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OF
COURSE, this would have been impossible to accomplish were it not
for the invaluable assistance provided by the Comelec Deputized government
agencies.
And to assist it in the conduct of a nationwide voter's information
campaign and poll watching, the Comelec accredited the Namfrel,
the PPCRV, the Mindanao Allied Forces, Inc., and the Eagle Broadcasting
Corporation as its citizens' arms.
The Comelec's strong partnership with these government agencies
and private organizations made the success of the 2004 elections
possible, despite the sheer size of the event.
However, the Commission did not just want successful elections.
It wanted successful modernized elections. In line with this resolve,
the Comelec — with Minute Resolution No. 02-0170, dated the 29th
of October 2002 — embarked upon a comprehensive Modernization Project
that covered the three phases of the electoral process: the Voters
Validation System, Automated Vote Counting and Canvassing, and Electronic
Transmission/Consolidation and Dissemination of Results.
However, the decision of the Supreme Court in Information Technology
Foundation of the Philippines v. the Commission on Elections, that
was promulgated on the 13th of January 2004 and which was largely
based on the majority's fear that the machines would not work as
planned, effectively brought the automation project to a halt.
By then, the Phase II project had already put in almost a year's
worth of effort towards establishing the country's first truly modernized
election system. As a result, when the Supreme Court ruling was
handed down, the full automation of counting and canvassing was
already well within reach.
This is a forward-looking Commission that takes lessons — however
bitter they may be — from the past. Although it was cut short, the
implementation of the Project gave the implementers valuable insights
into the complexities and difficulties of attempting to create an
entire automated election system out of whole cloth, while trying
to work within a legal, administrative, and institutional framework
that was inadequate to the task. In many instances, delays in the
prosecution of the project resulted from the need to adhere to certain
statutory requirements that may have been absolutely necessary when
counting and canvassing were manually done, but are ultimately non-critical
under an automated system. There is, therefore, the need to resolve
some legal, administrative, and institutional roadblocks to ensure
that the project makes better progress this time around.
While the Modernization Program of the Comelec failed to take off
in time for the 2004 elections, two indisputable facts remain:
Despite the truncated preparation time available to the Commission,
the manual elections were successful; and that
The technology behind the Automation and the Electronic Transmission
Projects are sound, and are certain to greatly benefit the electoral
system.
On balance, therefore, it would be fair to say that the Comelec
successfully fulfilled its mandate of conducting honest, orderly,
and peaceful elections in 2004, and is in the perfect position to
pursue the Modernization of future elections with renewed vigor.
(From the Comelec Report on the Conduct of the 2004
National and Local Elections, authored by Commissioner Resurreccion
Z. Borra)
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