Pimentel believes Comelec can make polls 'most transparent'   

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III believes the Commission on Elections may still be able to fulfill its promise of making the May 2016 elections the most transparent in the country’s history amid some glitches it now encounters.

Speaking to reporters after the hearing conducted by the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Automated Election System at the Senate, Pimentel said one evidence of transparency is the poll body’s cooperation.

“I am impressed with the pledge of Comelec Chairman Bautista to make this election the most transparent of all Philippine elections and I’m glad that Comelec is cooperating with the oversight committee, allowing the JCOC to really oversee their running of the election,” he said.

“So, in that sense, they are being transparent and from their reports, it appears that they have been consulting political parties, the stakeholders on how to interpret some of the provisions of election laws and on some of the decision they have been making. So in a sense, this comelec has been very transparent and cooperative,” the senator added.

Bautista made the promise at the start of the hearing.

“All the safeguards provided in Republic 8436, as amended in Republic Act 9369 or the Automated Election Laws, will be in place for the 2016 elections and, in fact, even more,” he said.

“We will endeavor to make this 2016 elections as the most transparent elections in Philippine history,” Bautista added.

Pimentel, meanwhile, expressed disappointment on the plan of Comelec to procure scissors to cut paper receipts and avoid jamming.

“Well I’m just disappointed that a P38,000 machine, as rental cost, needs a pair of scissors to cut the paper receipts,” he said.

However, he said, the Comelec should be allowed to do what it thinks is best.

“That’s very disappointing but let’s allow the Comelec to purchase the scissors they need to prevent the possible jamming of the paper because of, let us say, the jerking of the voters, if the voter pulls the paper quickly and then it might lead to paper jam, leading to more lost of time. So payagan na but in future election, this must have been foreseen, how to cut the paper printout of the machines,” he said.

On the plan of some groups to bring to the Supreme Court the issue on digital signature, Pimentel said they should do it soon.

“For the longest time, there has been a debate as to the proper interpretation of the phrase digital signature appearing in our election laws. Comelec believes that they can generate pin codes and this satisfies the digital signature mentioned in the law. Some IT professionals and election watchdogs believe that digital signature must be generated by the members of the BEI,” he said.

“So we need a referee to finally settle this long-running debate. This is a free country, anyone can run to the courts for a proper interpretation. I’m just encouraging everyone concerned to do it now so that whatever the result especially if the SC disagrees with Comelec’s definition of the digital signature, the Comelec would still have time to adjust because, now, time is the problem,” he added. — APG, GMA News