Atin Ito First Filipino Community Newspaper in Ontario
Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia said on Tuesday, July 11, that the poll body believes that internet voting for overseas Filipino absentee voters is legally tenable and defensible.
Commission on Election (Comelec) Commissioner George Garcia gives a speech during the Comelec Internet Voting Demonstration (IVD) held inside the Palacio Del Gobernador in Intramuros, Manila, on July 11, 2023. (Juan Carlo de Vela)
In a press briefing during the public demonstration of internet voting technology, Garcia said that they have to go out of the box, stating that the poll body should be proactive while also respecting the legislative and executive bodies and waiting for the proper law.
“The Comelec is empowered by the constitution not only to administer and enforce election law but likewise to generally manage elections in the country,” Garcia said.
In approving internet voting’s policy direction recently, Comelec said it cited Section 16.11 of RA. No.9189 which allows them to study the use of electronic mail, internet, or other secured networks in the casting of votes of qualified Filipino voters.
Comelec also used as the basis for its decision Section 28 of RA. No. 10590 giving them the power to explore other more efficient, reliable, and secure modes or systems, ensuring the secrecy and sanctity of the entire process, whether paper-based, electronic-based, or internet-based technology or such other latest technology available, for onsite and remote registration and elections.
Section 23 of the same act granted Comelec the power to determine other alternative modes of voting.
“The Comelec should proceed. If the Comelec will be restrained, for example, somebody will question our action then so be it. At least we proceeded. Yun naman po ang dapat (That should be the action),” Garcia said.
“Siyempre po haharap kami sa Senate at House hearings, definitely matatanong ito. We will definitely explain to them. Ngayon, kung wala din namang budget, how can we proceed with internet voting? Kung tatanggalin din naman yung budget na nilagay namin para sa internet voting, wala rin magagawa ang Comelec (Of course we will be facing Senate and House hearing, this will be questioned. We will definitely explain this [internet voting] to them. Now, if there will be no budget, how can we proceed with internet voting? If they will remove the budget we put for internet voting, there’s nothing Comelec can do),” he added.
So far, Garcia stated that no one has questioned the legality of internet voting, adding that it just needs to be explained properly.
On Tuesday, (June 11), a public demonstration of internet voting technology and systems from eight multinational internet voting solutions providers was held which included Miru, Smartmatic, Dermalog, Indra, E-Corp, Tambuli Labs, Voatz, and Thales.
In a statement, Comelec said that the Automation Law itself, RA. No. 9369, authorizes COMELEC to use an automated election system as it may deem practical in national and local elections.
It added that these laws were further reinforced by RA. No. 10590 which expressly and unequivocally stated that overseas voting may be done either personally, by mail, or by any other means as may be determined by the Commission, and that internet-based technology or whatever latest technology may be explored.
It also mentioned that the expected output of this technology demonstration is for the COMELEC, together with the COMELEC Advisory Council (CAC), with the assistance of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and the Philippine IT Community, to craft a Terms of Reference (TOR) for Internet Voting for overseas Filipino Voters suited to Philippine situational requirements, with emphasis on cybersecurity, accuracy, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, convenience, sustainability, transparency, integrity, inclusivity, and most especially, auditability.
“Such TOR will then be the subject and basis of a competitive public bidding in time for the 2025 National and Local Elections,” Comelec said. — Dhel Nazario
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