Gibo still ‘doubtful’ of automated polls

Administration party standard-bearer Gilberto Teodoro Jr. on Saturday said he still has doubts if the country can hold its first nationwide automated elections in May, given the delays in the delivery of the poll machines and the looming power crisis threatening to hamper the coming elections. “I still have doubts, just like most of our fellow Filipinos… I am still waiting for the massive briefing by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the public so as to assuage all my worries of possible glitches that may occur in May," he told GMANews.TV after the taping of Kandidato, a GMA News and Public Affairs special which will air this March. Teodoro said the short amount of time left to complete the delivery and the testing of the poll machines makes him more doubtful if the country can hold automated elections less than three months from now. “My doubt is in the fact that the last poll machines will have to be delivered to the country in the coming days. There is only little time between the delivery of the machines and the actual elections. Perhaps the time to test these machines would not be enough," he said. The Lakas-Kampi-CMD presidential bet likewise said that the power crisis may also affect the public’s perception of whether the automated polls will push through or not. “Now that there are still more doubts being raised by the power shortage, I hope the Comelec explains to the public how they will resolve these problems," he said. “The Comelec should also make known their back-up plans in case all our worries turn to reality in May," he added. The Comelec had earlier said that all 82,200 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines will be delivered to the country before the end of this month. Only 48,900 of these machines have been delivered in the poll body’s warehouse in Laguna as of posting time. (See: Poll machines to be delivered by end-February, Smartmatic says) Malacanang, for its part, has also assured that no brownouts will take place during the conduct of the first ever nationwide elections this coming May. (See: No brownouts during May polls, govt assures) Gordon insists automation will be ‘a success’ Bagumbayan presidential bet Sen. Richard Gordon, on the other hand, remains certain the automated elections will be a success. "Aabot yan, aabot yan. (It will be in place in time.) I'm very confident as my cellphone works," said Gordon, author of Republic Act (RA) 9369 or the Amended Automated Elections System Law. Asked what could be the reason for Teodoro's doubts over the automated polls, Gordon said: "May doubts siya kasi gusto ng administration na manual voting (It’s because he has doubts that the administration actually prefers manual voting)." Instead of casting doubts on the capabilities of the technology planned to be used in May, Gordon encouraged voters to focus their attention more on scrutinizing the candidates. "Nag-uumpisa pa lang ang kampanya. Magde-debate pa nang mag-dedebate at alamin natin ang nilalaman ng utak at ano ang karanasan at kakayahan ng [mga kandidato] (The campaign is just starting. There will be debates and debates, so we should try to see what their brains contain, what are the experiences and abilities [of the candidates])," Gordon said in a separate interview before the Kandidato taping on Saturday.—JV, GMANews.TV