On the Occasion of the Forum on Voters Education

CHR Conference Hall, Diliman, Quezon City
20 August 2009

by

LEILA M. DE LIMA
Chairperson

WELCOME REMARKS   

Good morning to all of you.

First of all, let me thank Atty. Ferdinand Rafanan, Director of the Comelec Law Department, for his presence here today. In June of last year, on his first day in his current post, he said, and I quote:

“I have stood up for what I believe is right, here in the Commission, for the past 10 years, and I enjoy the struggle. I would want to get rid of the image of corruption, and change the perception, by deciding on legal issues on the basis of what is right, and not on its political inclination.” End of quote.

We support this effort to ensure that the Commission on Elections is rid of corruption and political influence. The democratic exercise of the human right to vote is of crucial importance. We cannot allow it to be undermined or to be made a mockery of, by the scheming and maneuvering of venal individuals and vulgar political interests. This right is too important for that.

Let me also thank Atty. Howard Calleja, national legal counsel for the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), for being here today. The PPCRV is an institution which has been at the forefront of voter education and poll watching since 1991. It is a formidable organization, with nearly 1 million volunteers during election season, covering over 86 dioceses, 3,000 parishes, and working alongside other faith-based and secular organizations and associations.

We honor the work carried out by this institution over these last two decades. Much of it is carried out away from the limelight and with no expectation of remuneration or reward. But nonetheless this organization has stood as a bulwark against those forces which would reduce the right to suffrage to a mere rubber stamp, and replace the will of the people with that of the few and the powerful. It is institutions such as the PPCRV which allow us to believe, that the 2010 national elections will serve as an avenue for meaningful change, and will not be just another wasted opportunity.

Let me, in addition, thank Prof. Renato Garcia, President of the Philippine Electronic and Telecommunications Federation (PETEF) Foundation for his presence here today. This foundation has carried out work aimed at educating young persons and promoting an ethic of entrepreneurship, through the use of technology.

This type of work is of particular importance in light of the automation involved in the coming 2010 national elections. New devices will be used. New procedures will be put in place. And all these may very well be unfamiliar to the persons charged with their use, as well as to the volunteers working to ensure the integrity of the voting, and the sanctity of the ballots.

The dissemination of information, education and training, relating to the use of the poll automation technology will therefore be of utmost importance. We look forward to his discussion of that technology. And it is our hope and expectation that this information will continue to be disseminated, to election officers and teachers, to poll watchers and journalists, to other stakeholders and to the population at large.

Finally, let me thank the men and women of the Commission on Human Rights who are here today, and especially our colleagues in ERO, who have worked hard to make this event a reality. In particular, let me thank ERO Director Elzy Ofreneo.

The 2010 national elections are almost upon us, and in this run up to those elections, the situation is a complicated one for human rights advocates. On the one hand, there is the concern that as these elections near, the threat of politically motivated violence looms ever larger, and the carrying out of human rights violations will become more widespread as a result. Vigilance and a readiness to engage in rapid action, and a rapid response, are crucial during this period.

On the other hand, the coming elections also offer us the hope of a more positive outcome, of some measure of accountability for erring government officials, and of a set of leaders more committed to the protection and promotion of human rights in the Philippines.

We find ourselves facing both threat and hope, risk and opportunity, the potential for violence as well as the potential for meaningful change. And the situation is further complicated by the use of new technology and unfamiliar processes in these particular elections. Therefore, we must arm ourselves with knowledge. We must become familiar with the unfamiliar, and adept at what at first may seem much too complicated. That is why we are here today. That is why we appreciate the work done by the Programme Secretariat. And that is why we are thankful for the participation of our resource persons and experts at this event.

The automation of our national elections has been a long time coming. Over these many years, we have watched other countries go to the polls on election day, and learn the outcome of their electoral exercise mere hours or days later. We have seen how the world has become a much flatter place through the use of technology, how information can span the globe in mere seconds, how it is now possible to instantaneously communicate with a colleague in Baguio or Butuan, New York or New Delhi. This ease of communication has spread because the hardware and software involved tend to be affordable or freely available. And many Filipinos have been early and eager adopters of these technologies.

