Philippines

Articles about voting issues in the Republic of the Philippines.

Comelec to reuse Precinct Count Optical Scan machines for 2013 Philippines polls | Inquirer News

Mar 222012

The Commission on Elections will reuse Smartmatic’s automated voting machines for the 2013 midterm elections despite strong opposition from various election watchdogs and reform advocates. Voting 5-2, the Comelec on Thursday decided to exercise the “option to purchase” over 80,000 precinct count optical scan machines (PCOS), saying that Smartmatic, its technology provider during the May 2010 elections, has already corrected glitches in the system. “We decided, 5-2, in the (commission) en banc that we just go with exercising the option to purchase these Smartmatic machines,” Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. told reporters in a phone interview Friday. Read More »

Don’t use Smartmatic Precinct Count Optical Scan machines in 2013 polls, Comelec urged | Inquirer

Mar 082012

A poll watchdog group has warned the Commission on Elections (Comelec) against reusing the controversial Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines or hire the services of its manufacturer, Smartmatic Corp., in the 2013 elections. The Automated Election System Watch, in a March 5 letter to the Comelec, strongly opposed the Comelec’s plan to exercise its option to purchase the machines under its 2009 contract with Smartmatic and its erstwhile partner, Total Information Management Inc. The group also objected to Smartmatic’s participation in any bidding for a new poll automation contract, citing the unresolved “errors and bugs” in the PCOS machines and the firm’s alleged failure to comply with certain provisions of its contract. Read More »

Cost of electoral reform in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao: P850M | Inquirer News

Mar 012012

It would cost nearly a billion pesos to nullify the entire list of voters in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and replace it with a new one, the chair of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said. The expense, however, was necessary to end decades of electoral fraud in the region, said Comelec Chief Sixto Brillantes, a former election lawyer. Brillantes said it would cost P450 million if Comelec proceeded with regular registration of voters in the ARMM and at least P850 million if Comelec did away with the old registration process and instead nullified the region’s voters’ list and put in place a registration system using modern technology. He said, however, that trashing the existing voters’ list was a necessary first step toward electoral reform in the ARMM. Comelec, he said, would use a process of registration using biometrics, or technology that would keep track of voter identity through fingerprints or other unalterable marks. Read More »

Comelec, DOJ take over investigation of 2004 poll fraud | The Philippine Star

Feb 092012

The joint panel of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) will assume the lead in the investigation on the alleged cheating during the 2004 national elections. According to Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes, they have begun their fact-finding efforts on the alleged rigging of the 2004 polls, which primarily involved former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and former Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano. “They (Senate) have not investigated this. They have discussed this twice and nothing happened so we are taking over on the fact-finding,” Brillantes said. Read More »

Comelec advisors pick optical scan technology for 2013 Philippines elections | GMA News

Feb 042012

The Comelec Advisory Council (CAC) has officially recommended to the country’s elections body the adoption of Optical Mark Reader (OMR) technology in the 2013 elections.In an exclusive interview with Louis Napoleon Casambre, executive director of the Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO) and chair of the CAC, said the council has already sent two resolutions to the Comelec recommending the use of OMR technology. It is now up to the Comelec to decide whether or not it would adopt the recommendation of the CAC. If the poll body decides to stick with the CAC recommendation, its next step would be to pick the type of OMR technology that will be used in the elections. The country also used OMR technology, specifically PCOS (precinct count optical scan), in the 2010 national elections. Read More »

Commission on Elections junks online voting for 2013 polls | The Philippine Star

Jan 232012

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has junked its plan to use the Internet for the 2013 midterm elections, Comelec Commissioner Armando Velasco said yesterday. Velasco, chairman of the Committee on Overseas Absentee Voting (COAV), said, “2013 is near; it’s not feasible. The Internet registration and voting will not be available.” The Overseas Absentee Voting law provides that only ballots cast and mailed ballots received by the Philippine embassies, consulates and other Foreign Service establishments shall be counted. Read More »

Recount of election returns of northern Cebu town to be held in Manila | Sun.Star

Jan 032012

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has created a special Board of Canvassers (BOC) that will re-canvass the election returns of Compostela, Cebu for the positions of mayor, vice mayor and 10 municipal councilors.

