2025 mid-term elections, maaring mabigo
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MAARING hindi magamit ng mga botanteng Filipino ang kanilang karapatang bumoto at mauwi sa pagkabigo ang eleksyon kaugnay sa kwestiyonableng P18-billion contract para sa susunod na midterm election.
Nagpahayag ng pag-aalala si Rizal 2nd District Rep. Emigdio “Dino” Tanjuatco III, miyembro ng House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms, tungkol sa “dangerous noise” na nagpapagulo sa isipan ng publiko mula sa totoong isyu nakapalibot sa automated election system (AES) deal — the biggest in Philippine history — sa pagitan ng Commission on Elections (Comelec) at ng controversial South Korean firm Miru Systems Co. Ltd. gayundin ang local joint-venture partners.
Para kay Tanjuatco, marapat lamang na sumagot ang Comelec sa isyu ng dubious contract, na nananatiling walang kasagutan hanggang ngayon.
“Eyes on the ball, Filipinos. The Comelec still has to answer many issues on prototype machines and noncompliant systems. Let us not be distracted by all this noise,” sabi ni Tanjuatco.
“If the machines fail spectacularly on Election Day in 2025 and the whole country is plunged into chaos, then we only have ourselves to blame for being sidetracked by this circus,” ayon pa sa mambabatas.
Matatandaang binabantayan ni Tanjuatco ang paggamit ng isang prototype vote-counting machine (VCM) sa isang demo noong February, hindi lamang non-compliant sa AES procurement’s terms of reference (TOR), kundi hindi rin ito pinapayagan sa ilalim ng Automated Election Law.
Napaulat na intensyon ng Miru na gamitin ang isang hybrid ng dalawang automated counting machines, ang Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) at ang Optical Mark Reader (OMR).
Binanggit ni Tanjuatco at iba pang mambabatas dapat ginamit ang isang hybrid o sinubukan man sa ibang eleksyon. Gayunpaman, lumabas sa mga ulat magkahiwalay na pinatakbo ng Miru ang dalawang system at hindi są isang kombinasyon.
Dagdag pa sa concern ni Tanjuatco na ginamit ng Miru ang parehong DRE at OMR systems na nagkaroon ng problema sa eleksyon sa Iraq at sa Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), respectively.
Sa pagbanggit ng Section 10 ng Republic Act (RA) No. 9369, binigyang-diin ni Tanjuatco ang AES na binili ng Comelec “must have demonstrated capability and been successfully used in a prior electoral exercise here or abroad.”
“It’s a big red flag that the Automated Election Law has been violated. It does not help that Miru had been unsuccessful in using the DRE and OMR on separate occasions,” dagdag pa ni Tanjuatco.
“Imagine if Miru will use the untested DRE-OMR hybrid in our elections next year. We Filipino voters will be guinea pigs, with no certainty that our votes will be collected efficiently and counted correctly,” ayon pa sa mambabatas.
Inulit ni Tanjuatco ang kanyang panawagan na ibasura ang Comelec-Miru deal upang mapanatili ang integridad ng 2025 election.
Inulit din ng mambabatas ang kanyang paalala sa Comelec na sa halip, gamitin ang 97,000 existing automated election na nasa kanilang pangangalaga.
“These VCMs are still functioning very well and are all covered by warranty. The machines had been used in our past successful automated elections, so there will be no problem using them again,” paliwanag ni Tanjuatco.