INSISTING that there is a need to “improve and modernize” the elections, Senator Imee Marcos filed Senate Bill (SB) No. 179 saying that the election must be “updated” at the soonest time as she stressed to pursue the need for changes and keep up with the times.

Marcos presided over the Committee on Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation public hearing to pursue efforts in conducting national and local elections, including that of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), through manual and automated voting and counting.

Discussing SB 179 filed by Marcos, she said the measure seeks to create a new Omnibus Election Code.

She stressed that the proposal to conduct “hybrid elections” had already reached the plenary during the previous Senate.

“However, we would like to pursue this effort and carry on with the same. And with that, we are conducting a hearing, attempting to align any new developments in this area,” Marcos said in her opening statement.

SB 179 also expands the definition of election returns to include printed forms and manually accomplished forms to reflect manual count at the precinct level, Marcos explained. She further stressed that hybrid elections need not be implemented for overseas voting.

Sen. Robinhood Padilla, who participated during the hybrid hearing of the Committee on Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation regarding a proposed measure to update the Omnibus Election Code, asked whether a hybrid election system is indeed beneficial for the Philippines.

“If that [hybrid voting and counting system] is implemented, do we really want to have two systems – automated and manual – and would it entail a bigger budget?” Padilla said in Filipino.

Marcos was quick to explain that the combination of counting systems is for the benefit and assurance of voters who want to see their votes counted. She added that the budget for the next elections may rise as the new hybrid counting systems will have to be implemented nationwide.

A hybrid election seeks to combine the old manual election system and the automated election system (AES), which Marcos explained is “easier” to comprehend by Filipino voters.

In her previous bill filed in the last Congress, the ballots will feature a square or rectangle corresponding to each name of the candidate. Voters must place a single vertical mark across the space to register a vote.

Marcos expressed belief that the machines prefer a square or a rectangle. She argued that adopting such a proposal would spare politicians from embarking on this long debate in court about 25% or 50% shading.

Voters will still feed their ballots to the machine and will receive a receipt after, and like the past automated elections, once the polls close, the VCMs will be used to print copies of election returns which will show the number of votes for each candidate, in a precinct. A manual vote will also commence, she further said.