Comelec to bid P1.6-B project to purge voters' list

With the P7.2 billion poll automation back on track, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is set to hold another bidding for a 2010 elections project--the P1.6-billion automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS). These machines, which can verify fingerprints, are meant to supplement the poll body's efforts to rid the voters' list of double registrants and flying voters. The bidding process will start next week, poll commissioner Rene Sarmiento told congressmen in a hearing on Tuesday of the House oversight committee. Unlike the controversial P7.2 billion automation project, Sarmiento said the bidding process may take only two weeks. The AFIS is a biometric technology that can match a fingerprint against a database of prints. The technology--which is used by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation in solving crimes--will allow the Comelec to further purge the voters' list. It will also allow teachers serving in the Board of Election Inspectors to countercheck the identities of voters. The AFIS machines were initially tested in the August 2008 automated elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). The cleansing resulted in the discovery of 14,000 double registrants, who now face charges of election code offenses. From 48 million registered voters in the 2007 senatorial elections, the Comelec has trimmed the voters' list down to 44 million. This figure does not include the 1.2 million new registrants for the 2010 elections. Comelec expects two million new registrants before the deadline on October 31. "After the October 31 deadline, we will go through the process of scanning all the registration data to see whether thumbprints are duplicated," said Sarmiento. Partial purge

But even with the AFIS, the Comelec won't be able to clean the entire voters' list. Comelec has the biometric information of only 19 million out the total 44 million voters who registered before the 2007 elections.

Sarmiento said they will need an enabling law to compel old voters to go back to Comelec offices for their biometric information. New voters after the 2007 elections are mandated to submit their biometric information--fingerprints, photos, signatures--to Comelec. This means that the AFIS will only be used to purge double registrants among the voters with biometric information. Moreover, the budget for the procurement of AFIS is not enough to place one machine each in all 80,000 precincts. Sarmiento could not give estimates on how many AFIS machines they can buy with P1.6 billion. Mandatory registration

But Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez on Tuesday said the poll body should get the biometric information of all voters because that is expected from the Comelec under Republic Act 9525 or the law that appropriated P11.3 billion for the automated 2010 polls. Rodriguez said the Comelec should not allow voters to vote if they don't submit this information to the Comelec. "We need to do this to solve the problem with cheating," he said. Section 1 of RA 9525 reads: "The sum of P11.3 billion is hereby appropriated to fund and support the holding and conduct of an Automated Election System, the procurement of services, supplies and machines on a lease purchase agreement including mandatory biometric registration of voters." No time left

But Sarmiento explained that the understanding of the Comelec is they are only required to get the biometric information of new voters. He said he will take up with the Comelec en banc Rodriguez's suggestion. Sarmiento told reporters Rodriguez's suggestion is unrealistic. "Honestly, with the October 31 deadline, it will be very difficult. But we will try our best," he said. The Comelec already has its hands full processing the applications of new voters. "We lack forms and machines. It's challenging considering the volume of voters. These are realities but we will do our best," he said. Sarmiento also said the Comelec cannot compel all new voters to undergo biometrics for the polls. "While we can compel voters to undergo biometerics, there can be no penalty. Failure to register is not a criminal offense. It used to be but it was removed in the new constitution. We cannot impose criminal sanction," he said.