Comelec mulling new design for voters’ ID

MANILA, Philippines - Despite a 24-million backlog in voter’s identification cards, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is considering a new design for the ID.

According to Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista, they are looking at changing the design of the ID cards because the old one “does not look well.”

“The old voter’s ID is the one that is a laminated paper… What we want is to upgrade it to a better one,” he said during the Voter Registration Awareness Caravan at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila in Manila yesterday for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to be held in October.

While the old IDs were given free by the Comelec, the new ones would cost less than P100. Voters, however, may choose which ID they want.

The Comelec has decided to pilot test the project in Metro Manila before implementing it nationwide. It is also coordinating with the National Printing Office to expedite printing.

Bautista said there are some 24 million ID cards that have not yet been printed while nine million IDs remain unclaimed at local Comelec offices across the country.  

In another development, the Comelec is looking at having a local company provide the automated election system (AES) that will be used in the 2019 midterm polls.

According to Bautista, they have not ruled out the use of the old precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines but they may also get a local technology provider to supply them with additional machines.

“We’ll listen to stakeholders, look into all options, including at locally produced equipment. If we are to look into all things being equal, then we should also patronize our own products,” he said.

For Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, the Comelec should give other providers, especially local ones, a chance to supply a new AES.

“Filipino ingenuity would be better and more transparent for our elections,” Pabillo noted.

Currently, the Departments of Labor and Employment and of Science and Technology are doing diagnostics of some 84,000 PCOS machines to determine which among them can still be used in the 2019 polls.         

Bautista said since the PCOS machines have already been bought by the Comelec from Smartmatic, they have to explore the possibility of mixing them with another technology.