PH’s electoral system
WITH less than three years before the next national and local elections in May 2025, there’s now a snowballing move in various parts of the country to shift to hybrid elections.
In fact, no less than neophyte Senator Francis “Tol” Tolentino, who is chairman of the powerful and influential Senate blue ribbon committee, is calling for hybrid balloting.
While quick and fast results are desirable and which automated transmissions can provide, he said manual counting process should also exist side-by-side automation.
Under a hybrid election system, voting is done manually with the use of the traditional ballots.
Various critics, including the former lawmaker, said that nothing is transparent in a fully automated election system, with nobody knowing how the votes are recorded and counted.
Earlier, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) declared that it will no longer use the vote-counting machines used in the last three national and local polls owing to age.
Tolentino, a lawyer, also called for a total revamp of the country’s electoral system, saying partial or piecemeal amendments to the Omnibus Election Code (OEC) will not solve problems.
Crafted in 1985, the OEC governs all elections, referanda and plebiscites in the Philippines, where national and local polls are held every three years. The last election was held last May.
Tolentino said the provisions of the 37-year-old OEC do not adapt with the current situations anymore.
Thus, we call on our election officials and other concerned government authorities to seriously look into the possibility of the Philippines shifting to a hybrid election system.
Ito ay para mawala na ang agam-agam ng ilan nating kababayan sa resulta ng mga eleksyon natin.
