Philippine Presidential Election 2010
Any decision made today
The upcoming Philippine
presidential election on May 10, 2010 is
much anticipated because it will be the first
elections that will use poll automation. With
these automation machines, Filipino people
will have to say goodbye to their old-
fashioned style of voting and tabulating of
results. It is a process wherein with one click
to these automating machines, the votes will
automatically be counted and within the next
few days, the next president shall be
declared.
This paper will discuss the
Commission on Elections’ (COMELEC’s)
condition with regards to the upcoming
national elections. Also, this paper will
discuss how candidates for the national posts
prepare for 2010. Another important thing to
consider is the mass’ reactions to these
preparations. However, there is another
issue on whether there will really be
elections in 2010. Speculations circulate that
the current President will pursue charter
change to extend her presidency.
The upcoming presidential elections
will define Philippine history. I believe that
this paper is of significance because as we
approach May 2010, we should be aware of
the preparations made before the actual
event may happen. Today is an important
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part in our history.
will have an impact in our future. Moreover
the preparations and reactions of the
members of the society can help us predict
the future of our country.
COMELEC
As mandated by the law, the
Commission on Elections (COMELEC) will
be the agency responsible for the facilitation
of elections. One way or another, the next
elections will either redeem the name of
COMELEC or retain the distrust of the
people. For the past years, the agency has
been known for the different anomalies that
the officials of it had been involved.
Major anomalies in the commission
are those involving COMELEC
commissioner Virgilio Garcillano and
former chairman Benjamin Abalos. People
will not easily forget the “Hello Garci”
scandal which contained a wiretapped
conversation between the President and
Garcilliano during election time (GMA
News Research, 2008). The act was
considered as cheating for a candidate,
Arroyo during that time, was not suppose to
talk to a COMELEC official. According to
GMA News Research (2008), the issue then
became very controversial that the Filipino
people called for the resignation of the
President. However, the President survived
the impeachment attempts and then admitted since 1940 (COMELEC, 2009), COMELEC
that she talked to a commissioner and has succeeded in passing the Republic Act
apologized for the said action. 9698 known as “An Act Amending Republic
Act No. 8436, Entitled, “An Act
Issues Authorizing
involving The
ex-chairman Commission
Benjamin On Elections
Abalos To Use An
caused Automated
people’s Election
view of the System In
agency as The May 11,
lacking of 1998
credibility. National Or
According Local
to the same Elections
source, GMA News Research (2008), he And in Subsequent National And Local
was alleged as the broker of the NBN-ZTE Electoral Exercises, To Encourage
deal amounting to $329 million, Photokina Transparency, Credibility, Fairness And
deal amounting to Php6.5 billion, and the Accuracy Of Elections, Amending For The
Megapacific deal amounting to Php1.3 Purpose Batas Pampansa Blg. 881, As
billion. All three anomalies involve huge Amended, Republic Act No. 7166 And
amount of Filipino money that must have Other Related Election Laws, Providing
been used for the improvement of the voting Funds Therefor And For Other Purposes.”
system; yet, cases remain unsolved and there The act gives COMELEC the authority to
had been no confirmed judgment whether or use and automated election system (Section
not the ex-chairman has responsibility for 5, RA. 9369).
this controversies. The budget for automated elections
Fulfilling the duties of the office, has already been signed by the president
which is protecting the sanctity of the ballot (ABS-CBN News, 2009). According to the

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same article, Presidential adviser Gabriel
Claudio said that the palace sees no more
obstacles in the implementation of a fully
automated election next year.
COMELEC hopes that with
implementation of automated elections,
there will be fraud-free elections. Another
advantage of using these high technology
machines is that less government employees
will be bothered come election period.
Optical Mark Reader (OMR) vs. Open
Elections System (OES)
“In fully automated elections, voters
will only have to shade ballots, and the
OMR machine will take its picture. The data
and votes counted will be sent
municipalities. Everything is electronic but
hard copies of ballots are saved” (Teves,
2009).
On the other hand, “With OES, the
voters still need to write names of the
candidates and manual counting will be
done. The number of votes will be recorded
in the OES software by people and will be
published online. PIN codes are needed in
order to edit or manipulate data” (Teves,
2009). “As an automation system, the OES
involves the manual counting of votes at the
precinct but uses automation through the
encoding of election returns followed by the
electronic posting of the ERs, SOVs, COCs,
and other election data – inclusive of the
municipal/city to national levels – to a
public web that is accessible to the people”
The (Center for People’s Empowerment and
the Governance, 2009).
COMELEC wants the next elections
to use OMR. However, according to an
article in Bulatlat, the use of OMR machines
in next year’s elections will promote
wholesale cheating (Center for People’s
Empowerment and Governance, 2009). The
use of OMR is not transparent. If a
candidate wants to win, all he or she has to
do is to bribe the operators of the software
so that it will be programmed to register the
to votes as theirs. In the end, they will
eventually win – with no trace or evidence
of cheating.
OES, being pushed by some non-
government organizations, is a more
transparent system. Another advantage that
the Center for People’s Empowerment and
Governance (CENPEG) points out is that
OES is Php4 billion cheaper than OMR
machines. The transparency offered by OES
is the website where people can access and
see the ongoing process of counting.
