|
ON the face of it, this looks like an offer that
Chairman Ben Abalos and his band of merry men at the Commission of
Elections just can’t refuse.
A Filipino company which has
developed an automated election system called Botong Pinoy is
offering it completely free of charge for use by Comelec in the 2007
elections. As it happens this particular system, developed
specifically with local requirements in mind, is one of five systems
that the poll body is evaluating for a possible trial run during the
next year’s national election.
According to its manufacturer
Mega Data, Botong Pinoy is probably the only election system that
offers a complete end-to-end solution, from registration, voting and
counting to transmission, tabulation and (most essential in the
famously fraught Filipino electoral system) even recounting.
An important element in this
system, claims Mega Data, is that it does not require a computer
system that can be used just for elections alone. Instead, it can be
operated using standard personal computers such as those usually
found in schools, and even in business and government offices.
In fact, since voting is
traditionally conducted in school premises, all Comelec will need to
do during the 2007 election (and successive elections if ever this
offer is taken up and proves to be the answer to Comelec’s
automation pleas) is to sequester the standard computers installed
in schools for the handful of days they would be needed to conduct
the local or national elections.
This would, of course, require
the Department of Education to install computers in all schools as
part of its program to expand the education of students. That way,
says Mega Data, the Philippines can have fully computerized
elections for free since Botong Pinoy is being made available to the
Comelec at no charge for use in the 2007 and 2010 elections.
The manufacturer further claims
that the system offers no storage problems after the elections, and
no transportation problems either. And there is the added benefit of
the computers being put to good use after the election in the
schools, making it a valuable investment in the future of the
country.
Incidentally, Mega Data is the
company behind the five-minute National Bureau of Investigation
Clearance Renewal System, and also the two-minute Land
Transportation Office Drivers’ License Renewal system. Both
systems have made these two important basic services of the
government more accessible to the people with installations
nationwide.
As a spokesman for Mega Data puts
it: “They are systems that are so efficient, there is no room for
graft. Equally, Botong Pinoy is meant to be an election system so
efficient there is no time to cheat.”
As to why Mega Data was willing
to allow Comelec the use of Botong Pinoy for free, Rafael Garcia IV,
executive vice-president and COO of Mega Data Corp., bluntly
explains: “We are doing it because we love the Philippines. Is
there anything wrong with that?”
Nothing wrong with that at all.
But let’s hope that most Filipinos, who are heroically cynical
when it comes to matters to do with the always polemic electoral
system prevalent in this country, think the same way too.
E-mail: bizzfizz_98@yahoo.com
|