Cebu Provincial Election Supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano said the new BOC is composed of Comelec lawyers who are based in Manila. Read More »

Smartmatic's participation in 2013 polls up to advisory council | The Philippine Star

Dec 272011

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is leaving it to the Comelec Advisory Council (CAC) to decide if Smartmatic International Corp. can participate in the 2013 midterm polls. “If the CAC feels there are grounds to, say, recommend a different technology and they also have to come up with an explanation if they want to block out a certain bidder,” said Comelec spokesman James Jimenez.

Smartmatic is the Venezuelan company that supplied the 82,200 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines used in the May 2010 presidential election. Jimenez was reacting to the call of the poll watchdog Automated Election System Watch (AES Watch) to disqualify Smartmatic from the 2013 polls for the defects in the counting machines it supplied.

The Comelec had declared the election a success but AES and other election watchdogs cited the wrong configuration of the compact flash cards and the disabling of the built-in scanners and digital signature features of the machines. Read More »

Comelec told to study options on PCOS machines | businessmirror.com

Dec 132011

A senior member of the House of Representatives has called on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to study its options on whether to lease the Precinct Optical Scan (PCOS) machines for the 2013 and 2016 elections or to just buy them, whichever is advantageous to the government in financing the elections.

Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro has filed House Resolution 1909, urging the House’s Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms to conduct an inquiry on the plans of the Comelec to lease new PCOS machines for the 2013 elections at a cost of P8 billion, instead of purchasing the same PCOS machines that were used during the 2010 elections for only P1.8 billion, taking into consideration the huge savings for government.

Rodriguez said the Comelec can purchase the PCOS machines for the 2013 and 2016 polls by paying the balance of 33 percent, or P1.8 billion, under its contract with Smartmatic, a private company which owns the PCOS machines. However, Rodriguez cautioned that if the Comelec would lease the machines from Smartmatic for the 2013 and 2016 elections, the government would spend P22 billion. Read More »

Comelec, DOJ to resume probe on vote rigging in 2004 polls | The Philippine Star

Nov 242011

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) joint panel will resume its investigation and find necessary evidence to pin down other personalities involved in rigging the results of the 2004 presidential elections.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes yesterday said the poll body and the DOJ will continue with the inquiry into the electoral fraud. “Tuloy-tuloy na ito dahil walang temporary restraining order. Lilipat na kami sa 2004 (The investigation will proceed since there is no TRO. We will shift now to the 2004 polls),” he said. Read More »

Comelec techie asks Congress: Probe 2010 polls | Inquirer News

Nov 222011

An official of the Commission on Elections on Thursday called on the House and Senate to convene the joint congressional oversight committee (JCOC) on poll automation to help the Comelec find the best voting technology for the 2013 midterm polls. Commissioner Augusto Lagman said the committee’s input was needed by the Comelec Advisory Council (CAC) which is mandated by law to evaluate and recommend the appropriate election automation technology to the poll agency.

“I think the committee should convene. It has not met since the 2010 elections. There should have been an assessment of those elections. This is important because we want to learn what lessons we can from the 2010 elections,” Lagman told reporters. Read More »

Online voting for Pinoys abroad not yet possible | The Philippine Star

Nov 072011

he National Citizen’s Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) believes that Internet voting for overseas Filipinos is not yet possible because the country is not equipped technologically. Namfrel senior operations associate Paolo Maligaya said there are other aspects of overseas absentee voting (OAV) that need to be modified to lure Filipinos abroad to register and vote.

“While it may be easy to say that all it takes to vote electronically is a computer and Internet connection, the country might not be equipped enough to handle Internet voting at this time,” Maligaya said. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is looking at adopting Internet voting for OAV to get more Filipinos abroad to vote in the 2013 mid-term polls. Read More »

Comelec wants amendments to election code | Inquirer News

Nov 032011

The Commission on Elections is planning to seek amendments to the 26-year-old Omnibus Election Code to attune it with election automation laws, the latest of which was first implemented nationwide last year. Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said recently that most of the provisions of the OEC had become obsolete after the country adopted its first election automation law, Republic Act No. 8046, which provided for the pilot-testing of a computerized voting system for the 1996 polls in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

“The voting scheme nowadays is really different. The provisions under the OEC no longer apply. Many [situations governed by the provisions] can no longer happen,” he said. Asked how much of the OEC was no longer applicable or could no longer be enforced, he replied, “At least half.” The Comelec chief said this was the reason the commission would be undertaking an extensive study on how to amend the OEC, officially known as Batas Pambasa 881. Read More »

Former presidential couple gets subpoenas for poll fraud | Asia News Network

Oct 272011

“The process of accountability has formally begun,” Philippine Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Tuesday told reporters shortly after Department of Justice (DOJ) personnel started serving subpoenas on former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband, Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo.

