More than scrutinizing the platforms of the country’s next leaders, voters should be mindful if their votes will be counted accurately during the May 9 elections.
Such was the reminder of Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo as he represented the Roman Catholic Church on Tuesday in a coalition pushing for transparent and credible polls.
Pabillo said that guarding the integrity of the elections should be a “common concern” among voters, candidates, and their political parties.
“Nanawagan kami sa mga kandidato, sa mga political parties, please be concerned about the electoral process. Nanawagan rin kami sa mga botante: huwag niyo lang tingnan kung sino ang iboboto niyo. Tingnan niyo rin kung ang boto niyo ba ay bibilangin o hindi, at ‘yun ay maging common concern natin,” he said.
Pabillo, who is also the chairman of the Episcopal commission on Social Action, Justice, and Peace of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said that evaluating the stance of candidates on issues will be for naught if the electorate cannot be assured of having honest elections.
“Kasi kahit anong diskusyon natin kung sino ang ating bobotohin, kung hindi naman nabibilang ang boto natin, hindi tayo nakakasiguro (na iyon ang ating boto),” the bishop said.
Pabillo was the representative of the CBCP in the FAITH.e (Fairness, Accuracy, Integrity, and Honesty in Elections) coalition, a group composed of religious leaders from Roman Catholic, Evangelical, Baptist and Islam church-based formations.
The coalition is appealing to the Commission on Elections to reactivate five security features in the vote counting machines that will be used in May. The security features that the group wants to implement are: voter verifiable paper audit trail; implementation of a truly-random manual audit after the elections; source code review that will allow more interested parties to participate; use of digital signatures of teachers or Board of Election Inspectors; and ballot verification through the use of ultraviolet detectors to check fake ballots.
READ: Faith coalition: How did Comelec get away with leaving out poll safety features?
The Comelec has so far vowed to implement three of the five security features that the group demanded: the digital signatures from members of the Board of Election Inspectors, the source code review and the ultraviolet detectors against fake ballots.
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