Pinoy voters not much into veep bets

As previously announced, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) will have to decide on their scheduled en banc meeting tomorrow what voting system to be used in the conduct of the next automated elections on May 9, 2016. The seven-man poll body, headed by chairman Andres Bautista, must settle this without further delay with only 272 days before election day.

The poll body was initially weighing options whether or not to refurbish all of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines, either through negotiated or direct contracting, or to lease all-new optical mark reader (OMR) machines.

In their meeting, the Comelec will resolve whether to augment from the refurbishment of 81,897 PCOS machines. These PCOS machines were used in the last two automated elections and are currently stored at the Comelec warehouse in Laguna. Or, the Comelec will opt to lease 70,977 brand-new OMR machines.

Whichever mode is chosen, the polling machines will be supplemented by the 23,000 OMR units from Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) Corp. This after the Comelec awarded to Smartmatic-TIM two weeks ago the contract to supply the new OMR machines.

The Comelec’s timetable hit a snag after its Special Bids and Awards Committee- 2 (SBAC-2) declared a failure of bidding last August 1. Two of the three bidders, namely, Smartmatic-TIM and Miru Systems Co. backed out from the P3.13-billion project to refurbish 81,897 PCOS machines. The remaining bidder, the joint venture firm Dermalog Identifications System, Avante International and Stone of David Technical Equipment, however, failed to meet technical and eligibility requirements.

The multi-sector Comelec Advisory Council (CAC) and the Joint Congressional Overseas Committee on poll automation have recommended the combination of refurbished PCOS machines and some of the 70,977 OMR machines that the poll body is leasing for next year’s elections.

At this stage, there is no turning back from fully automated election system as we prepare for our country’s presidential polls next year. But some quarters are undeterred as they make last-ditch attempt to bastardize it by insisting on a “hybrid” system, or a combination of computerized and manual counting of votes.

Fortunately, we have Bautista, a very upright and highly competent chairman of the Comelec to steer the country’s next elections in accordance with the laws of the land. He vows the Comelec would adopt the acronym ICE TEA, meaning “Inclusive and Consultative so that our Elections are Transparent, Efficient and Accountable.” 

 So far, there are two presidential candidates definitely entering the electoral contest, namely, Vice President Jejomar Binay and Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Sec.Mar Roxas II. The rest of the presidential wannabes have remained wishy-washy on their respective plans.

It will be another face-off between Binay and Roxas, this time around for the highest office of the land. Binay won against Roxas when they first battled for the vice presidency during the May, 2010 elections. Binay’s victory though remains under protest by Roxas before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET).

Binay was the first to throw his hat in the presidential race when he declared his bid almost as  soon as he assumed office and joined the Cabinet of President Benigno “Noy” Aquino III in June, 2010. Binay resigned from the Aquino Cabinet last June 22 after officially announcing he is the standard-bearer of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) in next year’s presidential race.

Last July 31, President Aquino “anointed” Roxas as the administration-backed presidential candidate of the ruling Liberal Party (LP). Although he has resigned from the Aquino Cabinet, Roxas though has yet to withdraw from PET his pending protest against Binay.

As of today, both Binay and Roxas have yet to announce who would be their respective vice presidential candidates. Both camps are still wooing their possible runningmates who included the likes of Senators Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Grace Poe, Francis Escudero, Alan Peter Cayetano, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

The problem, however, is that the same potential Veep runningmates are also being billed as presidential timber.

But do you know quite a number of Filipino voters have not been voting much for vice president but vote more than one candidate for president?

Whether manual or automated, these voting patterns were noted among the Filipino electorate. This is according to Smartmatic Asia-Pacific president Cesar Flores whose international company installed our country’s first-ever automated election system. Accessing from Comelec servers, the Smartmatic chief studied the voting patterns of Filipino voters. From available records of the Comelec, Flores disclosed, Filipinos notably have not been voting much for vice president.

The same voting patterns of Filipinos were also detected in electing vice governor and vice mayor, Flores added.

“People care more to vote for president, governor and mayor but not for vice president, vice governor or vice mayor,” he cited.

But, Flores noted, Filipino voters tend to “over-vote” for President, or they vote more than one candidate. However, whether it is under-vote or over-vote, both are not counted and considered as “stray” votes in manual system, or “null” votes under automated system.

In his PET petition, Roxas claimed the “null” votes belonged to him. This would have made Roxas overtake the final 727,084-vote advantage of Binay.

If indeed many Filipino voters did not care much to vote for any Veep candidates, will 2016 elections show better turnout?

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Smartmatic Asia-Pacific president Cesar Flores leads our panelists in the Kapihan sa Manila Bay this Wednesday, August 12. Technical experts on automated polls from the Parish-Pastoral Council on Responsible Voting (PPCRV) and democracy watch groups will also participate in our discussions. The Kapihan sa Manila Bay is a weekly breakfast forum held from 9:30 to 11 a.m. in the Filomena Garden at the sixth floor of Luneta Hotel located in T.M. Kalaw St., Manila. Come join us.