“Nakapagbigay tayo ng order sa affected areas lalo sa walang kuryente yung mga taong nariyan bibigyan sila ng form, lista nila. These people can come back sa Martes, ang kanilang registration bibigyan ng bisa,” Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said in a radio interview.

The poll chief issued the order because the power outages caused by typhoon “Santi” rendered useless their registration centers, which rely on electricity-powered data capture machines.

But the Comelec stressed that only voters whose forms were properly marked and signed by their election officerwill be entertained on Tuesday.

“We’ve instructed them to give out forms. Tatatakan at pipirmahan ng election officer para on Tuesday, puwede bumalik iyong mga may hawak ng forms na yun para matuloy ang kanilang rehistro,” James Jimenez, Comelec spokesman said in a television interview.

“Technically hindi ‘yan extension. On Tuesday, kapag dumating ka na wala kang form or kung may form ka man pero yung form na dala mo walang tatak at pirma ng EO, ibig sabihin hindi yun binigay today. Hindi yan i-entertain,” he added.

Voters flocked to different registration sites Saturday to beat the October 31, deadline.

Earlier, the Comelec already rejected calls to extend voters’ registration as this might affect their preparation of the voters’ list.

Saturday, Comelec made strong headway in its bid to register at least three million voters for the May, 10 2010 elections.

Melo said reports from field offices in 118 cities and 1,500 municipalities showed a heavy turnout of registrants consisting of students and young workers who took advantage of the start of the three-day non-working public holiday occasioned by All Saints’ Day Sunday Nov. 1 and All Souls’ Day Monday, Nov. 2, to beat the deadline.

He added that the three million target is attainable with the heavy turnout of registrants not only Saturday but also in the last few days.

“When all reports are in we would even exceed the 3-million target,” Melo said.

Melo, along with Commissioners Rene V. Sarmiento, Nicodemo T. Ferrer, Joselito N. Tagle, Armando C. Velasco, and Elias Yusoth stayed in their offices the whole day Saturday to monitor registration activities.

Poll registration to resume November 3

Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Monday again slammed government officials’ infomercials in a fiery speech at the Senate, calling them a herd of “thick-skinned, dimwitted rhinoceros.”

Even before delivering her privilege speech, Santiago was already hitting government officials for their infomercials, which she said was a form of electioneering.

One of the officials she vented her ire on was Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) chairman Augusto Syjuco.

“Pasayaw-sayaw pa, ang puti na ng buhok niya! Hindi ba nakakahiya ‘yan, nakakawala ng respeto sa ganoong uri ng opisyal sa publiko?” Santiago said.

Santiago cited a report by the Commission on Audit (COA) that said Syjuco’s ad cost P28.3 million.

The senator also had words for Interior and Local Government secretary Ronaldo Puno.

“Sobra pang kapal ng make-up,” she said.

Puno’s infomercials from 2008 to 2009 reportedly cost nearly a million pesos.

“Tapos pina-bira niya ako sa kolumnista niya na hinahabol ko lang daw siya. Sino ba siya para habulin ko nang mag-isa? My goodness. I married one of the most handsome men in the entire country, and sasabihin niya hinahabol ko siya?,” Santiago said.

Santiago said that since last year, Cabinet officials have already spent P118 million for their ads.

“Walang hiya na talaga ito. We have been invaded by a herd of rhinoceros that are not only thick-skinned, but also dimwitted,” she said.

While delivering her speech, the senator was sidetracked by some people at the gallery.

“To those two girls there… will you please stop smiling and looking at your cellphones? If you’re not listening to my speech, please step out, now!” Santiago shouted towards two women at the gallery.

Upon resuming her speech, Santiago insisted government agencies should not be given advertising funds.

She also called on television networks and non-government organizations to file a complaint before the Commission on Elections.

Santiago found an ally in her colleague, Richard Gordon, who questioned other senators who have their own infomercials.

Leading that list are Senators Manny Villar and Mar Roxas, who have both declared their intention to run for president in 2010.

ABS-CBN

Students of the First Asia Institute of Technology and Humanities in Tanauan, Batangas on Friday participated in a mock poll in their school to test the electronic ballots to be used in the actual 2010 elections. A total of 1,000 2nd year to 4th year college students, all of voting age, used improvised ballots which had the names of 339 possible candidates for 32 electoral positions in the 2010 elections.

The mock poll is a joint project of Youth Vote Philippine, Former Senior Government Officials, Comelec and Politicalarena.com.

Organizers said the time-and-motion study is meant to determine how long it would take a person to fill up the ballot. This, in turn, would help Comelec determine if 11 hours is enough for an estimated 1,000 voters per clustered precinct to cast their ballots on election day.

“We will find out the actual average of all the voting times. This will help us determine if 11 hours is enough time for all voters in each clustered precinct to cast their ballots,” Mildred Ople of Youth Vote Philippines said.

A TV Patrol World report said each student averaged about 7 minutes and 51 seconds or almost eight minutes to fill up the ballot, according to initial results of the time-and-motion study. One first-time voter said he was thrilled to use the new ballots, which only required voters to shade a circle beside the name of the candidate of their choice.

“I now have a glance or preview on how to vote in the elections,” he said.

Organizers said the results showed that voting stations should allow at least 12 voters to fill up their ballots simultaneously to allow all 1,000 voters in each clustered precinct to cast their ballots before precincts close.

