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‘Let Congress take over in case of failure of elections’


Three lawmakers on Wednesday proposed a solution in case of a failure of elections occurred in May: let legislators take over the country for the meantime by extending their terms for a maximum of six months. House Bill 7108, or the "Holdover Act of 2010," proposes that incumbent members of the Senate and the House of Representatives "continue to hold office after their term of office until the new members are duly elected, proclaimed, and has assumed office" in case the May 10 elections do not take place, or if there is a failure of elections. The measure was filed Tuesday by Nueva Ecija Rep. Edno Joson, Nueva Vizcaya Rep. Carlos Padilla, and Tarlac Rep. Jeci Lapus amid fears that the May elections - the first nationwide automated polls in Philippine history - would be a failure. A copy of the bill was distributed to reporters Wednesday. Under the proposed measure, the temporary holdover of lawmakers should not exceed six months from the expiration of their terms of office. They will only step down iif new lawmakers have been elected. "It is hoped that with this legislation, the dire consequences of a failure of election, political anarchy, violent take-overs, and opportunism shall be averted," the authors of HB 7108 said. Earlier in the day, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reiterated to lawmakers its assurance that they need not worry about the possibility that the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines that would be used to count and transmit ballots in May might be hacked into by poll cheaters. The 128-bit encryption of the machines itself render them virtually impossible to hack into, but as an extra precautionary measure, Comelec commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said the poll body is arranging the transmission of election results data through private networks of telecommunications companies, and not through the Internet which would be more "prone to risks and attacks." He also said the Comelec website, which would display election result updates, is "very secure" and that there would be "mirror" websites that would display updates in the unlikely scenario that the poll body's website is hacked into. Secretary Rey Anthony Roxas-Chua III of the Commission on Information and Communication Technology, likewise, said the technology that would be used, coupled with constant public updates, would make manipulation of election results virtually impossible. "Once it's already available for public use, no one can really change it without being noticed," Roxas-Chua said during the same hearing. The first batch of poll machines was initially scheduled to be delivered last November, but it was moved to December. Costlier shipping and traffic then caused another delay in the delivery of some 12,000 PCOS machines. By the end of December 2009, only 7,200 PCOS units were delivered to the country. But Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said that Smartmatic-TIM, the consortium that will automate the May polls, has committed to deliver about 9,600 poll machines every week after that. With this, he said they have already caught up with their initial time line. Melo said they expect to be in custody of 50,000 PCOS machines by the end of this week. He also assured the public that all the 82, 200 PCOS machines needed for the 2010 polls will all have been manufactured and delivered by February. The poll body chief said that as stated in their contract with Smartmatic-TIM, the consortium is expected to deliver all the poll machines before February 28. The company will be forced to pay a P7.5 million fine for every single day it misses the deadline, Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said.- with Kimberly Jane Tan/RSJ/KBK, GMANews.TV

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