Poll chief says no to partial automation

MANILA -- Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Jose Melo rejected Sunday the idea of partial automation for the coming political exercises next year.

Melo said while it is full “speculation” that the Supreme Court (SC) might rule on partial automation on the motion for nullification of the contract filed by the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM), conducting partial automation would be impossible.

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“Right now our preparation is for full automation and I doubt if we would still have time to prepare for partial automation,” he said Sunday.

He added that the law mandates the full automation next year.

“I don’t know if the law would allow that (partial automation) since the law states that it should be fully automated,” he explained.

But Melo said they would still have to wait for the decision of the SC to finally determine what method would be used for the May 2010 polls.

He said if the Comelec will implement partial automation, they would have to conduct another bidding and prepare a new set of terms of reference (TOR).

“Because that would be an entirely contract and at this time, I say we cannot do it,” he said.

The CCM led by University of the Philippines (UP) Professor Harry Roque asked the High Court to junk the P7.2-billion contract entered by the Comelec and Smartmatic-TIM joint venture due to irregularities.

No enough time

With barely eight months left before the May 10, 2010 elections, Melo noted that their remaining time would have to be concentrated on the full automation preparation.

So far, he said the consortium of Smartmatic Corporation and Total Information Management (TIM) has been on track based on what was agreed upon in the contract signed last July 10.

“They have already made progress and based on the timeline, they are still on track,” he said.

Under the contract, Smartmatic and TIM should set up first the Project Management Team and project systems, including all SW licenses and firmware to get the first payment.

Cyber security

With the preparations for the automated elections ongoing, several experts floated the possibility Sunday of “hacking” to the Comelec’s internal data system.

Thus, computer expert Dante Mara cited the need for the poll body to adopt cyber security as the country is set to go for poll automation next year.

Speaking at the Balitaan sa Tinapayan news forum held in Sampaloc, Manila, Mara said while it is expensive to adopt cyber security, the Comelec needs to adopt the measure because the Smartmatic-TIM will be using a global network and not closed loop network.

“We raised the concern of hacking because the system to be used by consortium of Smartmatic may be susceptible to hacking of internal data system and we believe that it is better if we use closed loop network, which is not open to outside influences,” he said.

The Smartmatic-TIM will supply the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines that the Comelec will use in automating the 2010 national elections.

The first batch of 12,000 PCOS units will be delivered on November and another 30,000 will be on December of this year where Comelec will pay 17.5 percent.

The second batch covering 30,000 machines and 10,200 units will be delivered on January and February 2010, respectively, where the Comelec will again release 17.5 percent payment.

Mara also cited that Smartmatic and Comelec did not give a full assurance that there will be no problem to the mode of connectivity with the system to be used by the consortium.

“The Smartmatic will be using overlaying network using satellite so the data will be transmitted to the main from regional and provincial. The system is good but many factors can affect the transmittal like the clouds, the rains and most importantly, the power supply. What if they encounter powers supply interruption?” he asked.

“This is the reason why the Comelec should adopt cyber security and come up with a system for auditing,” he said.

Retired police general Virtus Gil, former Western Police District (WPD) director and is now into cyber security agency, echoed Mara’s concerns, saying he read the contract of Smartmatic with the Comelec and it did not touch much of the system’s cyber security.

Mara said the Congress needs to allocate additional P7.2 billion for the cyber security.

“This is also for the future of the government. In fact, the system to be used should be owned by the government to avoid outside influences,” he said. (MSN/PNA/Sunnex)