DATE: October 28, 2002

PUBLICATION: Philippine Daily Inquirer

Title: Can Comelec safeguard overseas votes?

Author: Neal H. Cruz

THE absentee voting bill just passed by both houses of Congress will allow Filipinos overseas to vote in national elections here. There are more than three million Pinoys abroad, and they can spell the difference between winning and losing for any national candidate. Which is why our legislators passed the bill -- so that when they run for reelection, the Pinoys will remember that it is they who gave them the right to vote. In fact, President Macapagal-Arroyo is already using the absentee voting bill to campaign for votes in Honolulu.
Is this good or bad? Good? Wrong. I will not say it is bad; but I think it is dangerous. It gives another opportunity for large-scale cheating. Right now, the Commission on Elections can't guarantee that certificates of canvass coming from the neighboring municipality are not tampered with. If truth be told, certificates of canvass coming from the next town or barangay can be and are indeed sometimes tampered with. Certain candidates become victims of dagdag-bawas.
If the Comelec cannot safeguard the sanctity of certificates of canvass right here in our country, how can it safeguard certificates coming from overseas? There is so much opportunity for alterations or even changing the certificates.
They say that the results will be transmitted here electronically, but how can we be sure that hackers cannot change the figures? It is different with Americans (Americans overseas also vote in their domestic elections) because they are more honest. Filipinos, however, are always thinking of ways to cheat in elections. And the cheats are always one step ahead of those who think of safeguards.
Besides, as I understand it, Pinoys abroad will send their votes to the Philippine embassies and consulates either electronically or by mail. While intercepting mail in sufficient quantities to make a difference may be too expensive for a candidate, it may be easy for hackers to intercept electronic messages.
But there is not much danger in individual votes being changed. The real danger is in the results being changed before they are sent to the Philippines.
Even Comelec Chair Benjamin Abalos, when asked at a Kapihan sa Manila forum, said that the Comelec cannot guarantee that the results of the voting overseas would be pristine pure when they arrive here.

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Former Comelec Chair Christian Monsod also said he has reservations about absentee voting when I chanced upon him at a Quezon City restaurant. He said that in the case of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), he has no objection --although he also wonders how the results can be safeguarded. However, for Filipinos who are already permanent residents -- or even citizens -- of other countries, Monsod doesn't think it is wise to allow them to vote abroad in Philippine elections. They are out of touch with their home country; they don't know the issues and the candidates, he said.
These Filipinos, if they want to vote here, should be made to come here, Monsod said. That is the fair thing to do. Plane fare is not much, so that should not be a problem, he added.
(By the way, under the approved bill, overseas Pinoys cannot vote for local candidates-congressmen, governors, mayors, board members and councilors-only for national candidates, meaning president, vice president and senators.)
The two versions of the bill will still have to be reconciled by the bicameral conference committee. It should take into consideration the observations of Monsod.

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But here's good news for the absentee voters. A new system of secure registration, voting, and counting - electronically -- is being offered to the Comelec, at much less cost than the Photokina price. In the first place, there would be no need for identification cards, which is basically what Photokina was going to provide. The new system is called "Botong Pinoy," an appropriate name because it has been developed by a Filipino company.
A computer, using the latest facial and fingerprint biometric technology, will register the voter. He won't need any ID because his face and fingerprint will be filed in the Comelec database. When he goes to his precinct to vote, a computer will check his face and scanned fingerprint against those on file in the database. Only after the computer has made sure that he is really who he claims he is will he be allowed to vote.
In voting, the computer will actually talk to the voter in English, Filipino or the dialect in the region where the precinct is located, to guide him through the entire voting process. He votes by simply pointing to the names of the candidates or party affiliations of his choice on the computer screen. For those who cannot read, the faces of the candidates will be shown on the screen.
The system automatically prints the ballot showing all the candidates voted for, and the voter's computer generated fingerprint, so that the ballot can be used for a manually tabulated audit count later in case of questions and protests. The ballot will also contain a 2D barcode containing the encrypted representation of the votes contained in the ballot, so that in case of a protest, scanning the 2D barcode on each ballot can audit the precinct voting totals in a matter of minutes.

The system also automatically tabulates all votes cast in each precinct, then transmits the tabulated votes to a secure Internet website at the end of the voting day. Winners will be known on the same day.
More later.