A brownout was also simulated during the mock poll to show if it would affect the process. During the actual election day, technology consortium Smartmatic-TIM is expected to provide generators to provide backup power.

The Comelec is expected to conduct a mock election using the Smartmatic-TIM machines on the second week of December.

Several groups earlier criticized Comelec for not conducting proper time-and-motion studies before approving the poll automation contract with Smartmatic-TIM

ABS-CBN News

It is true that the Comelec has bidded out and chosen the supplier of equipment and the method of electronic counting. It is also true that the supplier has confidently said that all systems are go and the end result will be a smooth and timely counting of the votes that will result in definite nationwide election results within three to five days, or even earlier. It is also true that the Comelec official designated to explain the intricacies of the process including the software security, speedy counting and canvassing, has confidently said that there will be no problems that cannot be solved satisfactorily using the automation technology that the Comelec has selected. In other words, those credible, accurate and timely results will be the end product of full automation of the election process.

Yet knowledgeable and experienced computer and systems experts are not so sure and in fact, are becoming increasingly nervous about the precipitate automation programmed for nationwide coverage. There has not been enough testing to remove the glitches that can occur in the upcoming Philippine elections which by themselves are a gargantuan, unique and consuming process. It must also be mentioned that the accompanying software is particularly worrisome at this point for the vagueness about its security, a suspect part because of the possibility of manipulation by those who would have ill intentions.

This unease on the part of experts may annoy the Comelec for revisiting what they feel they have moved forward from with the choice of the supplier and the method for automation. But complex Philippine electoral conditions are like nowhere else. The names on our ballots can get to the hundreds, the ballot paper itself will be 20 inches long, the inexperience of the ordinary voter in the non-traditional intricacies of choosing from so many names using special writing or marking implements, machines that will have to process long pieces of paper without jamming and other unknowns (for not having tested the machines extensively enough or given the voters the necessary trial exercises) are fraught with perils of glitches.

The cry and compulsion for modernization of our elections come from the delays in the results which allow for cheating. The cheating occurs far from the precinct level where the votes are cast, but in the distant realm of the canvassing. At this level, it is not penny ante dishonesty but wholesale manipulation of large sums. From past elections, the electorate knows that the cheating here can reverse the will of the electorate as evidenced by the discrepancy of results counted on the precinct level compared to the purported canvassing results. It has been pointed out time and time again to the Comelec that on the precinct level, there is little opportunity for cheating for the many witnesses present during the manual counting. The watchers of candidates, the voters of the precinct, the nongovernment organizations, the election watchdogs, the media, are all present in full force here during the tabulation. In such an open and witnessed manual counting which may take time, but not inordinately (not days but hours at most) cheating is quickly detected and sanctioned. It is true that precinct level cheating can occur in some places where warlords rule and the public is not allowed to witness the counting, but that becomes obvious and therefore discredited ab initio. Again, we reiterate as public opinion knows, it is in the canvassing where massive cheating takes place, with the large numbers that it deals with, enough to result in reversals of precinct level results. Here is where fail safe automation should be first used.

Thus, time and again knowledgeable quarters have requested the Comelec to go slower on the other stages of automation and concentrate first on the canvassing process. There may be some glitches which will have to be addressed there and then. But if that is the first and limited stage of initial automation, the Comelec and its suppliers can deal with it without having to address other glitches at other levels, a possibility that arises from automation of all stages of the electoral process. It need not be said that the security of the software for the canvassing must be above suspicion so that credible and acceptable results emerge. At this point it has to be proven to the public that it is so and identify to responsible quarters the people who will ensure its ultimate security, neutrality and credibility so that the public can be free from doubt. Responsibility must be pinpointed and accepted.

The latest group that has raised its voice to the Comelec to review the automation process and go less precipitately on the automation by modernizing solely the canvassing at first is the Former Senior Government Officials Association in a letter expressing their discomfort and worries about sudden, untested widespread automation. Comelec should take their stand seriously and dialogue with them for the purpose of addressing their concerns. While it is true that the election automation law authorizes the Comelec to fully automate the election process, Comelec must also seriously consider the provision in the law that mandates it to choose the “most appropriate” technology in the automation process. The gradual step-by-step way is again recommended by those who have the knowledge and experience as the least dangerous under the circumstances. Right now experts who know the requirements of Philippine elections (multiple names and choices, millions of inexperienced machine voters, underpowered precincts, inadequately trained and untested precinct level staff for automation, new and by far also inadequately tested machines) fear there are too many perils and occasions for glitches when automation is precipitately applied at all levels. Worst-case scenarios must always be taken seriously and analyzed closely to come up with solutions in instances of going into new territory. If automation is rashly put in place, worst-case scenarios can become realities which will mean errors, disorder, panic, chaos. No need to elaborate how this can spread to the entire system. Any and all of these can cause an anarchic situation that will lead to a worse, not a better way of running elections.

Comelec must listen once more to outside neutral experts. Since the machines have not as yet been delivered, it can still hold the order, perhaps for the next elections after extensive testing and training of the voters on their use, and meantime concentrate only on the canvassing of votes. For its own better management and confidence, it must study all the facts and adjust to them, accepting that those who wish to help, do so because all of us have a stake in the electoral process and would like it to be credible and efficient. We plead for Comelec to have an open mind and open itself to review its automation plans one more time.

The Manila Times Internet Edition