IT experts welcome EU recommendation on PH election, urge Comelec to abide

By AARON ERNEST CRUZ
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – The Commission of Elections (Comelec) must act on the recommendations of the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) during the midterm elections last May, the Computer Professionals’ Union (CPU) said. 

The EU EOM released their final report on July 3. Chief Observer Marta Temido said the report focused on enhancing transparency, fostering participation and consolidating legal framework.

The specific 21 recommendations propose several solutions to address the major issues during the election period such as electoral violence, concentrations of political power among few families, vote-buying, and its legal framework.

The CPU welcomed the EU EOM’s final report. However, the group stressed the need for a fundamental shift in the country’s electoral process. 

“While these steps would indeed help resolve some of the longstanding issues surrounding automated elections in the Philippines, we continue to call for a fundamental shift in the electoral process to better protect the sanctity of the Filipino vote,” the CPU said in a statement. 

They added, “The AES surrenders our elections to opaque arrangements with foreign, third-party providers, with little to no accountability from the Comelec; concerns are swept aside by means of technical jargon.”

The CPU continues to call for a public manual counting at the precinct level which they said  “promises a simpler method that is more transparent and open to public scrutiny.” They added that public manual counting brings confidence that every vote is counted despite its long process and effort.

Integrating legal framework 

EU EOM also stressed that Comelec should consolidate its legal framework on elections such as the 1987 constitution and 1985 Omnibus Election Code (OEC). Temido said that nearly half of the provisions of the Omnibus Election Code are superseded by the constitution and then their laws, leaving the electoral legislation scattered and not harmonised.

They also urged the implementation of existing laws concerning elections, mainly the regulation of political parties and decentralizing the dominance of political families.

Poll watchdog Kontra Daya earlier revealed that the majority of the incoming partylist does not represent marginalized sectors. Forty of them were flagged as part of political dynasty, big business, and police/military connections. Meanwhile, according to a report by Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), 212 out of 254 district representatives who won the midterm election are from political dynasties and 174 of them have at least one relative at their local posts. 

EU EOM cited laws that are weaponized on red-tagged individuals despite the Comelec initiative to address red-tagging. “Several laws continue to impact human rights and the electoral environment including the Anti-Terrorism Act, Revised Penal code of cybercrime prevention Act, and the Terrorism Financing Act.” stated in the EU EOM final report.

Other major findings

Despite several measures to combat vote-buying, this practice is still entrenched as EOM received reports of partisan distribution of welfare payouts (ayuda) across the country.

Vote-buying also reaches online platforms as they recorded 1,434 posts with wider reach of online audiences.

EOM recommends to “take effective measures to ensure secrecy of the vote for all voters, describing it as ‘the most effective means to address vote buying.’”

Meanwhile, Kontra Daya’s report stated that the midterm election was a “failure of democratic integrity marked by systemic fraud, disenfranchisement, and institutional complicity.”

Several poll watch dogs reported countless election violations during the election period such as ACM error, disenfranchisement, illegal campaigning, election violence, and intimidation such as red-tagging and disinformation.

Graph by Vote Report PH

Kontra Daya criticized the Comelec for ignoring the calls of several groups to hold a public manual voting and an explanation for anomalies encountered during the election.

“Without urgent, systemic reform and genuine accountability, Philippine elections will continue to serve the interests of the few—rather than reflect the democratic will of the Filipino people,” Kontra Daya stated in a report. (AMU, RVO)

Disclosure: Danilo Arao is the associate editor of Bulatlat and the chairperson of Board of Trustees of Alipato Media Center, Inc., publisher of Bulatlat.

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