Comelec creates special committee on automated elections

The Commission on Elections has formed a “Committee on Automated Elections for Stakeholders” and tasked it “to conduct a continuous dialogue with the Commission’s stakeholders regarding their concerns, suggestions and recommendations in relation to automated elections.”   In en banc Resolution 9512, five Comelec personnel, led by  Director Sonia Tiongson of the education and information department, were also directed to “sit down” with stakeholders to thresh out issues. The resolution is dated July 31 but was posted on the Comelec website on Thursday.   The committee was created in line with the results of an open dialogue held last June 27 during which Commission “informed its stakeholders that it will create a Committee that will  address their concerns, suggestions and recommendations related to the 2013  Automated National, Local and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM)  Elections.”   Resolution 9512 provides that “(t)he committee may also undertake to settle questions  within the Committee level or to report questions and suggestions raised, if  needed, to the Chairman of this Commission or to the Commission en banc.”   The Tiongson committee has for its members: Atty. Pamela Joy Herrera (Office of the Chairman); Atty. Efraim Bag-id (Law Department); Ms. Charina Co (Administrative Services Department) and Mr. Manuel Odilon (Information Technology Department). — ELR, GMA News