ILOILO CITY, Philippines -- Iloilo Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, who is also president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, on Friday called for only partial automation of elections in 2010.

While automation of the election process was something to look forward to, Lagdameo said in a statement there was an advantage in implementing a “manual or partial manual” elections because there is a document left in the precinct which can be compared with the final result.

The prelate believed that automated elections should be tested first in several areas before it is adopted nationwide as provided by law.

He pointed out that the United States automated its election process gradually before it reached 85 percent automation.

“My opinion is that automation should be tried first according to the law in a few provinces (two in Mindanao, two in the Visayas, two in Luzon) so that if automation fails in these provinces, the entire process will not suffer and put the election into doubt,” Lagdameo said.

Amid the controversies surrounding the holding of the country’s first automated elections, Lagdameo said that the most important thing was that elections should be free of cheating and other irregularities.

“Whether the election is manual or automated, election ought to be clean and honest,” Lagdameo added in the one-page statement.

He said that in both manual and automated elections, cheating and other election violations can be committed.

“In manual election, the cheating will be manual; in automation the cheating will be automated,” he said.