Press Release
January 15, 2009

Gordon to Comelec: Choose the most effective automation technology

Independent Senator Richard "Dick" J. Gordon today called on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to put more premium on effectiveness over affordability when it decides to choose the automation technology for the May 2010 presidential elections.

Gordon, author of the amended Automated Elections Law, reminded the Comelec that the effectiveness of the automated technology in ensuring clean, honest and credible elections should take first consideration.

"The primary objective of automating our elections is to be able to hold clean, honest and credible elections as it signals we are taking concrete steps towards truly modernizing our democracy," he said.

"Hence, choosing the right technology to be used should be based, foremost, on its effectiveness in achieving this democratic objective," he added.

Gordon issued the reminder in reaction to reports that the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) has expressed dissatisfaction with the basis in selecting machines for the planned poll automation.

PPCRV chairman Henrietta De Villa noted that choosing the type of machines more on its affordability and less on its effectiveness in encouraging clean elections in 2010 undermines the real intent of poll automation.

Gordon expressed preference for the use of the Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) technology although it costs more than the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) because the former requires minimum human intervention compared to the latter.

"As seen in the automated ARMM (Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) conducted in August last year, the DRE is more effective because it required less human intervention than the OMR and is thus less prone to human manipulation," he said.

Gordon also pointed out that it is for the best interest of the poll body to ensure the full automation of the 2010 polls using a more effective technology because it will help them redeem themselves from waning public trust and confidence on them and the electoral exercises.

"The full automation of the 2010 elections is a game-changer because it will not only elevate the country's electoral exercise from third to first world class but also erase public suspicion that the Filipino people's sacrosanct votes would be stolen from them," he said.

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