Over six million Filipinos who are “functionally illiterate” will find it difficult to vote in the upcoming first ever national automated elections in May, a group said on Monday.These six million Filipinos who find it difficult to read, write, compute, and comprehend may be unable to vote effectively on May 10, according to election watch dog Compact (Compact for Peaceful and Democratic Elections).
Tomas “Butch” Africa, former administrator of the National Statistics Office, said that 16 percent of 40 million Filipinos will find it difficult to vote in the upcoming elections, raising fears of cheating.
He said that compared to manual elections, automated elections are more complicated.
“In manual elections, the voters only need to be basic literate, meaning they only need to be able to read and write,” Africa said, adding that for automated elections, one has to understand the process of selecting their preferred candidate, shading the appropriate boxes, and other technical procedures.
Africa said the Commission on Elections has failed to conduct effective voter’s education, criticizing the infomercial launched by the Comelec, which has “simplified” the voting process.
“They should have taught the voters how to do it step-by-step. They could have presented the actual scenario. They even failed to tell the voters how long the ballot really is,” Africa said during a press conference.
During the re-launch of the group Compact, its members raised fears that the lack of voter’s education could lead to a violation of the Filipino’s right of suffrage.
“Yes, the election day is drawing near, but our worst fears remain unabated. And our worst fear is, beyond the chaos and confusion come election day, the Filipino people’s democratic right of suffrage will be violated. Considerable disenfranchisement could become the norm during election day. And this is not without basis,” the group said in a statement.
National broadband network deal whistleblower Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada Jr., a member of the group, also expressed concern on the unavailability of a system that would allow voters to verify that they have indeed registered their votes.
Lozada said that come election day, voters would not be given slips of paper to verify that they have voted.
“There is no electronic acknowledgement given to voters. Other machines do it, like our automated teller machines (ATMs) and even our lotto system,” Lozada said.
“It seems like they would like our election to be ‘Lucky Pick,’” Lozada added, referring to the lotto process where the machine picks the number combination for the person.
In the case of the elections, the machine would pick the preferred candidates for each voter.
Former congresswoman Etta Rosales, the group’s convener, said that Compact was re-launched to ensure that the right of suffrage of every voter is protected.
Compact, which was initially launched in 2003 for the 2004 elections, seeks to educate voters on automated elections.
Rosales said her group would be bringing in international observers from other countries to ensure transparency in the elections.
These observers would be coming from the countries of Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, the United States, Thailand, and India.
In the case of the elections, the machine would pick the preferred candidates for each voter.
Former congresswoman Etta Rosales, the group’s convener, said that Compact was re-launched to ensure that the right of suffrage of every voter is protected.
Compact, which was initially launched in 2003 for the 2004 elections, seeks to educate voters on automated elections.
Rosales said her group would be bringing in international observers from other countries to ensure transparency in the elections.
These observers would be coming from the countries of Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, the United States, Thailand, and India.