The joint investigating panel of the DOJ and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has formally summoned the Arroyos and close to 40 others to appear at its first hearing on November 3 into the purported fraud in the 2007 midterm elections in Mindanao. ”We’re definitely serious in this undertaking,” De Lima said. Read More »

House biometric voting system pushed | Tempo

Oct 262011

An administration congressman wants House Speaker Feliciano “Sonny” R. Belmonte Jr. to revive the Biometric Electronic Voting System (BEVS) project that two of his predecessors failed to install due to a glitch in the installed system. Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez filed House Resolution No. 1783 seeking a review of the status of the P15-million electronic plenary voting system that was initiated by then House Speaker Jose C. de Venecia Jr. in late 2007.

However, De Venecia’s predecessor, House Speaker Prospero C. Nograles, decided to abandon the project when testing of the computerized voting showed grave errors. Read More »

Philippine Senate panels start poll probe | The Manila Bulletin

Oct 182011

Two Senate committees start Tuesday their probe into the alleged involvement of former First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo in what has been described as the “widespread, systematic, organized and massive poll fraud and electoral sabotage in the 2004 presidential and 2007 senatorial elections.”

Among those summoned before the committees are former acting Justice Secretary Agnes VST Devanadera; Alfonso Cusi, former Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) chief; and former Shariah Circuit Court Judge Nagamura Moner. Read More »

Online absentee voting pushed in Philippines | philstar.com

Oct 102011

Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and Filipino immigrants may soon be allowed to participate in electoral exercises in the country via the Internet. The proposal was raised during a hearing of the joint House Committees on Foreign Affairs and Suffrage and Electoral Reforms on the proposed amendments to the Overseas Absentee Voting law or Republic Act 9189.

Appearing before the House bodies, Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Commissioner Armando Velasco said Internet voting will be a convenient system for OFWs and other migrants Filipinos.

Velasco said like the majority of the congressmen, he also favors Internet voting as a remedial solution but “it should be studied further particularly the security aspect.” Read More »

Comelec opposes Internet ballots for absentee Filipino voters abroad | GMA News

Sep 292011

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday opposed proposals to have ballots downloadable over the Internet for Filipinos abroad who will cast their votes as overseas absentee voters.

Comelec Commissioner Armando Velasco said ballot secrecy might be compromised if downloadable ballots are included in amendments proposed for Republic Act 9189 or the Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003.

“There is a violation of the sanctity of the ballot and questions on security,” he said in a joint hearing by the House committee on suffrage end electoral reforms and the House committee on foreign affairs Monday morning. Read More »

Atienza seeks Comelec ruling on protest | Inquirer News

Sep 172011

Former Manila Mayor Lito Atienza is asking the Commission on Elections to decide on the case he filed against Alfredo Lim, who was proclaimed the winner in the 2010 mayoral polls. In a statement, Atienza’s lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, said they will be filing their appeal to the Comelec en banc next week to reverse the decision of the poll body’s First Division that dismissed Atienza’s election protest case.

“A full recount and revision of all the precincts should have been conducted by the First Division,” Macalintal added, saying Atienza believes the protest case should not have been limited to the 200 pilot precincts but also to unrevised 1,221 precincts.

Atienza had earlier said in March that he was willing to withdraw his election protest if he were not able to gain a “substantial recovery” in the first 20 percent of the ballot boxes under protest. Read More »

Two panels to probe 2004, 2007 poll fraud in the Philippines | ABS-CBN

Aug 182011

Not one but two panels from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Commission on Elections (Comelec) will work in tandem to investigate alleged massive cheating in the 2004 presidential and 2007 senatorial elections.

In a 5-page joint order dated August 15, 2011 signed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes, the DOJ and the Comelec created a joint Preliminary Investigation Committee and a joint Fact-finding Team. Read More »

Overseas poll registration plan sought | The Manila Bulletin

Aug 162011

A Filipino migrant rights watchdog on Thursday Thursday urged the government to bare its plan and timetable of activities on information dissemination and campaign for the upcoming overseas absentee voters (OAV) registration.