ARMM already has used OMR in
their elections last August 2008 but the
results are unsatisfactory. The COMELEC
has failed to issue the election reports of that
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election. Moreover, it has admitted that there
was inadequate training of the IT personnel
that were in charge of the facilitation of the
voting process. The OES on the other hand,
will not require IT personnel to be trained.
However, given these advantages,
COMELEC Chairperson Jose Melo still
pushes for the OMR machines.
Other COMELEC Preparations
Aside from the automated elections,
there are few more preparations being made
by the COMELEC. Registration of overseas
absentee voters is extended until August
2009 (COMELEC Press Release, 2009). The
registration of OFWs shows their
significance as an electorate and a stake
holder of the country. Because most Filipino
workers are abroad, they have been given a
chance to participate in the national election.
On the local level, eligible voters can
register in different COMELEC stations in
their place even during Saturdays, Sundays,
and Holidays to give way to students and
busy employees (COMELEC Press Release,
2009). Through these measures, we can
generalize that the commission is doing its
job in preparing for the upcoming elections.
Candidates for National Level Posts
Candidates for elections next year
are already preparing for the polls. Local
economy is predicted to boost because of the
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early campaign spending of the candidates
(Amojelar, 2008). As early as 2009,
candidates are already preparing for
elections in 2010. In an interview with
Bernardo Villegas, an economist from the
University of Asia and Pacific (UA&P),
Amojelar (2008) noted that four or five
candidates for the presidency are known to
be readying sizable amounts scheduled to
spend even before the campaign period in
February 2010. These candidates are Vice
President Noli de Castro; Senators Panfilo
Lacson, Manuel “Mar” Roxas 2nd and
Manuel Villar Jr.; and Chairman Bayani
Fernando of the Metropolitan Manila
Development Authority.
We may notice names of candidates
scattered every where – from billboards to
commercials in national television. Every
politician can be remembered to appear in a
commercial these past few weeks. As
defined by election law, a politician’s
commercial ad or endorsement is not

premature campaigning; therefore, no
sanctions (Rufo, 2008).
Among the “commercial models” are
Senators Mar Roxas II and Pia Cayetano for
laundry detergents, Panfilo Lacson for a skin
care center, Richard Gordon for a bath soap,
Loren Legarda for a skin whitener and
Francis Escudero for a health supplement.
Senate President Manuel Villar has his own
TV commercial, calling for the protection of
overseas Filipino workers. Legarda has an
environment-protection ad. Vice-President
Noli de Castro has been promoting the low-
cost housing loan program of Pag-ibig
(Rufo, 2008).
Metro Manila Development
Authority Chairman, Bayani Fernando also
has his face pasted on tarps of MMDA and
he even joined and won the grand prize in
Celebrity Duets late 2008.
In Rufo 2008, former Senate
President Jovito Salonga defined such acts
as unethical; SC said that commercial ads
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and billboards “indirectly promoted
candidacy;” and Senators Pimentel and
Defensor-Santiago opposed the actions.
Senator Pimentel even said that “It is only a
matter of delicadeza” (Rufo, 2008).
Moreover, campaign stations in
social networks already exist. The
candidates are now entering the world of
internet to spread their campaign. They take
advantage and maximize social networks
(Toral, 2008). It is to their advantage that
many Filipinos are online and social
networks are an affordable and effective
way to reach out to the public.
These appearances in commercials,
billboards and in other forms of media make
the candidates known. The use of these
mediums defines early campaign strategy.
Being not sanctioned, the candidates will
continue these activities to increase their
popularity and to reach out to the electorate
hoping for their vote in the national
elections in May 2010.
The Filipino People
Common Filipinos have different
reaction toward the upcoming national
election in 2010. Different reactions have
various reasons behind it. According to
SWS survey 92% of the people liked the fact
that there will be automated elections
(Calalo, 2009). The people had grown tired
of the usual Filipino elections characterized
by fraud, brown-outs and many other
anomalies. With the automated elections
introduced, this gave another chance for the
people to hope for clean elections.
Today, there are existing poll watch;
and organizations are encouraging the
people to participate in the preparation and
in the actual elections (Toral, 2008). They
conduct activities in order to reach out to
many Filipinos the importance of the 2010
elections not only for the country but for
every individual in this nation.
However, this thought of no possible
elections remains. As long as the
administration is pushing for charter-change,
there is always “Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s
Poorever and Beyond 2010” campaign
(Cyber Istambayan, 2008). We cannot easily
accept Cha-Cha for it own sake because the
elections will be sacrificed, therefore
extending Arroyo’s term in office.
Another threat is the militarization of
the bureaucracy. According to Remollino
2009, the appointments of retired military
officers and policemen in the Arroyo cabinet
endanger not only the civilian bureaucracy
but also the democracy itself. This move is
considered a desperate measure of the
administration in order to suppress possible
opposition and tension that will happen in
the future. Through this, destabilization is
impossible to happen.
Also, another way is by meeting with
the representatives of the house. These
meeting were alleged to have discussed the
future of cha-cha and the passage of it.
Truly, we can see how much effort the
administration gives in order to sustain its
self-interest and to stay in power beyond
2010.
Other Filipinos in the other hand
consider elections just a normal event. Some
may think of not participating in the coming
elections. They are too busy attending to
their own personal needs that give them no
time to be enthusiastic about the coming
elections. They have been consistent victim
of the promises that made and soon broken
by the politicians. How can they possibly
think of the next elections when they have
nothing to eat at this moment?