Funding automation law 'is a matter of urgency,' Gordon asks Congress

Independent Senator Richard J. Gordon today expressed readiness to attend a special session should President Arroyo call for it so that Congress can have sufficient time to pass and ratify the P11.3-billion supplemental budget needed to automate the May 2010 elections.

Gordon, author of the Amended Automated Elections Law, said that both Houses of Congress need to see to it that the supplemental budget is passed by Congress, reconciled by Senate and House Bicameral Conference Committee and ratified by both Houses before Congress goes on its Lenten break.

"We need to pass this bill to pave the way for full automation of the 2010 elections. It is the Senate's, in as much as it is the House leadership's commitment that the law mandating for full automation of elections is funded," he said.

"We owe this commitment to the Filipino people who have long dreamt of seeing an automated election in their lifetime. Let us not fail them," he added.

The House of Representatives have passed last night on third and final reading the P11.3-billion proposed budget that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) would need to implement Republic Act (RA) 9369 or the Amended Automated Elections Law, which prescribes for full automation of the country's electoral exercise.

Malacanang has earlier expressed readiness to call for special sessions upon cue from House Speaker Prospero Nograles and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.

Congress is scheduled to take its Lenten break starting March 7 and would only resume session on April 13.

According to Comelec Chairman Jose Melo, the poll body needs the supplemental budget approved by April to give the Comelec sufficient time to meet its timetable for the preparations that the automation would entail.

Gordon explained that the automation of the election had been exhaustively deliberated and overwhelmingly approved by Congress because it would modernize our elections and put a stop to wholesale cheating that often marred the country's elections in the past.

"The law we have passed mandates Comelec to implement full automation of elections. It is now our task to provide the poll body the necessary support to enforce it," he said.

"Automating our electoral systems is the right step towards modernizing our democracy. Funding it is a matter of urgency," he added.