Computerized Election

The approval this week of an P11-billion budget for the computerization of the Commission on Elections should be cause for elation. Unfortunately, it’s not.

As an IT-based businessman, I must agree with those who say that the Open Election System optical scan software chosen for the project will be prone to hacking. In other words, massive cheating can still occur in the 2010 elections.

If it can happen, it probably will. And we don’t have to guess which group has the most to gain by altering the results of the elections. Gloria Arroyo may not be a candidate, but she will certainly do everything to make sure that those she backs win at all costs. They will be her insurance that she and her husband will be protected from liability as a result of acts committed during her term as president.

The fact that the allotted budget was forwarded to the Office of the President by the Senate without passing through the usual bicameral body is also bothersome. Or suspicious might be the better word; P11 billion is a lot of money, and already talk is rife about how much the bigtime influence peddlers will be getting as kickbacks.

My encounter with a now disgraced former Comelec chief tells us that corruption could be widespread within the commission. A political analyst told me that cheating is done throught the alteration of certificates of canvass, and is usually done in the mid-level bureaucracy of the Comelec.

I am willing to give the new Comelec commissioners the benefit of the doubt, but the software to be used in the 2010 elections still leaves some doubt in my mind that every vote cast will be counted.

Computerizing the voting process is long overdue as it is supposed to eradicate cheating. It was supposed to be a major first step to clean up the Comelec. But that first step taken by today’s Comelec only adds to the question of how honest and free next year’s elections will be.

While there is still time, a public review of all available software should be conducted. Industry experts should be invited to make recommendations. Too much is at stake in the 2010 polls. Only the best possible hardware and software should be used to guard the sanctity of the ballot.

by: JDV III