P11.3-B automation budget to be signed soon - Malacañang

MANILA, Philippines - As it welcomed the passage of the P11.3-billion supplemental budget for the automated polls in 2010, Malacañang assured Thursday President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo would sign the measure into law soonest. But Press Secretary Cerge Remonde admitted the P11.3-billion supplemental budget would take a “backseat" to the P1.415-trillion national budget as far as the signing is concerned. "Sa tingin ko mauuna ang pambansang budget natin, yan ay naunang naisabatas at naunang nai-submit [I think the national budget will be signed ahead of the supplemental budget for the automated polls, because the national budget was passed first]," he said in an interview on dzXL radio. Remonde, however, didn’t give an exact date for the signing of the poll automation budget. Earlier, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said Mrs. Arroyo would likely sign the national budget into law by “mid-March." In the meantime, Remonde congratulated the Senate and House of Representatives for passing the P11.3-billion supplemental budget before going on a month-long break. He added that the President had called for the approval of the supplemental budget because an automated election was a major part of her program. ‘Fast counting’ Meanwhile, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) expects to proclaim the winners of the 2010 election by May 13, or three days after Election Day. An automation timeline on the Comelec blog site (www.bagongbotante.ph) said the proclamation of winners in the local levels might come as early as May 11. The Comelec scheduled April 20, 2010, as Election Day in ARMM, and May 10 in the rest of the country. In its timeline, the Comelec said it expects to complete “counting, canvassing, and proclamation" of winners in the provincial, city, and town positions by May 11. Canvassing and proclamation of winners for national positions will come between May 12 and 13, it added. It also provided a separate timeline for elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Expecting the passage into law of the P11.3-billion supplemental budget for automated polls, the Comelec issued the following updated timeline: • March 25, 2009: Publication of invitation to bid and issuance of invitation to bid and bid documents • April 3: Pre-bid conference • May 4: Public bidding • May 4 to 6: End-to-end demonstration of proposal • May 4 to 15: Bid evaluation and post qualification • May 22: Issue notice of award • May 23 to 26: Contract preparation and signing • May 26: Approval of contract • May 28 to Nov. 11: Customization of systems and systems development • Nov. 11 to 16: Delivery of systems and machines • Nov. 17 to Dec. 17: Testing of systems and machines • Nov. 28: Field test • Dec. 25: Second field test • Dec. 12: Mock election • Dec. 18: Systems certification and Comelec systems acceptance • Dec. 18 to 24: Training of Comelec technical personnel • Dec. 28 to Feb. 25, 2010: Training of field personnel on operation • Feb. 22 to May 6: Conduct of public demo using machines The creation of a machine configuration and ballot faces is scheduled Dec. 19 to March 25, 2010, while printing of official ballots will be from Jan. 7 to April 18, 2010. Setting of configuration of machines will take place Jan. 7 to April 18. Setting of configuration of machines for ARMM is scheduled from Jan. 7 to 10. Machines are to be tested on Jan. 14, and will be deployed along with transmission equipment from March 2 to April 25. Machines and transmission equipment for ARMM will be deployed from March 2 to March 5. The preparation of transmission sites will be from March 2 to April 25, while preparation of transmission sites for ARMM will be from March 2 to 5. Training of operators and DOST certification will be from March 11 to April 30 (up to March 14 for ARMM). Preparation of voting, counting and canvassing sites will take place from March 2 to April 25 (up to March 5 for ARMM). Final testing and sealing of machines will be on May 6 (April 16 for ARMM). Ballots will be shipped from April 22 to May 8 (April 13 to 15 for ARMM).- GMANews.TV