“It is barely more than a month from now, the OAV registration will soon commence. But there is no information dissemination drive yet conducted by various posts abroad,” said John Leonard Monterona, Migrante-Middle East regional coordinator, noting the importance of having the Filipino communities and overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) organizations abroad to be informed of the upcoming OAV registration. Read More »

Filipino declared senator after 4-year recount | Taiwan News Online

Aug 112011

A Philippine candidate for Senate has been declared the winner of a contested seat more than four years after the election.

Aquilino Pimentel III had been locked in a recount battle since 2007, when he lost the mid-term senatorial race to rival Juan Miguel Zubiri. He filed a fraud protest after the results, citing witness statements that fake ballots were used to favor allies of then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Read More »

DFA, Comelec hold workshop on absentee voting for 2013 polls | Pinoy Abroad

Aug 102011

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) have stepped up preparations for the registration of overseas absentee voters in the 2013 elections.

Officials of the DFA Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat and Comelec Committee on Overseas Absentee Voting held a joint planning workshop in Subic last July 29 and 30. Read More »

Members of election fraud probe team named | The Philippine Star

Aug 052011

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima confirmed yesterday that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) have already designated the members of the five-man panel that will investigate alleged cheating in the 2004 and 2007 elections.

Prosecutor General Claro Arellano, chief of the National Prosecution Service, was appointed chairman of the committee, with Comelec law department head Ferdinand Rafanan, poll body lawyer Michael Villaret, Laguna Provincial Prosecutor George Dy and Pasig City Prosecutor Jacinto Ang as members.

De Lima said the joint panel, whose members were chosen for their wide experience in election-related cases and as former boards of canvassers during elections, will start performing their duties that would be spelled out in a joint order of the DOJ and Comelec. Read More »

Philippines to probe Arroyo vote 'fraud' | Channel NewsAsia

Jul 292011

The Philippine government said Thursday it would investigate fresh allegations that former leader Gloria Arroyo used the police to steal the 2004 presidential election. The inquiry will look into claims by a senior police officer that he broke into parliament in 2005 to switch election documents stored there so that Arroyo’s victory would survive a recount, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said.

“We’ve always known that in each election there’s cheating, but the scale of it in 2004, based on the various bits and pieces that we’ve been getting from our sources… it’s really mind-boggling,” de Lima told reporters. She said Arroyo’s win could not be overturned by a finding of fraud, but the evidence could be used to file criminal charges against those involved. Read More »

Comelec to implement reforms through 5-year program | The Philippine Star

Jul 252011

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday said it will strive to modernize, reform and redeem the integrity of the agency through a five-year program.

Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes said the program, the Comelec Strategic Plan 2011-2016 or Comstrat, is anchored on the guiding principles of independence, integrity, accountability, transparency, impartiality, professionalism, efficiency, service orientation and rule of law.

“Comstrat is the summary of the five programs that we will be doing at the Comelec. It will start this year up to 2016. Most of us (commissioners) will not see the end of this program because we shall be retired by then,” he said. “But Comstrat had been ratified by the Comelec en banc so it will have to be implemented in the next five years.” Read More »

The right to vote | The Manila Times

Jul 132011

The right to vote is more technically called “suffrage.” It was first found in the US Constitution in 1787 (Dictionary.com…). The Philippine Constitution provides: “Suffrage may be exercised by all citizens of the Philippines, not otherwise disqualified by law, who are at least eighteen years of age, and who shall have resided in the Philippines for at least one year and in the place wherein they propose to vote, for at least six months immediately preceding the election. No literacy, property, or other substantive requirement shall be imposed on the exercise of suffrage.”

Clearly, it is not obligatory to exercise suffrage. It is due to this permissive provision of the Constitution that failure to cast one’s vote without justifiable excuse (an election offense under Section 261, sub-paragraph 1 of the Omnibus Election Code) is said to have been decriminalized. Under such 1978 penal provision, suffrage was more an obligation than a right. Read More »

Comelec to start ballot recount this month unless Supreme Court stops it | Sun.Star

Jul 112011

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will start the recount of the ballots cast in the contested precincts in Compostela, Cebu this month unless the Supreme Court (SC) issues an order to stop it.

Cebu Provincial Election Supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano said their target date for the recount is on July 14. He said they are just waiting for the clarification from Comelec in Manila on what rules they are going to use and the composition of the Board of Canvassers.

