Comelec ready to consult stakeholders on hybrid election system

A woman casts her votes as Commission on Elections Chairman Andres “Andy” Bautista looks on during mock elections aimed at testing the Precinct Automated Tallying System (PATAS) proposed by former Commissioner Augusto Lagman and other IT experts organizations held at Bacoor National High School Annex in Poblacion, Barangay Tabing-Dagat, Bacoor, Cavite on Saturday (PNA photo by Avito C.Dalan)

MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) vowed to consult the public on the hybrid election system which is being proposed by former poll body Commissioner Gus Lagman.

Comelec Chairman Jose Andres Bautista said they are ready to sit down with various stakeholders to be able to know their opinion on the Precinct Automated Tally System (PATaS).

“In so far as public acceptability is concerned, we have to factor that in when we make a decision. That’s why also we are consulting with stakeholders,” he said.

The system, which is partly manual and automated is being considered by the poll body together with two other options, the PCOS refurbishment project and for the lease of new OMR machines for the 2016 national and local elections.

“At the moment, we are considering three options: first, the refurbishment of the existing Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines and the 23,000 Optical Mark Reader (OMR) machines; secondly, the lease of new 23,000 and 70,977 OMR machines; and finally, we are looking at the hybrid system,” Bautista said last Friday.

An end-to-end demonstration of PATaS was held at the Bacoor National High School Annex last June 27.

At the same time, a parallel public bidding is currently being conducted by the Comelec for the other options.

With this, the poll body chief noted that they are collating all reports and observations submitted by stakeholders regarding the PATaS mock elections held in Cavite.

“We will be presenting all of these (reports) to the House of Representatives on July 9,” Bautista added.