Therefore, it has been with much dismay that Filipinos have trooped to the polls every several years, have cast their votes, and have had to wait seemingly interminably long periods of time in order for the results to trickle out. Clearly, the delay was not for lack of the necessary technology because people could see that the technology was there.

And as you very well know, the consequences of such a slow count go very much beyond mere inconvenience. Each extra day that the counting and tallying take place at the local level, is one more day that hired thugs can steal ballot boxes, threaten and harass poll workers, and inflict violence on those who would safeguard the integrity of the process. Each extra mile physically traveled by poll workers, while transporting ballots, is one more mile where they can be intercepted and ambushed. And as the counting and tallying, addition and transfer, continue to cascade up the election body hierarchy, the potential for additional layers of corruption and cheating is multiplied, all throughout our country.

This has been a wearisome process. This has been a dangerous process. And at the end of it, the Filipino people find themselves, at times, unsure whether their voices were in fact heard, and whether the final outcome truly does reflect their will and their choice.

This is changing, however, and for that we commend the Commission on Elections. Many individuals and vested interests opposed poll automation for dubious reasons. Much of the resistance was carried out for reasons of greed and the refusal to relinquish a stranglehold on ill-gotten authority and power. The wealth and resources brought to bear by these sectors was significant. They fought this change, and in fact, continue to do so. And yet the Comelec, in partnership with other institutions, organizations and individuals, has responded with the political will necessary to get the job done so far. For that, we honor the work done by the Commission on Elections in this regard.

The effort expended to get to this point was significant. And I have no doubt that the work will not get any easier as the elections approach. This is the first time that many of these changes will be deployed at the national level, and it is almost certain that other problems and pitfalls will surface over the coming months.

Poll automation has the potential to change the face of elections in the Philippines, but only if we get it right, only if we do not end up substituting new problems for old ones, and new forms of cheating as well as the old ones, are not allowed to once again take root.

The machines themselves may have problems, as we have seen in the automated elections held in other countries, such as the United States. In these other countries, some of their devices failed to work on polling day. Some machines failed to count votes, or counted votes for the other candidate. Some machines incorrectly registered multiple ballots instead of one, so in some places there were more ballots cast than the actual number of voters. These problems arise for a number of reasons. There may be bugs in the software or glitches in the hardware. The machines may have been subjected to environmental stress, such as heat or rain, or humidity.

We therefore look to the Comelec to continue to engage in rigorous testing of the devices, build redundancies into the system to compensate for isolated failures, and safeguard the integrity of the system, through the use of appropriate security mechanisms, which meet international standards. More insidious, however, is the malicious tampering of machines. There is the risk that unauthorized software may be installed, that the hardware itself may be compromised, and that the network which connects all of these may be hacked into. New forms of cheating, same greed, same corruption.

Again, we look to the Comelec to ensure that poll automation will result in outcomes which reflect the will of the people, not the will of those able to manipulate and game, the system and its technology.

There is also the very real risk of human error, and in this regard, education will be key. Voters must be taught how to use the new devices so that there will be no discrepancy between the choices in the voter's mind and the choices registered by the machine. Teachers and election officials must be provided the education and training, which will allow them to be relatively comfortable with the technology, able to make use of it properly, and especially able to knowledgeably handle situations, where something appears to go wrong.

Much of the emphasis has been laid on the machines, but as with all other elections, the outcome will hinge on the actions of the people involved, on their competence and courage, on their integrity and their willingness to do what is hard and what is right.

In the end, all of us here desire an automated election, which will narrow the window of opportunity for cheating and election related violence, and which will rapidly and accurately make known the will of the people. Every several years, we troop to the polls in order to choose leaders we believe will respect our individual dignities, safeguard our human rights, and provide adequate standards of living to all people, to all Filipinos. Let us continue to work hard so that this aspiration may become reality, so that the coming opportunity is not wasted, and so that we can build the nation and the society that we can bequeath to our children, and their children, without shame and with pride.

Thank you very much.