Passsage of Automated Election Law or RA 9369

"The ball is in their court, there can be no more excuses. It's time to buckle down and get to work to automate the 2007 elections," said Senator Richard Gordon on the passage of the amendments to the Automated Election Law, now known as Republic Act No. 9369.

"It is the Comelec's constitutional duty to enforce and administer all laws and regulations relative to the conduct of an election. Now that R.A. 9369 has been signed into law by the president, the Comelec is bound to implement it."

"Three and a half months remain before the May elections and the Commission has everything in its favor. They can choose the areas for implementation in any 6 provinces and 6 highly urbanized cities in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. They can choose whatever kind of election technology because it is no longer bound to exclusively use Optical Mark Readers unlike in the old law. And they can even choose to use different technologies for different provinces as R.A. 9369 allows for such flexibility."

"I am confident that if they set their minds to it, it can be done. This is the first step in restoring the integrity of our electoral process. Our people can finally have fast, fair, credible, and honest elections, the kind that they deserve."