Philippine Presidential Election 2010 part in our history.

Any decision made today

The upcoming Philippine will have an impact in our future. Moreover
presidential election on May 10, 2010 is the preparations and reactions of the
much anticipated because it will be the first members of the society can help us predict
elections that will use poll automation. With the future of our country.
these automation machines, Filipino people COMELEC
will have to say goodbye to their old- As mandated by the law, the
fashioned style of voting and tabulating of Commission on Elections (COMELEC) will
results. It is a process wherein with one click be the agency responsible for the facilitation
to these automating machines, the votes will of elections. One way or another, the next
automatically be counted and within the next elections will either redeem the name of
few days, the next president shall be COMELEC or retain the distrust of the
declared. people. For the past years, the agency has
This paper will discuss the been known for the different anomalies that
Commission on Elections’ (COMELEC’s) the officials of it had been involved.
condition with regards to the upcoming Major anomalies in the commission
national elections. Also, this paper will are those involving COMELEC
discuss how candidates for the national posts commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and
prepare for 2010. Another important thing to former chairman Benjamin Abalos. People
consider is the mass’ reactions to these will not easily forget the “Hello Garci”
preparations. However, there is another scandal which contained a wiretapped
issue on whether there will really be conversation between the President and
elections in 2010. Speculations circulate that Garcilliano during election time (GMA
the current President will pursue charter News Research, 2008). The act was
change to extend her presidency. considered as cheating for a candidate,
The upcoming presidential elections Arroyo during that time, was not suppose to
will define Philippine history. I believe that talk to a COMELEC official. According to
this paper is of significance because as we GMA News Research (2008), the issue then
approach May 2010, we should be aware of became very controversial that the Filipino
the preparations made before the actual people called for the resignation of the
event may happen. Today is an important President. However, the President survived

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the impeachment attempts and then admitted since 1940 (COMELEC, 2009), COMELEC
that she talked to a commissioner and has succeeded in passing the Republic Act
apologized for the said action. 9698 known as “An Act Amending Republic
Act No. 8436, Entitled, “An Act
Issues Authorizing
involving The
ex-chairman Commission
Benjamin On Elections
Abalos To Use An
caused Automated
people’s Election
view of the System In
agency as The May 11,
lacking of 1998
credibility. National Or
According Local
to the same Elections
source, GMA News Research (2008), he And in Subsequent National And Local
was alleged as the broker of the NBN-ZTE Electoral Exercises, To Encourage
deal amounting to $329 million, Photokina Transparency, Credibility, Fairness And
deal amounting to Php6.5 billion, and the Accuracy Of Elections, Amending For The
Megapacific deal amounting to Php1.3 Purpose Batas Pampansa Blg. 881, As
billion. All three anomalies involve huge Amended, Republic Act No. 7166 And
amount of Filipino money that must have Other Related Election Laws, Providing
been used for the improvement of the voting Funds Therefor And For Other Purposes.”
system; yet, cases remain unsolved and there The act gives COMELEC the authority to
had been no confirmed judgment whether or use and automated election system (Section
not the ex-chairman has responsibility for 5, RA. 9369).
this controversies. The budget for automated elections
Fulfilling the duties of the office, has already been signed by the president
which is protecting the sanctity of the ballot (ABS-CBN News, 2009). According to the

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same article, Presidential adviser Gabriel and other election data – inclusive of the
Claudio said that the palace sees no more municipal/city to national levels – to a
obstacles in the implementation of a fully public web that is accessible to the people”
automated election next year. The (Center for People’s Empowerment and
COMELEC hopes that with the Governance, 2009).
implementation of automated elections, COMELEC wants the next elections
there will be fraud-free elections. Another to use OMR. However, according to an
advantage of using these high technology article in Bulatlat, the use of OMR machines
machines is that less government employees in next year’s elections will promote
will be bothered come election period. wholesale cheating (Center for People’s
Optical Mark Reader (OMR) vs. Open Empowerment and Governance, 2009). The
Elections System (OES) use of OMR is not transparent. If a
“In fully automated elections, voters candidate wants to win, all he or she has to
will only have to shade ballots, and the do is to bribe the operators of the software
OMR machine will take its picture. The data so that it will be programmed to register the
and votes counted will be sent to votes as theirs. In the end, they will
municipalities. Everything is electronic but eventually win – with no trace or evidence
hard copies of ballots are saved” (Teves, of cheating.
2009). OES, being pushed by some non-
On the other hand, “With OES, the government organizations, is a more
voters still need to write names of the transparent system. Another advantage that
candidates and manual counting will be the Center for People’s Empowerment and
done. The number of votes will be recorded Governance (CENPEG) points out is that
in the OES software by people and will be OES is Php4 billion cheaper than OMR
published online. PIN codes are needed in machines. The transparency offered by OES
order to edit or manipulate data” (Teves, is the website where people can access and
2009). “As an automation system, the OES see the ongoing process of counting.
involves the manual counting of votes at the ARMM already has used OMR in
precinct but uses automation through the their elections last August 2008 but the
encoding of election returns followed by the results are unsatisfactory. The COMELEC
electronic posting of the ERs, SOVs, COCs, has failed to issue the election reports of that

