HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Still awaiting the passage into law of the pilot modernization bill, the COMELEC set out with its information campaign of slowly introducing the new election system to the public. Public demonstrations were given to parties who invited the COMELEC demonstration team for presentations, lead by then MIS Director-in-Charge, Alwin Sta. Rosa. These demostrations included those given before NGOs at the Galleria Suites at the Ortigas Center in Quezon City in February and before students of De La Salle University, Manila in March. The new election system was also put in display in one of the booths at the March 15-16 Database Expo '95 Exhibit that was held at the Hotel Nikko in Makati. The COMELEC demonstration team used the two BRC demo units in these presentations.
Finally in May, Republic Act (RA) 8046 entitled "An Act Authorizing the Commission on Elections to Conduct a Nationwide Demonstration of a Computerized Election System and Pilot-Test It in the March 1996 Elections in the autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and for Other Purposes" was passed into law. COMELEC now has solid legal basis for its efforts.
After the passage of RA 8046 and with the change in COMELEC administration, COMELEC had to present the current modernization program to the newly-appointed Chairman Bernardo Pardo and Commissioner Teresita Flores. Aside from protocol, this was a necessary step since if the current modernization program was ever going to push though as planned, it would depend very highly on the support of the current otp management and the direction it would be led to by the same.
Public information efforts even led to the presentation of the new election system to Malacaņang Palace in June, in the presence of then Pres. Fidel Ramos and his Cabinet for budget discussions for the 1996 ARMM election. The new system was even demostrated, a few days after the Malacaņang presentation, in an ABC 5 television program named "Public Forum" which was hosted by UP Professor Randy David.
As previously mentioned, with the change in COMELEC top adminsitration, COMELEC had to repeat its pre-qualification and bidding procedures for the selection of an optical mark sense (OMR) machine beginning the last week of June when it promulgated Res. No. 95-2636, approving the pre-qualification criteria for the selection of an OMR machine which, among others, specified the type of equipment required by COMELEC, that is:
- OMR, Mark Sense, Scanning or similar technology
- passed government test for election purposes
The same three (3) companies that figured in the previous year's selection were shortlisted for this year's selection.
In October, Minute Res. No. 95-3542 clarified COMELEC's bididng reuirement as to the number of machines needed in the ARMM election: "Per package of software/equipment should cover a maximum of two municipalities. One package should consist of at least one machine which can finish the counting/canvassing in all municipalities within 24 hours; all provinces and/or district 48 hours; and a reigonal consolidation within 72 hours...". The public bidding was conducted immediately afterwards, and after demonstrations and testing of the machines of the shortlisted suppliers, which included a voting test conducted on selected COMELEC personnel to determine the acceptability and ease of use of the suppliers' sample ballots, COMELEC accepted the bid of AIS by November in Min. Res. No. 95-3785.
The new machine was presented to the public in public hearings conducted in La Union and Baguio City by the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms, chaired by then Rizal-2nd District Representative Emigdio Tanjuatco.
On December 29, RA 8176 was passed postponing the March 1996 ARMM elections to September 9, 1996, giving the COMELEC more time to prepare for the country's first computerized election.
Other demonstrations that were held before the year ended, using the BRC demo units, included those given before:
- representatives from the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP) in July
- students of the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City, also in July
- representatives of NAMFREL, also in July
- the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms, chaired by then Rizal-2nd District Representative Emigdio Tanjuatco, in August.
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