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By Ike Suarez, Correspondent
Claiming that all automated technologies
proposed so far for Philippine elections are either too expensive or
have technical workings, which cause Filipinos to doubt the
results, a group of six prominent figures in the country’s IT
sector today proposed a hybrid solution using simple personal
computers, cellular phone SMS-texting, and Open Source software
while retaining the manual system of voting.
The movement to advocate the hybrid solution was
announced at a symposium at the University of the Philippines
College of Engineering organized by the Computing Society of the
Philippines, an organization of academics all over the country
engaged in both the teaching of and research and development
(R&D) in computer science and computer engineering.
Ito Gruet, vice president of the Philippine
Computer Society and a director of the Philippine Software Industry
Association, speaking as a concerned citizen, gave the presentation.
Fellow members of the group include Gus Lagman, Dr. William Torres,
Jose Contreras, Maricor Akol, and Jade Delima.
Gruet said that unlike Direct Recording
Equipment, the proposed hybrid solution would cost around P1 billion
to implement. That of DRE would cost P17 billion if made available
to all the country’s precincts.
And unlike optical mark reading, the other
proposed automated technology, the counting of votes and canvassing
of election returns would be visible to all interested parties. It
would not also require the design of new ballot boxes.
Under the hybrid system, voters would vote
manually as they have always done. But the election returns would be
tabulated via PC in designated schools, the returns validated
and sent by cellphone SMS to a website, the Comelec Board of
Canvassers would access the Website to produce the Statements of
Votes and Certificates of Canvass, the Provincial Board of
Canvassers would access the Web to produce the provincial Statements
of Votes and Certificates of Canvass, and the National Board of
Canvassers would access the database to produce the final results.
All these would be visible on the Internet to any interested party.
Gruet said the software, which has already been
written, runs on PhP, an Open Source language for Web-based
programs. This being the case, the application could easily be
mass-produced and copied without need to pay expensive site
licensing fees.
At the symposium, Gruet pointed out that it
takes 25 to 40 days to obtain final results for national elective
posts, but only 8 to 24 hours to tally all the votes in the
country’s election precincts. Thus, the bottlenecks were in the
municipal, provincial, and national canvassing of the votes—which
the hybrid system sought to address by way of a system affordable
and culturally acceptable to Filipinos.
Gruet admitted to the high efficiency of DRE
systems, which would require full automation and use of high
technology—computers, touchpads or mousepads, and network
connectivity—at all levels. According to her, such systems could
make national results known almost instantaneously with votes
counted electronically as soon as they were cast. But this would
require as many as 84,000 computers to be installed all over the
country and thousands of computer technicians to ensure the system
would function well.
According to her, the high-tech system could
cost up to P17 billion to install with several millions more needed
to train voters, public school teachers, party watchers, Comelec
personnel and officials.
On the other hand, optical character reading
(OCR) would mean scanning of votes at the municipal board of
canvassers. Thus, while costing only around P1.3 billion, voters
would not see the counting of ballots in the precincts, as Filipinos
have always been accustomed to.
Gruet took note of an earlier presentation by
Ateneo professor Dr. Pablo Manalastas, who talked on digital
signatures for elections. In his presentation, he pointed out that
all in the country had failed to notice that new ballot boxes would
have to be made to make OCR work.
This was because OCR machines could not read
folded ballots. Thus, ballots would now have to be placed in ballot
boxes with holes large enough to accept unfolded ballots.
At the question-and-answer portion, the possible
need to amend the country’s automated laws was raised by The
Manila Times. While UP law professor Jesus Disini, who teaches
cyberlaw in the university, said no. Although, others said there
might be.
Gruet, who later talked with this correspondent
after the symposium, said that the advocates of the hybrid solution
believed there would be enough time to amend the election automation
law if needed and in time for the 2010 elections.
Gruet said that the group would now actively
pursue its advocacy.
Gus Lagman is among the pioneers in the
Philippine IT industry, having helped install in the early 1960s the
very first computer of the Social Security System. He has been
president several times of the Philippine Computing Society, the
first association of the country’s IT professionals.
Dr. William Torres has been dubbed as the
“Father of the Internet in the Philippines” for having laid the
groundwork for the country’s connectivity while chairman in the
late 1980s to early 1990s of the National Computer Center. He is
today president of Moscom, the country’s very first commercial
Internet service provider.
Maricor Akol was president of the Philippine
Telecommunications and Electronics Federation in the early 1990s.
Contreras is a veteran programmer who is also director of the
Philippine Software Industry Association. Delima is president of the
software house, which developed the software for the proposed hybrid
system.
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