MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is preparing for a random manual auditing of elections results, according to Henrietta de Villa, head of the poll body’s committee on random manual audit.
She said part of the plan is the deployment of an additional 3,500 public school teachers to ensure the accuracy of random manual auditing.
De Villa said the committee has recommended the creation of a special board of election inspectors to undertake the manual audit.
The Comelec has rejected calls for a parallel manual canvassing of poll results, saying it is no longer necessary since a random manual audit is enough to do the job.
The Philippine Bar Association (PBA) insisted yesterday that parallel manual counting of votes is not an impossible task for the Comelec.
PBA head and former ombudsman Simeon Marcelo stressed that preparations for manual counts in all precincts for five elective posts could be completed in less than five days.
“Yes, it’s not as simple as buying vinegar in the grocery store. It’s as simple as counting money the way bank tellers do,” he told The STAR in reaction to a statement from Comelec spokesman James Jimenez over the weekend that a manual count was “almost impossible” at this point.
De Villa said she agreed with the Comelec’s position that a parallel manual count would defeat the purpose of automation and would be tantamount to putting together two systems: manual and automated.
She also said the Poll Automation Law does not mention anything about having parallel manual counting.
De Villa, who also chairs the church-based poll watchdog Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting or PPCRV, said the recommendation for the creation of SBEIs is now awaiting Comelec’s approval.
She explained that fatigue had been a very big factor that had affected the accuracy of manual election system in past elections.
“But if we will have the SBEIs instead of the regular BEIs, the teachers will not be very tired and they would exhibit fresh look, fresh minds in conducting the random manual count,” De Villa said.
Last week, the Comelec decided to increase from one to five per legislative district the number of precincts to be subjected to the random audit.
A total of 1,145 clustered precincts will be subjected to random manual audit involving three BEI members. She said the involvement of 3,435 members of the SBEIs would be necessary.
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