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election. Moreover, it has admitted that there early campaign spending of the candidates
was inadequate training of the IT personnel (Amojelar, 2008). As early as 2009,
that were in charge of the facilitation of the candidates are already preparing for
voting process. The OES on the other hand, elections in 2010. In an interview with
will not require IT personnel to be trained. Bernardo Villegas, an economist from the
However, given these advantages, University of Asia and Pacific (UA&P),
COMELEC Chairperson Jose Melo still Amojelar (2008) noted that four or five
pushes for the OMR machines. candidates for the presidency are known to
Other COMELEC Preparations be readying sizable amounts scheduled to
Aside from the automated elections, spend even before the campaign period in
there are few more preparations being made February 2010. These candidates are Vice
by the COMELEC. Registration of overseas President Noli de Castro; Senators Panfilo
absentee voters is extended until August Lacson, Manuel “Mar” Roxas 2nd and
2009 (COMELEC Press Release, 2009). The Manuel Villar Jr.; and Chairman Bayani
registration of OFWs shows their Fernando of the Metropolitan Manila
significance as an electorate and a stake Development Authority.
holder of the country. Because most Filipino We may notice names of candidates
workers are abroad, they have been given a scattered every where – from billboards to
chance to participate in the national election. commercials in national television. Every
On the local level, eligible voters can politician can be remembered to appear in a
register in different COMELEC stations in commercial these past few weeks. As
their place even during Saturdays, Sundays, defined by election law, a politician’s
and Holidays to give way to students and commercial ad or endorsement is not
busy employees (COMELEC Press Release,
2009). Through these measures, we can
generalize that the commission is doing its
job in preparing for the upcoming elections.
Candidates for National Level Posts
Candidates for elections next year
are already preparing for the polls. Local
economy is predicted to boost because of the

4
 and billboards “indirectly promoted
candidacy;” and Senators Pimentel and
Defensor-Santiago opposed the actions.
Senator Pimentel even said that “It is only a
matter of delicadeza” (Rufo, 2008).
Moreover, campaign stations in
social networks already exist. The
candidates are now entering the world of
premature campaigning; therefore, no internet to spread their campaign. They take
sanctions (Rufo, 2008). advantage and maximize social networks
Among the “commercial models” are (Toral, 2008). It is to their advantage that
Senators Mar Roxas II and Pia Cayetano for many Filipinos are online and social
laundry detergents, Panfilo Lacson for a skin networks are an affordable and effective
care center, Richard Gordon for a bath soap, way to reach out to the public.
Loren Legarda for a skin whitener and These appearances in commercials,
Francis Escudero for a health supplement. billboards and in other forms of media make
Senate President Manuel Villar has his own the candidates known. The use of these
TV commercial, calling for the protection of mediums defines early campaign strategy.
overseas Filipino workers. Legarda has an Being not sanctioned, the candidates will
environment-protection ad. Vice-President continue these activities to increase their
Noli de Castro has been promoting the low- popularity and to reach out to the electorate
cost housing loan program of Pag-ibig hoping for their vote in the national
(Rufo, 2008). elections in May 2010.
Metro Manila Development The Filipino People
Authority Chairman, Bayani Fernando also Common Filipinos have different
has his face pasted on tarps of MMDA and reaction toward the upcoming national
he even joined and won the grand prize in election in 2010. Different reactions have
Celebrity Duets late 2008. various reasons behind it. According to
In Rufo 2008, former Senate SWS survey 92% of the people liked the fact
President Jovito Salonga defined such acts that there will be automated elections
as unethical; SC said that commercial ads (Calalo, 2009). The people had grown tired

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of the usual Filipino elections characterized the future. Through this, destabilization is
by fraud, brown-outs and many other impossible to happen.
anomalies. With the automated elections Also, another way is by meeting with
introduced, this gave another chance for the the representatives of the house. These
people to hope for clean elections. meeting were alleged to have discussed the
Today, there are existing poll watch; future of cha-cha and the passage of it.
and organizations are encouraging the Truly, we can see how much effort the
people to participate in the preparation and administration gives in order to sustain its
in the actual elections (Toral, 2008). They self-interest and to stay in power beyond
conduct activities in order to reach out to 2010.
many Filipinos the importance of the 2010 Other Filipinos in the other hand
elections not only for the country but for consider elections just a normal event. Some
every individual in this nation. may think of not participating in the coming
However, this thought of no possible elections. They are too busy attending to
elections remains. As long as the their own personal needs that give them no
administration is pushing for charter-change, time to be enthusiastic about the coming
there is always “Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s elections. They have been consistent victim
Poorever and Beyond 2010” campaign of the promises that made and soon broken
(Cyber Istambayan, 2008). We cannot easily by the politicians. How can they possibly
accept Cha-Cha for it own sake because the think of the next elections when they have
elections will be sacrificed, therefore nothing to eat at this moment?
extending Arroyo’s term in office.
Another threat is the militarization of
the bureaucracy. According to Remollino
2009, the appointments of retired military
officers and policemen in the Arroyo cabinet
endanger not only the civilian bureaucracy
but also the democracy itself. This move is
considered a desperate measure of the
administration in order to suppress possible
opposition and tension that will happen in