Perennial problem mars start of mock elections

Despite a new system in place for the first nationwide automated polls, the perennial problem of lost names from voters' lists hounded the start of mock polls early Saturday. The Commission on Elections are conducting these rehearsals for the coming computerized elections in May. At the Maharlika Elementary School in Taguig City, a village official taking part in the exercise complained that his name was not on the list of voters. "Ginawa nila through phone, pati notice wala, madalian ang gawa nila. Umpisa pa lang yan, wala pang eleksyon (They told me to take part in the mock polls by phone. There was no written notice. This was all hastily done. And this is just the start, we're not yet at the actual elections)," the village official identified only as Pangandaman said in an interview with dzBB radio's Lito Laparan. The disenfranchisement of voters has been a problem in past Philippine elections, when the counting of votes was done manually. Another "voter" identified only as "Danny" similarly complained that his name was not on the list. "Nung sinabi nila sasali kami sa mock elections tuwang-tuwa kami. Ang question ko napalitan ang pangalan (When they told us we would take part in mock polls, we were very happy. But why did they change the names on the list without informing us)?" he said. The Commission on Elections held mock polls in several areas nationwide Saturday to identify more glitches in its implementation of the automated counting system. Last week, glitches caused by the lack of cell phone signals marred the testing of precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines. - LBG/HGS, GMANews.TV