HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

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1996

The ARMM Elections Pilot Test

      With the ARMM elections now just nine months away, the contract with the winning bidder for the computerized election system was signed in the first half of January. Forty-two (42) model 150s of AIS were delivered to the COMELEC by March, underwent acceptance testing procedures, and were completely accepted by April.

      Still in line with the public information campaign concerning the new election system, demonstrations were still conducted beginning early this year:

• to DAP representatives, in January
  
  
• to the COMELEC Senior Staff, since there was a new machine, also in January
  
  
• to law students of Ateneo de Manila University in Makati City, also in January, which was presented by then Commissioners Regalado Maambong and Teresita Flores. It was a timely opportunity to present the advantages of an automated election system because then losing-candidate-for-Senator in the 1995 elections, Aquilino Pimentel Jr., was also there to present the findings of his case regarding the Dagdag-Bawas issue;
  
  
• to the voting public in the municipalitites of Morong, Antipolo and San Mateo, all in the province of Rizal, in March, as part of the public hearings being conducted by Rep. Tanjuatco's House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms; and
  
  
• before NGOs at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in Makati City in April, comprising of the following organizations:
  
  
  1. Manindigan
     
     
  2. Konsiyensiya ng Bayan
     
     
  3. CAAP
     
     
  4. Foundation for Clean Elections

  Former Sen. Pimentel was again also there to present the status of his dagdag-bawas case.
  
  

• public hearing of the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms in Davao City and Mati, Davao Oriental in May
  
  
• at then National Assemby of the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) on May 31, the political party of Rep. Tanjuatco, at the Trader's Hotel, Manila
  
  
• before technical representatives of NAMFREL in June
  
  
• before Career Executive Service Officers (CESO) at the CES building in Quezon City in June
  
  
• in the Modernization Demo Room in the MIS office, which was made operational and had the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms and the PCS as the first visitors in August

      A cable channel, CityNet, even videotaped the new machine in operation in June.

      Starting last week of April, technical preparations for the ARMM elections began. The winning supplier sent qualified representatives to conduct demonstrations and respond to questions regarding their election system before COMELEC personnel, the Oversight Committee, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the media. The National Printing Office (NPO) was also site inspected by the AIS representatives to verify if the facilities and the personnel were up to the task of printing the new computerized ballots, both of which proved satisfactory to the visiting supplier's representatives. With a few instructions and reminders on the important points for consideration in printing ballots for reading by an OMR, AIS accredited NPO's ability to accomplish the task.

      The COMELEC's Management Information System (MIS) personnel underwent technical training from another set of AIS representatives here in Manila in May. The training included operation of the following AIS software:

• Ballot Definition System (BDS), which is used to input and process information on the candidate names and their political parties, positions being run for and jurisdictions of the election, with the end objective of producing a ballot-proof that would be used by NPO in printing the official ballots;
  
  
• Election Programming System (EPS), which is used to process the information inputted in BDS and burn them into an EPROM chip that would be used in the AIS 150s on election day; and
  
  
• Election Reporting System (ERS), which is used to generate the election reports required by law on election day

      Essentially, COMELEC had been trained to handle everything from ballot-proof preparation to generation of election reports. However, the task of physically ensuring the machines would be in running condition was still handled by AIS, with the aid of a local counterpart, Telecommunications and Computer Technologies, Inc. (TCTI), whose two top technicians were trained in the supplier's company location in Omaha, Nebraska, USA.

      With the purchase of 42 machines for the nearing ARMM elections, and the plan to send one COMELEC machine operator for each machine for the forthcoming ARMM elections, there was now a need to provide at least 42 assisting technical personnel from the COMELEC main office. Since the MIS office was operating with ten (10) personnel only, a search was made among the different departments and offices of the COMELEC for personnel with knowledge on computer operation. In July, those who qualified in the search were trained on the operation of the automated vote counting machine by AIS presentatives, and on the operation of the ERS by the MIS personnel who had just undergone training themselves two months before. Three weeks before election day, ARMM field officials and assisting COMELEC field personnel were given the same training.

      On the eve of September 9, election day, the new computerized election system was put to the test. As projected, the winning candidates for the Regional Assemblymen, district level, were proclaimed after 48 hours, and the winning gubernatorial and vice-gubernatorial races were proclaimed after 72 hours. The COMELEC, the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms, the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL)and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) all declared the recently-concluded pilot-testing of the computerized election system as a success.

      Nationwide demonstrations were simultaneously conducted afterwards by different groups of COMELEC personnel who were involved in the recently accomplished pilot testing. This was done from October to December to comply with the requirements of RA 8046. The new system was demonstrated to COMELEC's field officials first, aiming to gain acceptance of the new system in-house of COMELEC before showcasing it to the general public. Targeted next were the provincial capitals and major cities, primarily local government officials. The demonstrations were open to the public.

1995

1997