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THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) wants a
P2.6-billion budget for this year to jumpstart the computerization
of the country’s electoral system, starting with the coming
elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
Comelec Acting Chairman
Resurrecion Borra said Monday that the said amount is already being
programmed by the poll body for the ARMM polls and the automation
process, even if Congress has yet to approve the proposed
P1.227-trillion 2008 national budget. The ARMM polls is scheduled on
August 8 this year.
The P2.6 billion, Borra pointed
out, is only for this year, adding that billions of pesos more is
needed for 2009 and 2010.
“We assumed the approval of the
budget. We are programming it for the ARMM polls to jumpstart for
the 2010 national elections,” Borra said. “We need to have
adequate preparations for 2010.”
The automation of the electory
system is mandated under Republic Act (RA) No.9369. It amended RA
8436, which authorized the Comelec to use an automated election
system in the May 11, 1998 elections and in subsequent electoral
exercises thereafter.
The Comelec had earlier signed a
P1.2-billion contract with the Mega-Pacific Consortium for the
purchase of automated counting machines. But four months before the
May 2004 presidential election, the contract was declared null and
void by the Supreme Court.
The High Court also directed the
Comelec to return the equipment to Mega-Pacific, and for the company
to return the P850 million paid to them.
The Comelec has filed a case
against Mega-Pacific for the return of the amount paid on the
machines. But the company also filed a case demanding for the
payment of the remaining balance of their contract.
Borra said the poll body has
already learned its lessons from the controversy, vowing that
everything would be transparent and in accordance with what has been
mandated by the computerization law.
--William B. Depasupil
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