Putting the cart before the horse Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes has been a petulant man but has become even more petulant as a hail of criticisms greeted his efforts to again hand over virtual control of the Automated Elections System (AES) for the 2016 polls to favored controversial supplier Smartmatic-TIM Corp. By all indications, the Venezuelan supplier of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines, will retain the same control it had over the conduct of the automated polls, which, since 2010 when first used were all bugged with several defects and suspicions of fraud that placed all the elections results under doubt. Brillantes, in a television interview, said that similar to his critics he may not like Smartmatic but it is the company that supplied the PCOS machines which have not been in use since 2013. His reasoning is that since the machines are already there and have been in use for the past elections, voters may have to live with Smartmatic being around and going through the same problems encountered in the past polls. That reasoning, however, is as defective as most of the Smartmatic-provided machines since the Comelec always had the option to find other systems with proven credibility in automated voting. The Comelec’s mandate is not to make Smartmatic happy but to assure that each election held is credible, which is a function the poll body fails to perform whenever the voting results from the PCOS machines are questioned. Few will even agree with his claim that the PCOS machines “worked well” in the past elections and that those against the use of the Smartmatic system have an agenda of vested interest. Brillantes can’t be a stranger to the complaints raised against Smartmatic for the past automated national polls which range from the absence of the source code to wrong vote tallying of the machines. Brillantes is set to retire in Feb. 2 this year, raising criticisms that the deals being undertaken now form part of his golden parachute. Lately, the Comelec, against the advice of its own lawyers awarded the P1.2-billion PCOS refurbishment contract to Smartmatic, which Brillantes argued as being not the entire deal but only a part of it although the provisions of the deal make it a certainty that Smartmatic will bag the whole package. Brillantes hinted that the one he will recommend to replace him would be a woman who is much younger than he is. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has been rumored as being considered to replace him. De Lima has a track record of toeing the Palace line geared toward fulfilling the whims of Noynoy, particularly in safeguarding the status quo. Brillantes also lambasted former Comelec Commissioner Gus Lagman for incessantly hitting out at Smartmatic saying that the former official of the poll body has an agenda. This is, however, the stock argument he uses for assailing his many other critics that, if the line of reasoning is followed, then he might as well admit to also having an interest in keeping the contract with Smartmatic for defending the automated poll provider to the hilt. Smartmatic, however, has proven itself completely unreliable in assuring the integrity of the past polls with even a legal conflict abroad affecting the release of the source code in the 2013 elections. Brillantes should work toward assuring that the results of the coming 2016 polls would be more believable than in the previous automated political exercises since for one, there are talks that the current clique will spare nothing to maintain their hold on government. He should stop defending Smartmatic as if his life beyond Comelec depends on it. tribune.net.ph/commentary/editorial/putting-the-cart-before-the-horse
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 04:29:35 +0000
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