COMELEC, legislators meet to discuss automated polls
Automation is the only way forward. This was the sense of the leadership of both Houses of Congress, communicated to the seven-member Commission on Elections (COMELEC), during a meeting held last week. The Commission En Banc met with Senate President Franklin Drilon and Speaker of the House of Representatives Feliciano Belmonte Jr., to discuss the parallel automation options being considered by the poll body for the 2016 national and local elections.
Also present at the meeting were Representatives Mel Senen Sarmiento and Elpidio Barzaga Jr., Vice Chairman and Senior Member of the Joint Oversight Committee on the Automated Election System respectively and Representative Fredenil Castro, Chairman of the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms.
"We explained the pros and cons of our parallel options to our legislators, in the context of numerous petitions filed by various groups, seeking to halt automation," COMELEC Chairman Andres Bautista said. "And the legislators were unanimous in saying that Republic Act 9369 clearly mandates both the automation of elections and the use of a system that must have demonstrated capability and have been successfully used in a prior electoral exercise here or abroad," he said further.
Bautista, speaking for the En Banc, explained that this meeting is part of consultative process undertaken by COMELEC before final determination of the automated election system to be deployed for the 2016 elections. COMELEC is expected to announce its final decision by second week of August. ###