“We have to follow the order of the Comelec en banc. We have to re-canvass the ballots so the issue will be put to an end,” Castillano said. Read More »

Comelec warned vs new tech for 2013 polls | ABS-CBN News

Jul 082011

Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday cautioned the Commission in Elections (Comelec) against pushing through with a plan to use new technology for the 2013 elections, with an alleged cheating operator leading the poll body.

Cayetano said having election lawyer Sixto Brillantes as Comelec chairman raises doubts about the intentions behind changing the technology used during the first nationwide automated elections in 2010. Read More »

New technology eyed for Philippines 2013 polls | The Philippine Star

Jul 042011

A Commission on Elections (Comelec) official yesterday said the poll body might use a new technology to make the 2013 computerized elections better than last year’s.

Comelec Commissioner Lucenito Tagle said they are initiating the preparations for the next national and local elections using the automated election system (AES) again. But Tagle, who was appointed head of the Comelec steering committee for the 2013 polls, said they might employ a new technology. Read More »

Mindanao polls deferred to 2013; Palace sets regional reforms | BusinessWorld

Jul 042011

ELECTIONS IN the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has been moved to 2013 under a law signed yesterday by President Benigno S. C. Aquino III. An opposition leader at the House of Representatives immediately challenged the new law at the Supreme Court, which was asked to issue a stay order.

Republic Act (RA) 10153, or the ARMM Election Synchronization Bill, defers the Aug. 8 elections to coincide with the 2013 midterm elections in the interest of reform. “To halt the irregularities in the ARMM government, we have synchronized the ARMM elections with the local and national elections,” Mr. Aquino said during his speech after the signing ceremony in Malacañang, while thanking Congress for passing the priority measure. Read More »

Cebu Comelec awaits rules for Compostela recount | Inquirer News

Jul 022011

Elections officers in Cebu province wrote to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) central office in Manila seeking guidelines on how to conduct the recanvassing of votes in Compostela town.

Comelec Provincial Supervisor Lionel Marco Castillano said they cannot use the May 2010 canvassing guidelines because last year’s election was automated while Compostela votes will be recanvassed manually. He said they have yet to receive a copy of the Comelec en banc resolution ordering the Comelec in Cebu province to reconvene and recanvass votes in the northern Cebu town. Read More »

Tiñga: Taguig recount snags Brillantes appointment | Metro

Jun 292011

The delay in the confirmation of Commission on Elections Chairman Sixto Brillantes is actually due to an electoral protest in Taguig City and not a sincere desire to have clean elections, retired Supreme Court Justice Dante O. Tiñga said yesterday.

The retired magistrate said Senate Minority Leader Alan Cayetano, a member of the Commission on Appointments, delayed the approval of Brillantes’ appointment because he wanted to indefinitely delay the recount of Taguig’s mayoral election which Cayetano’s wife Lani won by a slim margin.

“The senator is really not interested in seeing an appointee who has a “roadmap towards clean and honest elections,” as he calls it, but someone whom he personally likes, to head the Comelec,” said Tinga, who was also a Taguig congressman. Read More »

Biometrics election registration gets approval in The Philippines| The Manila Bulletin

Jun 212011

The House of Representatives yesterday gave the nod for the measure requiring biometrics registration for “honest, clean and credible” elections. House Bill 3469, principally authored by Tarlac Rep. Susan Yap, which was passed on third and final reading seeks to ensure the integrity of any electoral exercises, be it election, plebiscite or referenda.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will serve as the implementing arm of the measure. It is tasked to come up with a single, official, centralized, interactive computerized voter registration list “in a uniform and nondiscriminatory manner.” Read More »

Comelec may get new IT provider, other than Smartmatic, in next polls | Inquirer News

Jun 142011

The postponement of next month’s Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao polls may have virtually quashed the dreams of the Smartmatic Philippines to be the exclusive automated election service provider in the Philippines.

“No more. They’ll have to compete [with other providers] in 2013,”

Commission on Elections chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. told reporters when asked if the poll body would still be contracting Smartmatic for future elections in the country.

Smartmatic and its partner, Total Information Management Inc., won the P7-billion contract for the May 2010 national and local elections. The consortium produced some 80,000 Precinct Count Optical Scan machines for the exercise. Read More »

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