Plugging the holes

With yesterday’s scheduled proclamation of  senatorial candidates and a good number of local officials around the country, one can fairly say that the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines did its work  in ensuring accuracy and speed of the election process.

It  of course had its problems—glitches due to overheating units, defective compact flash cards and so on—but these were solved more or less with the replacement of new ones.

Perhaps the  machines weren’t built to cope with the hot and humid conditions of Philippine polling precincts.

Most of the precincts are located in public schools which are cramped and poorly ventilated so  it’s no surprise that some PCOS units would break down.

But for the  most part,  the PCOS units were  functional. It is in the evenings where they operate at maximum efficiency with cooler temperatures and less crowded precincts.

By ensuring more accurate and faster tabulation of votes, the PCOS machines cut by half the physical burden imposed on teachers who in previous elections had to manually count the mountain of ballots filled up by voters.

This is where cheating and human errors piled up as fatigue set in and tempers flared among poll watch groups.

There will always be complaining parties,   chief among them  losing candidates who, by virtue of their political machinery built by years of staying in power, find it incredulous that they would be toppled so easily in an  automated election.

Among them were Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district, who said he would  have experts look into the results  of his 6,376-vote loss, and Daanbantayan Mayor Ma. Luisa Loot, who claimed that she received reports that several Manila-based hackers arrived in her town to sabotage the PCOS machines in their area.

Osmeña also said his shocking loss may have more to do with vote-buying—a lot of money going around  he said– and there were reports of Cebu City voters being fetched in barangay vehicles and fed with chicken and rice meals afterwards.

But these practices along with the usual harassment and “perks” like scholarships, jackets and cell phones are  par for the course in Philippine elections.

There is little if at all that technology can do to reduce if not eliminate them.

In the end, a path has been cleared for Filipinos to cast their votes based on  conscience, their knowledge and awareness of the kind of candidates they want to put into office and their belief not only in the people they choose to be their leaders but in an election system that is slowly but surely plugging the gaping holes that used to be exploited by unscrupulous election operators.