The Jurassic Philippine Electoral System

I could only watch (on TV and internet) with pity at how last Monday’s Philippine election was conducted. Nothing has changed in our electoral process since the first time I exercised my right to vote 20 years ago. People complained of the same problems: names of voters are not on the voter’s list while dead peoples’ names are still on the list. After the voting, the snail-paced manual counting began and the usual problems occurred- ballot box snatching, deliberate brown-outs for cheating purpose and ballot box and Election Returns switching in some areas. No wonder why one of the foreign observers remarked that our elections are "worse, compared to Afghanistan." I pity the teachers who serve during elections- two teachers were killed in an arson on a school in Batangas while fulfilling their duties; most of the teachers are victims of intimidation from opposing sides; they themselves bring the ballot boxes, most of the time on public transport (the COMELEC always fail to provide transportation fro them) to the place where the votes are to be canvassed after the counting in the precinct level. These things can be avoided if the elections were automated. It is pathetic that those election automated machines are rotting at the storage room of COMELEC because there was anomaly in their purchase.

Months before the elections, during the elections and the days after the elections, the most barbaric indication of our Jurassic system occurred- killings, there were killings everywhere. Yet, the police have the guts of proclaiming that this year’s election is peaceful.

I have been to US and Italy during their elections and I wondered in awe as the results were known the following day and there were no killings and other glitches. When will the Philippines automate its elections? When will the election related violence stop?