‘2010 RP polls to be faster than in US,’ says Comelec exec
Next year’s presidential elections will be faster than those in the US, a commissioner of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) declared yesterday.
“By midnight, we will already know who won,” Comelec Commissioner Leonardo Leonida told reporters here, as he expressed optimism that Congress will allocate funds needed for the automation of the 2010 elections.
The country’s poll body is awaiting Congressional approval of a P11.3 billion-supplemental budget that would fund the automation of the 2010 elections. Congress has promised it would appropriate funds before the month ends.
Chances are big that Congress would be able to pass a supplemental budget because, Leonidas noted, the legislators themselves want the polls automated already.
Once Congress has passed the appropriations, the Comelec will proceed with the bidding.
So far, according to him, the single major obstacle to the computerization of the country’s voting system is there is no budget yet.
Leonida pointed out that in the last US presidential elections, the country’s next president was known within the day following the actual voting.
But since the Philippines is very much smaller than the US in terms of size and population, he is confident that, with a fully-automated system, President Arroyo’s successor will be known by midnight, the commissioner said, despite the country being an archipelago.
With electronic transmission, even if the country is made up of islands, we could speedily relay the results, just as long as there are mobile phone signals, Leonidas explained.
That is why, he remarked, the Comelec will ask armed groups to refrain from blowing cellsites before the elections.
“We will ask our friends not to blow cellsites in the mountains before May 10. After that, on May 11, they can do whatever they want,” Leonida said.
In a related development, the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) said yesterday voters education program has already started.
Ambassador Tita de Villa said they will be negotiating with a nationwide association of private schools to allow them to conduct voter’s education symposia in the campuses.
We are trying to mold a new generation of voters who will vote based on the principles and programs, and not on relationship or popularity, de Villa said.
She also said that they might tap students enrolled in the National Service Training Program to serve as election volunteers.
College freshpersons are required to undergo about 200 hours of NSTP, which is a part of the school curriculum.
De Villa said that they will be asking the Commission on Higher Education that services rendered by students as volunteers for Namfrel, PPCRV or any other voter’s organizations be credited against the 200-hour requirement under the NSTP.