ON THE surface of this year’s National Election are the Precinct Count Optical Scanner (PCOS) machines. Underneath the fast-paced counting of votes however, lie the never-ending political problems pestering the entire nation for years.
On May 17, a forum titled “Automayhem?” which aimed to address the issues surrounding the National Election and assess its automation was held at the Leong Hall Auditorium.
The forum was organized by students from a Politics and Governance class, the Sanggunian, Matanglawin, The Assembly, and the Political Science Department.
According to organizer Leonardo Camacho, the event was the first students’ forum that focused on the automated election.
The forum was also held to assess the participation of the Ateneo Task Force 2010 in the elections.
New method, same practices
Matanglawin Managing Editor Gerald Gracius Pascua said that Republic Act 9369 or the Automation Law led to the completion of the automation process as it “will ensure the secrecy and sanctity of the ballot” and will bring about “transparency, credibility and fast results.”
Pascua said that despite the change in methodology of the canvassing of votes, the election practices and problems remain the same.
“May nagbago ba sa kilos, galaw, taktika, at kultura ng pangangampanya sa halalang ito? (Did something change in the actions, movements, tactics, and campaign culture in this election?),” Pascua asked.
According to Legal Network for Truthful Elections (Lente) Co-Convener Atty. Carlos Medina, the forum’s guest speaker, the election period was “generally peaceful.” He said, however, that there was still a prevalence of violations such as vote buying.
He added that he was disappointed at how only a few people filed complaints.
“People are not filing complaints…we want to run after the cheaters [and] this is only possible if people will help us,” he said.
He then challenged those who witnessed election irregularities “to come up, gather the evidence, and file the complaint [even anonymously].”
Lente is a group of lawyers, paralegals, law students having about 3,500 members with three specific roles in the elections: providing legal assistance to the voters, addressing Commission on Elections irregularities, and running after the cheaters.
Problems on Election Day
On Election Day, at the initial hours of voting, the Board of Election Inspectors and the volunteers encountered problems with the PCOS machines that revealed their inadequate training. For Medina, training is essential for an optimum effectiveness of the automation.
“One year dapat ang training time pero six months at the most lang ang binigay ng Comelec (The time spent for training [the volunteers] should be one year, but Comelec only allotted six months, at the most),” said Medina.
“Pinapakita lang nito kung gaano kahina ang sistema (This just shows how weak the [electoral] system is). The general instructions for the volunteers were also [a concern]. Some of [the volunteers] disappeared because they tried to vote as well,” he added.
Student volunteer Gemmo Fernandez confirmed this. “May mga nagawa kaming palpak kasi hindi kami trained (We did a lot of mistakes because we weren’t trained [properly]),” said Fernandez.
Medina also added that even if we suddenly switch to manual counting, the teachers and those in-charge of precincts would still be unprepared.
Ateneans in the elections
Fernandez, who volunteered to watch the polls at Miriam College, said that May 10 was chaotic and he initially didn’t know what to do because of the lack of clear instructions.
“Kami yung nag-aalaga sa mga hinimatay at saka nag-aayos ng mga pila…sa totoo lang, mahirap talaga yung karanasan namin pero willing pa rin ako mag-volunteer ulit (We took care of those who fainted and we arranged the lines. We had a hard time but I’m still willing to volunteer again),” he said.
Liza Angela Cortez, a volunteer poll watcher at North Susana, said that a lot of people cut in line.
“Nakakainis ‘pag nandon ka mismo pero pagkatapos, naisip ko na lang, ano ba naman yung ilang oras na sakripisyo para sa anim na taon ng pagbabago? (It’s annoying when you’re actually there [witnessing people cutting in line], but then I thought, what’s a few hours of sacrifice if it means six years of change?),” she said.
Saving democracy
The Assembly voiced out the need to save democracy from the unending problems of the country. The Assembly Representative Leiron Conrad Martija presented three prescriptions on how to accomplish the aforementioned objective.
“[We need] to have a government that’s politically dynamic to the needs of its citizenry. [We need] a citizenry that’s self-aware, communally oriented and politically honest. Finally, [we need] a society that safeguards the democratic rights of its people,” said Martija.
