MANILA, April 10 (PNA) — A former official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) believes that he and his group will be able to defend the Transparent and Credible Election System (TCrES) in connection with its compliance with Republic Act No. 9369, or the Automated Election Law.
Former Commissioner Gus Lagman is referring to the provision of the said law, which only authorizes the poll body to have an automated election.
“Ang wording sa R.A. 9369 is that the commission is authorized to automate the voting, counting, transmission, canvassing…the word used is ‘authorized’ not ‘mandated’ so hindi kailangang automated lahat ‘yung apat,” explained Lagman after presenting the elections system before Comelec officials headed by Acting Chairman Christian Robert Lim.
He noted that the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines, which were used in the 2010 and 2013 elections, cannot be considered as a “fully automated” election system.
Under the TCrES, voting and precinct counts will be done manually before they are encoded at the precinct level prior to transmission.
Afterwards, the precinct results will be electronically transmitted to the Municipal, Provincial, and National Board of Canvassers as well as in the Central Verification Server for the official automated canvassing of votes.
During the two-hour meeting, Lagman and his fellow IT experts presented the TCrES, which is also known as the open election system (OES).
Lagman added that they received several questions and the Comelec officials were open to their proposal.
“Maganda naman ang feedback. They are receptive to it and we will continue with the dialogue,” he said.
The system was rejected in the past by the poll body, noting that the hybrid election system does not conform with provisions of R.A. 9369. (PNA)