Automated Elections is a chance to restore people's trust in COMELEC

Senator Richard Gordon has reiterated his call for the Comelec to implement the Automated Election System (AES) law in the six cities and provinces of the country this May.

He emphasized that the implementation of the law is the job of the Comelec as the country’s mandated poll body.

"It never even crossed their minds to implement automated elections. This has been here for some time already. This is merely an amendment to the law on automated elections," Gordon said.

"Comelec’s job is to safeguard the integrity of the electoral process. If they are sincere and committed to fulfilling their mandate, they will implement the law and stop giving excuses," he added.

Gordon has argued that the law could still be implemented this May just by leasing machines already available for this purpose from countries such as the United States.

"We are not asking them to perform a difficult task, but we have heard them say (that) it can’t be done countless times. But did they even try? Instead of blurring the issue, they should be glad to have this challenge to prove to the people that they can do their duty," he said.

Instead of shirking from responsibility, Gordon said the Comelec should devise a legally and technically sound plan to computerize our elections and show our people that it is capable of managing the transition from an archaic to a modern electoral system.

"We are presenting Comelec with a chance to restore the trust of the Filipino people in our elections and Comelec as the institution charged to safeguard our right to vote. Our people deserve no less than the chance to have their votes truly counted by a trustworthy and modern electoral system," he added.

Sheila Crisostomo, Marvin Sy and Perseus Echeminada
The Philippine Star 02/04/2007
http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200702040410.htm