MANILA – The Arroyo administration submitted to the House of Representatives a supplemental budget equivalent to about $25 million for use by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to automate the 2010 presidential polls, a ranking Malacanang official disclosed.
Secretary Gabriel Claudio, the presidential adviser for political affairs, said the proposed budget was submitted to the House Committee on Appropriations which he urged to act promptly on the measure when Congress resumes session on January after a month-long Christmas break.
“Poll automation is a priority concern and program of the Arroyo administration to ensure clean, orderly and credible elections” when voters are to elect the successor of President Arroyo whose term expires in 2010, Claudio stressed.
He added he does not see any reason for the lawmakers to delay the approval of the proposed funding which was deemed urgent by Comelec officials.
According to Claudio, the supplemental funding is on top of the $50 million allocated to the Comelec for the holding of the 2010 polls.
Claudio also assured the additional funding would not affect the existing provisions in the proposed national budget for 2009 which has yet to be passed by Congress.
Of the total, the Malacanang official said about $20 million would be for the purchase of the needed automation equipment and the remaining $5 million for preparatory activities before the 2010 polls.
Another senior member of the Arroyo Cabinet, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto pointed out the supplemental bill indicates that there will be elections in 2010, contrary to claims of lawmakers and certain sectors that President Arroyo is more interested in extending her stay in Malacanang beyond 2010 through the controversial issue of Charter change (Cha-cha).
Senator Richard Gordon, the principal author of the automated election system law, earlier expressed deep concern that a delay in the approval of the 2009 budget would undermine the computerization of the 2010 polls.
With full automation, Gordon emphasized that poll irregularities such as fraud, cheating and ballot-switching would be minimized or eliminated as the results would be known within hours after the votes have been cast.
He cited as an example the success of the polls at the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) where automation was pilot tested in 2008.
In a related development, retired Supreme Court justice Jose Melo, the Comelec chairman, pointed out requiring voters to dip their index fingers in indelible ink would be more effective against the problem of “flying voters” instead of just getting their fingers smudged with the ink.
If the proposal is adopted, Melo assured this would make up for the lack of the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (Afis) machines which are to cross match voters through their thumb marks and thus, eliminate flying voters who have posed a perennial problem in past elections.
The Afis machines are needed but lack of funds poses a formidable obstacle to the purchase of the equipment which allows the Comelec to get the biometrics data of the voters like photographs, signatures and thumb marks, Melo said.
He explained that a voter can have double or multiple registrations if he transfers residence and registers again with the Comelec.
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