Comelec urged to rethink 2025 polls ‘wish list’, avoid ‘wasteful spending’

FILE PHOTO: Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III. Senate PRIB photos

MANILA, Philippines — Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel on Monday asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to reconsider its “wish list” for the 2025 automated elections, describing some of the items in the “shopping list” as “wasteful spending of taxpayers’ money.”

Pimentel warned the Comelec against “excessive and unnecessary expenses.”

“It will only increase the elections’ price tag which, given our tight fiscal situation, we cannot afford. Let’s avoid unnecessary expenditures and make do with what we have to save on cost,”  he said in a statement.

He urged the poll body to “reconsider its ‘shopping list’ for the 2025 midterm elections on account of our growing budget deficit, tremendous debt burden, and high inflation.”

“Ang bawat piso na nakapaloob sa proposal ng Comelec ay dagdag utang ng gobyerno na sa huli ay taumbayan ang magbabayad,”  the senator pointed out.

(Each peso included in the proposal of Comelec is an added debt of the government that the people will pay in the end)

The Comelec disclosed last week that it is looking for an automated counting machine that has an Optical Mark Reader and Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) capabilities as part of its wishlist of sorts for the 2025 midterm polls’ Automated Election System (AES).

Comelec chairman George Erwin Garcia also revealed at a press conference that the poll body was considering the use of a stamping device in the next elections.

He believed it would be more economical than the shading pen used in previous polls.

READ: Comelec eyes stamping instead of shading for 2025 polls

But Pimentel said: “It is the time to be practical. We have no need for specialized items such as stamping pens when an ordinary marking pen could work.”

“Magkano ang gagastusin natin dito? Saan kukunin ng Comelec? Sino ang supplier?” the senator then asked.

(How much will we spend on this? Where will Comelec get the funds? Who will be the supplier?)

The Senate minority leader also appealed to the poll body to stick to one AES for overseas voting, emphasizing that the proposed DRE feature for the automated counting machine “will only unnecessarily add to the cost.”

READ: Comelec wants audio-equipped machines to assist visually impaired voters

“There will be a different supplier of the hardware and the consumables will also most likely be different. We will not be able to take advantage of economies of scale. There will also be additional source codes and other software to review,”  Pimentel said.

He asserted that the Senate should scrutinize the proposed DRE system for the automated election counting machine at a proper time.

“Comelec must ensure that elections are conducted in a transparent and efficient but cost-effective manner,” Pimentel added.

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