Televised Poll Machines Bidding; Viva Comelec!

What good does it make for COMELEC to go on television for the bidding of poll machines? Simple, the Commission on Elections wants to show to the public that it means real business, not monkey business, on transparency this time in so far as allowing a televised bidding of poll machines to be used for the 2010 automated presidential election. 

Yes Virginia, the COMELEC wants to show high degree of transparency as it goes in the bidding of these poll machines to erase  any public doubt in the procurement of these machines. Very good, but what prevents determined dealers from conniving among themselves to do bid fixing and do a moro-moro later during the televised coverage of the actual bidding? Televised bidding is no foolproof but it offers assurance to the public of fairness, clean and  anomalous free bidding.

But if you ask COMELEC chairman Jose Melo on the significance of televised bidding, aside from transparency, which is being required by several groups from the COMELEC, allowing the public to personally see themselves the bidding process through the television may  also protect the agency from unscrupulous bidders.

Melo also disclosed that the “COMELEC’s advisory council, with representatives from various non-government and government groups, has started drafting the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the bidding.” The advisory council is expected to finish the TOR’s draft by Tuesday. The TOR will still need to be reviewed for  approved from the COMELEC upon submission.

The report from abs-cbnNEWS.com  03/07/2009

Melo said that the TOR will have to ” be sold first to the bidders for $20,000 before being publicized. He said the public may be able to view the TOR’s contents by April.”

The COMELEC is targetting to finish the biddings within April and immediately start training its people on how to use the poll machines.

The poll body said it will use the precinct count optical scan (PCOS), which, Melo said, is an improved version of the Optical Mark Reader (OMR) machines that were used in the ARMM elections last year.

It said the final testing has been scheduled for November. The poll body has also announced that it is planning to hold the filing of candidacy on November to be able to include all the candidates’ names in the ballots that will be used in the automated elections.

Melo, meanwhile, explained that the machines that will be used by the COMELEC in the coming elections will only be rented from the winning bidders.

“We cannot buy the machines because they are too expensive and aside from that the machines may be already obsolete for the next election. Buying would mean we will be stuck with one provider,” he said.

He said the machines would be used by the COMELEC once. Three years after 2010, the poll body would have to conduct bidding for the next automated elections.

“Because the machines will be rented, it is only for this election,” Melo said.

With so many scandals the COMELEC has been involved with in the past, it’s about time to raise public trust to the efficiency, integrity, and independence of this poll body. Going into television to show transparency in the bidding of poll machines is just the beginning step to re-gain people’s trust after some COMELEC officials destroyed and tainted the good image of this poll body.

But what good does the televised bidding do if after the provision of these machines cheating and inefficiency in the counting of votes still remain. If some officials lacking in integrity put shame to the institution because of their anomalous acts, similarly the COMELEC officials should learn the meaning of shame this time.

Viva COMELEC !