Election Officers in the National Capital Region (NCR) have turned down a proposal in the House of Representatives to revert the country back to manual system of voting.

Recently, Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez proposed in Congress the adoption of a ‘hybrid’ system of manual and automated balloting for the 2010 elections. But the election officer in Golez’s turf was quick to oppose the idea saying that it is against the will of the Filipino people.

“They are frustrating the will of the sovereign,” said Atty. Joseph Cea Maganduga, Parañaque City Election Officer.

“Ang gusto ng tao magkaroon na ng pagbabago. Dapat magkaroon na ng full automation para mabura o mabawasan na ang pagdududa at dayaan sa ating eleksyon,” the election official added.

Quezon City 2nd District Election Officer Atty. Dina Valencia likewise rejected the proposal because it will be more prone to fraud and manipulation. “Mas mahirap kapag manual because there’ll be more room for human intervention. Isa pa, mas makakalito pa ito dahil dalawa pa ang babantayan natin,” Valencia said referring to the manual and automated votes.

Meanwhile, Manila’s 3rd District Election Officer Mrs. Rosalinda Radin minced no words when asked to react on Golez’s pitch. An election officer for almost two decades, Radin thought it would be “disgusting” if we are to go manual. In fact she says automation of the country’s elections is long overdue. “Our elections should have been automated since 1995, now they want to delay it again?” Radin said.

For his part, NCR elections Director Atty. Michael Dioneda agreed with the sentiments of the election officers. He said the ‘hybrid’ system would not be a workable solution to the perennial problem of cheating during elections.

“Mas magiging magulo talaga kapag ganiyan ang sistema. Mas magiging mahaba pa ang proseso dahil magkakaroon pa ng hiwalay na balota,” said Dioneda.

Earlier, COMELEC Chairman Jose Melo has warned of a repeat of the so-called ‘Hello Garci’ scandal should we go manual in the elections next year.

“If we revert back to manual, even partial only, we would not be able to eliminate electoral fraud. Cheating will once again be easy to do,” Melo told reporters the other day, adding that it would defeat the purpose of modernizing the way we vote and that it would be a contravention to Republic Act 9369 or the Automated Election System (AES) Law. ###

* source: Education and Information Department