ELECTIONS in the Philippines were designed by the Constitution to be a rare, even sacred, opportunity for the people to participate in the democratic process. This statement has a tinge of irony in it, since the Charter says sovereignty resides in the people — they are the boss in a representative democracy like ours — but why is it that the leaders elected by the people behave like slave owners?
Elections, too, have become a contest among the rich and famous in Philippine society, they who have swayed the political climate to their favor year after year, holding on to power with a tight grip, so tight that they can even bequeath it to their sons and grandsons, daughters and granddaughters.
Political patronage, poverty and ignorance all converge to make the elections a game of the elite, with the people relegated to the role of pawns.
Congress, Malacañang, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the courts have had attempts to make the elections reflect the true will of the people, but it seems the system has built-in snags to allow cheating, vote-buying, vote-shaving and other shenanigans.
‘It is in this stage of the engagement that serious issues might arise, and we call on the poll body to be extra vigilant in monitoring the process.’
One solution is election computerization, to lessen direct physical manipulation of results, but even this was attended with charges of cheating, this time by the poll body in tandem with the automated election system service provider, Smartmatic.
Last November, Comelec Chairman George Garcia announced that Smartmatic can no longer participate in any bidding for the poll body’s procurements. The Comelec disqualified Smartmatic, whose engagement in the Philippines was punctuated with accusations of fraud and inefficiency, not only from the camps of losing candidates but also from those who won.
Ironically, the Comelec en banc banned Smartmatic because of money-laundering and bribery charges filed in the US against former Comelec chair Andres Bautista, and not because of its failure to comply with specific “minimum system capabilities” that resulted in alleged “serious and grave irregularities.”
The Comelec said the legal suits against Smartmatic and Bautista “not only undermine and cast a shadow over the procurement protocols but also threaten to erode the public’s confidence in the electoral system.”
We narrate these incidents that made Philippine elections the mess that it is because Comelec will decide “within the week” if it will award the P18-billion contract for the lease of the automated election system to be used for next year’s midterm polls to the sole bidder, a joint venture led by South Korean firm Miru Systems Co. Ltd. That was according to Chairman Garcia during a press conference on Wednesday after Miru held a demonstration of its prototype voting machines at the poll body’s head office in Manila.
The decision came yesterday, with Garcia saying the poll body has decided to award the contract to Miru Systems, adopting a recommendation from the Special Bids and Awards Committee and findings of a technical working group.
With the contract awarded, Miru will begin the production of customized voting machines based on terms of reference to be set by the Comelec. It is in this stage of the engagement that serious issues might arise, and we call on the poll body to be extra vigilant in monitoring the process.
