Marcos parties, allies want manual polls

Saying that computerized voting was a betrayal of the people’s will, known supporters of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his family on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to invalidate altogether the automated election system and order the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to revert to manual voting, counting and canvassing.

They cited a history of “palpable infirmities and irregularities” in the past two polls in a petition they filed before the high court on Wednesday seeking to stop the automation of the 2016 elections.

The petitioners included the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) and Partido Manggagawa at Magsasaka (PMM), both “duly accredited political parties” according to the petition, along with the Movement for National Salvation, lawyer Oliver Lozano, retired Col. Rodrigo Bonifacio, Ricardo Fulgencio IV and Oswaldo Carbonell.

Impleaded in the petition were the Comelec and its election contractor, Smartmatic-TIM (Total Information Management) Corp., both already facing a slew of lawsuits questioning the contracts they signed for next year’s elections.

Smartmatic was also the government’s contractor for the automated elections in 2010 and 2013.

“Despite the… sordid record and background of respondent Smartmatic, respondents Comelec and Smartmatic are pursuing the same conduct of elections for the May 7, 2016, elections, using the same unreliable PCOS (precinct count optical scan) machines of Smartmatic,” the petition read.

“That will once more deprive the people of their constitutional right as sovereign to elect their officials, freely and personally, in a free, honest and clean elections,” it said.

The petitioners said election results from “defective and unreliable PCOS machines…will not reflect the true and genuine will of the people.”

They asked the high court to invalidate the Comelec-Smartmatic contracts for the supply of optical mark readers (OMRs) and PCOS repair for next year’s elections, and to immediately issue a temporary restraining order to stop the Comelec from “disbursing and spending billions of the people’s money” for automation purposes.

In opting to “totally abandon” electronic voting and reverting to the manual system, the petitioners said the latter had greater transparency.

“There is easy detection of any cheating in manual elections; in a computerized voting, detection of cheating is virtually impossible,” they said.

“There is a paper trail in manual elections, none in computerized voting,” they said.

They also cited the vulnerability of election technology to “remote invasion and hacking.”

They also objected to Smartmatic’s having foreign ownership. “Foreigners like respondent Smartmatic should not be allowed to defeat the Constitution, [which declares that] sovereignty resides in the people and all authority emanate from them.”

Meanwhile, Comelec Chair Andres Bautista on Wednesday said the Comelec en banc will again meet Thursday to discuss whether to opt for the refurbishment of the more than 80,000 PCOS machines or lease new optical mark readers (OMRs).

“Our inclination is towards a prudent approach,” he said.

Earlier, Bautista said repairing the old PCOS machines, which will cost P3.1 billion, was still the most “cost-effective” solution given the time constraints.

But at a forum on Wednesday, technology provider Smartmatic-TIM said the refurbishment of the old voting machines was no longer a viable option with the May 9, 2016, polling date just a few months away.

According to Smartmatic president for Asia-Pacific Cesar Flores, the company had explained to the Comelec the risks of the two options—to refurbish the PCOS machines or lease of OMRs in separate quantities—23,000 and 70,9777 units.

Flores said opting for the lease of new OMRs was a “less risky” move for both parties since the company can guarantee to start delivery of the machines as early as November and complete it by the end of January 2016.

This will give the Comelec plenty of time to prepare, he said.