Assignment 3(MIS)Reflection on Automated election

Philippines says plan for automated election on again
Fri Jul 3, 2009 3:42pm IST

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines will hold automated presidential elections next year after the partners of a joint venture that won a $150 million deal to supply counting machines patched up their differences on Friday, officials said.
"We're back to automation," Jose Melo, head of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), told reporters after Filipino company Total Information Management signed a joint venture agreement with Barbados-based Smartmatic to supply 82,200 counting machines.
Lawmakers, political groups and analysts have previously cast doubts over the automated process. Many feared chaos due to potential machine breakdowns and delays in results transmission, which could lead to a failed election and political limbo.
But analysts say even manual counting would expose the elections to the likelihood of fraud. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has faced four attempts at impeachment on charges she cheated in the last presidential election in 2004.
Melo said the incorporation papers of the joint venture to supply vote counting machines will be filed before the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday and the contract with Comelec will be signed on Friday, the final deadline to automate the elections in May 2010.
If no automation contract is signed by July 10, Melo said the Philippines will likely scrap the deal and hold elections manually.
The automation should provide results within two days of voting instead of the weeks it takes currently, the agency has said.
On Monday, Melo said the plan to automate polls was likely to be scrapped because Smartmatic's local partner broke off from the deal due to differences, but gave the partners until Friday to resolve their dispute.

Reference: http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-40785720090703


2010 Philippine Automated Election in jeopardy
by Ryuji23 | July 1, 2009 at 03:26 am
MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) are now on the mindset of going back to manual counting if Smartmatic and TIM will not resolve their conflict. The COMELEC has given the two corporations until Friday to decide whether or not they could push through with the automation contract for the 2010 elections.
If the two companies cannot push through with the automation contract, COMELEC chairman Jose Melo admitted that next year’s elections might be done manually because the commission no longer has the time to convene a second bidding for a new supplier of machines.
Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr., chairman of the House electoral reform committee, told reporters that TIM president Antuñez wanted 500 million php “up front” from its foreign partner. “If you give me a half a billion pesos, all of these problems will be solved.” - This was what the president of Total Information Management Corp. had demanded in a tease manner, but Smartmatic took seriously.“Of course, they took this as a joke but lawyers do not laugh about such things. They took it as a deal breaker. The lawyers thought this was tantamount to extortion,” Locsin said.Locsin said that by making “impossible demands,” Antunez was laying the groundwork for its defense against a lawsuit to be filed by Smartmatic in Singapore. “P500 million is really big because Smartmatic’s bid is already the lowest. You are not supposed to do that, it’s illegal. You cannot just give P500 million profit to somebody. Why will you do that?” Locsin said.

Reference: http://www.nowpublic.com/world/2010-philippine-automated-election-jeopardy


Goals:
To ensure a credible and transparent electoral process, the modernization of the electoral system through computerization shall be supported to ensure the credibility of polls and correct the deficiencies in the electoral system. Likewise, the Omnibus Election Code shall be further revised and amended to respond to the needs of the present electoral system. Measures to strengthen the party system and regulate the activities of political parties shall be created. State financing of political parties shall also be considered through the passage of the Campaign Finance Bill. The COMELEC’s capacity to raise the level of political discourse and educate citizens regarding their right to vote will be enhanced. This will be done through conduct of continuing citizen and voter education through partnership with civil society groups and other government institutions. The electorate must be empowered with information that would help them vote intelligently. The challenge is to develop the people’s appreciation of their vote as a means to reform the government and receive better services from it. Part of this challenge is the need to raise the awareness of the electorate on relevant issues and the corresponding platforms of the candidates, if the country is to shift from the politics of personality to the politics of party programs.

Reference: http://www.neda.gov.ph/ads/mtpdp/mtpdp2004-2010/pdf/mtpdp%202004-2010%20neda_chapterx13_elections.pdf


Reflections:
Its just one of the big headlines that booms out the whole world of media. It’s the news about the Automated Election that will be used in 2010 election here in Philippines. According to the news updates, there are times that the automation for election has not been approved because of some financial and other conflicts. There are lots of questions that would come up in your mind about this issue, “are the Filipinos ready for the automated election?”, “could this help and improve the election system?”, “are these machines secured enough from some anomalies such us cheating?”, “are we capable for this system?”, and etc.. But such a big question for every responsible Filipino, “Would we go for automated election or not?”.
For me, as an IT student and an educated citizen of the Philippines, I choose to have an automated election Philippines. This is our chance to show the world that we are capable and well educated persons to have this kind of system for election. In my own understanding and point of view about this issue, I urge to choose the automated election because it is one way of helping our country to improve and let the world of IT evolve in us. Technology today is part of our lives for these help us make our life efficient and easy. Automated election helps our country establish a faster, reliable and efficient election system. Information Technology is the most concern about this situation. Businesses are improved and are still revolving in our world through the help of IT/IS.
Another question arises because of our countries economic income. “Can our country (Philippines) have an enough budget to sustain the offered amount?” According to the news headlines, automated election is threatened not to continue because of some financial problem and business transaction conflicts. “Can Philippines provide that such amount?” for me yes, using IT relations, we can find ways to provide the offered amount. Information System can help us deal with Financing problem. If we can understand more way of Information System/ the Information Technology, we will be able to solve our problem.
Develop your world, learn IT!
God bless us all!