Comelec lauds SC dismissal of manual vote counting petition, notes vulnerabilities

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday pointed out the vulnerabilities of manual vote counting after the Supreme Court (SC) recently dismissed the petition against the poll body’s alleged failure to promulgate rules on the manual counting of votes.

“Pwede pong magkaroon ng error sa pagbasa, sa pagsusuma, at pagka-canvas ng boto. Whether po ang error na ‘yan ay sinadya o hindi sinasadya, ngunit nananatili itong vulnerabilities at nakita po natin ito hanggang nuong huling sistema ng halalan na manual elections na pinatupad natin nung 2007, kung saan napakaraming nai-correct, kailangang i-tama,” said Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco in “Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon.”

(Errors can occur in the reading, tallying, and canvassing votes. Whether those errors are intentional or unintentional, they remain vulnerabilities, and we saw this up until the last manual election system we implemented in 2007, where so many things had to be corrected and set right.)

In an 11-page decision, the SC En Banc dismissed the petition for lack of merit, saying that the manual counting is not a mandatory requirement under Republic Act 9369.

The SC said the petitioners alleged that the Comelec’s failure to issue the rules constitutes grave abuse of discretion.

But the High Court said the purpose of the Automated Election System (AES) is to eliminate manual counting at the precinct level to reduce human intervention and the risks of electoral fraud. It added that the SC has consistently upheld the sufficiency of the AES in ensuring electoral transparency and accuracy.

“Kami po ay lubos na nagagalak po sa desisyon ng Korte Suprema sa kaso ng Alminaza vs. Commission on Elections, kung saan binigyang tibay yung atin pong Republic Act 9369, na ito po ay pagmomodernisa ng ating automated elections,” said Laudiangco.

(We are deeply pleased with the Supreme Court's decision in the case of Alminaza vs. Commission on Elections, which upheld our Republic Act 9369 regarding the modernization of our automated elections.)

“At hindi nangangahulugan na kailangan gawin ‘yung manual parallel count, na sa paningin ng Supreme Court, na kumukontra sa orihinal na intensyon na mas pabilisin, na mas ayusin, at mas maging accurate po ang ating sistema ng halalan,” he added.

(And it does not mean that a manual parallel count needs to be conducted, which, in the view of the Supreme Court, contradicts the original intention to make our election system faster, more organized, and more accurate.)

Further, the Comelec official assured the poll body would be transparent just like in the 2025 elections.

“Makakaasa po kayo kung paano namin binuksan, naging transparent, para nang sa gayon malaman ng bawat isa ang lahat ng workings ng ating automated system nung 2025,” said Laudiangco.

(You can be rest assured, just as we opened up and stayed transparent so that everyone could understand all the inner workings of our automated system back in 2025.) —RF, GMA News