countries, conducted in places
frequented by Filipinos as well as during special events organized
and attended by Filipinos, like concerts.
Organizations like Migrante International have urged Filipinos
abroad to exercise their right of suffrage. “We still believe that
Filipinos abroad, as absentee voters, could be a potent swing vote
that could win a nationally elected position,” said Migrante in a
statement. However, the number of overseas Filipinos who register
and actually vote remain extremely low. According to Comelec, of the
590,000 million Filipinos overseas registered for the 2010 election,
only 152,000 of this number actually voted. There are more than 8.5
million potential Filipino voters overseas.
The Comelec hopes that pending bills to make it easier for Filipinos
abroad to vote -- like through the internet -- would be passed in
time for the 2013 election. Under Republic Act 9189 or the Overseas
Absentee Voting Act, for example, qualified and registered Filipinos
abroad are required to physically show up in their respective
embassies and consulates. Filipinos overseas have complained that it
is time consuming and often difficult to leave work for a day just
to be able to register and vote, as their places of work are usually
far from where the embassy is located, not to mention the resulting
loss of income if they exercise their right of suffrage.
(Various sources, Commission on Filipinos Overseas)
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Important dates to remember
October 1 to 5, 2012: Schedule of filing of
Certificates of Candidacy for all elective positions;
voters' registration suspended
October 6, 2012: Resumption of voters'
registration
October 15, 2012: Constitution of the
Random Manual Audit Committee to draft the rules
October 15, 2012: Last day for overseas
voters to file application for transfer of registration
records from the overseas registry to the local registry
October 31, 2012: Last day for local voters
to file applications for registration, transfer of records,
reactivation and correction of entries; deadline for
overseas Filipinos to file applications for registration or
certification as overseas voters |
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