By Ferdinand G. Patinio

MANILA, May 6 — It’s down to one from the original seven bidders.

This after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) disqualified six companies for their failure to present pertinent documents during the opening of bids in connection with the P11.2-billion contract for the automation of the 2010 elections.

The latest companies that were declared ineligible were Amalgamated Metro Philippines/Syrex Incorporation/Anishin, Inc. and AMA group of companies/Election System and Software.

According to the Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) Syrex failed to present its Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) registration, while AMA did not submit its license to import.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Jose Melo said that they are a little concern on what is happening on the opening of the bids since the committee has disqualified six out of the seven companies that participated in the first round of the bidding.

“We are a little bit worried,” he said.

But SBAC chairman Atty. Ferdinand Rafanan stressed that they would not declare failure of bidding even if the majority of the companies have been disqualified since there is still one bidder left.

“May isa pang company ang natira. Hindi puedeng mag-declare na failed bidding dahil puede pa silang mag-file ng motion for reconsideration,” Rafanan explained.

The excluded companies have three days upon the receipt of the disqualification order to file their appeal while the SBAC has seven days to come up with its decision.

As of press time, the committee was scrutinizing the documents submitted by Gilat/F.F. Cruz and Company Inc./Filipinas System Inc.

On Monday, Avante International (Canon Marketing Phils./Netnode Technologies/DB Vizards/Creative Point) and Indra Sistemas (Strategic Holdings Inc./Hart Intercivic) were excluded by the panel for failing to submit their Certificate of Acceptance and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) Certification, respectively.

For failing to submit their Certificate of Accreditation as Importer and ISO 9000 Certification, respectively, Sequoia Voting Systems and Universal Storefront Services, and Smartmatic/Total Information Management Corp. were also disqualified last Tuesday.

The companies originally pre-qualified for the contract that would automate the national and local elections in 2010 through the new technology, Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS). (PNA)

Source: Balita.ph (http://balita.ph/2009/05/07/comelec-disqualifies-six-out-of-seven-bidders-for-poll-automation-project/)

On behalf of the Movement for Good Governance, may I invite you to a concert on Monday, May 11, 2009 at 8:00 pm at the Music Museum to raise awareness and funds for the 2010 elections and beyond. Entitled 365 Days to Change – Todo na ‘to, the concert marks off exactly one year left to a very important Presidential and General Election for the country. MGG has teamed up with ArtistsRevolution, a group of concerned artists, musicians, cmposers, singers, and directors, to help raise awraeness about the importance of these elections to good governance.

MGG was launched last year and is a group dedicated to promoting good governance. It’s initial activities are focused on voter registration and education (in partnership with Youth Vote Philippines and Young Public Servants); election automation, selection criteria and scorecards for candidates, and town hall meetings with candidates on specific public policy issues Proceeds of the concert will go towards funding communication efforts and workshops of both MGG and ArtistsRevolution to enable us to reach more people in voter education programs.

For the concert, ArtistsRevolution has brought together a wonderful cast composed of Juana Change, Jim Paredes, Joey Ayala, Isay Alvarez, Robert Sena, Leah Navarro, Radioactive Sago, and many others to bring to you a show that promises to be entertaining, educational, and thought-provoking, all at the same time. Ticket prices are available at P500 P1000, P2000, P3000, P4500, and P6000. If you would like to buy tickets and donate them to students, that would be great too. For tickets and inquiries please email yvotephilippines@gmail.com or wedeservebetterph@gmail.com

Thank you!

Best regards,
Ching

“I was so happy that the top management of our company has been very
supportive of the ongoing campaign of Ayala Young Leaders Alliance
advocating voters’ registration. We, the employees are entitled for
one-day leave just to make sure that we are registered in our local
COMELEC office.”

“The COMELEC website has a feature of checking whether an individual is
registered or not. I found out that I am still registered though I
have no records for my biometrics. After office hours yesterday, I
immediately proceed to the bus station for an eight-hour trip to
Mulanay, Quezon Province where I am registered. Aside from seeing my
parents whom I have not seen for months, I was so excited for the trip
to have my biometrics captured and claim my voters ID which I have
been waiting for, for the past elections.”

“Upon arriving at the local COMELEC office at around 10:00 in the
morning, all my excitement faded upon seeing that the said office is
padlocked. My temper escalated upon seeing the long lines of equally
excited youngsters whom I assume are first time voters. Some were even
wearing their PE t-shirts of some Manila schools. What I was not
surprised is that most of them are like me who intend to maximize
their long vacation and placing their registration among their to-do
list.”

“The COMELEC en banc released a resolution stating that their local
offices should be open during Saturdays and holidays. Today is
Wednesday and apparently not a holiday yet. Since no one was around to
check if the office will still open, I rushed to the office beside
COMELEC to inquire. Only to know the worst – the said office is closed
since yesterday.”

“I believe that all our efforts in the Ayala Young Leaders Alliance and
Youth Vote Philippines should by all means be given equal effort and
commitment from the COMELEC. What is it for those young men and women
behind the advocacy of promoting voters registration only to be given
this inattention from the very institution which should be the prime
mover of citizen participation in the electoral process? What is to be
expected from our campaign of getting as many youth as possible to
register if our target individuals will only encounter padlocked
COMELEC office with no single personnel around especially during the
very rare chances that they can spare time to exercise their duties as
citizens?”

“Do not blame the youth for being so-called apathetic. Apathy is a
result of outright incompetence of most of our public servants. Among
the youth, most of us are doing our share. It’s just that more often
than not, we do not receive the expected effectiveness from those in
the bureaucracy.”

“Given the average turnout of registration, it will not be an
astounding possibility to deprive hundreds of thousands if not
millions of voters. The deadline for the registration is cut short
from December 15 to October 31, 2009 in order to prepare for poll
automation, as reported. Such directive poses the possibility of
significantly decreasing the number of potential first time voters,
unreasonable closing of COMELEC offices aggravates the saddening
scenario.”

“In the 2007 senatorial elections, around 6.4 million potential voters
were not registered. This number has significantly increased for the
2010 presidential elections.”

“We can recall the outcome of the past elections where the winners of
national elective positions have a margin of less than a million.
Assuming without conceding that there were no (massive) cheating,
imagine the difference that the votes of those who were unable to
register could have affected the final tallies. Bottomline – the
impact of the evident disregard of this very office to their mandate
definitely affect the outcome of the elections and the impression of
the public of the worth of exercising their rights and duties as
citizens.”

“We appeal for immediate actions from the Commission on Elections. No
more excuses please. We are all tired to hear the seemingly endless
explanations trying to sew the loopholes in the systems the same
commission are implementing. We are doing giving our contributions.
We, the public, deserve no less.“

Ralph Reuben C. Morales
Ayala Young Leader batch 2004
Senior Development Specialist
AYLC Alumni and External Affairs
Youth Leadership Development Unit

Ayala Foundation, Inc.
10/F BPI Main Building, 6768 Ayala Avenue
corner Paseo de Roxas, Makati City

Email ralph.morales@ayalayoungleaders.ph |
Web http://www.ayalayoungleaders.ph

The temperature outside my window has officially declared summer to be here. The past weeks have gamely ushered in the gaiety and colors of Philippine fiesta season. Just recently I braved the crowds in my hometown to watch the Panagbenga street and float parade. Something I avoid yearly out of sheer pity for the carrying capacity of my city. But the mood and the exuberance was all it was hyped up to be. The beauty of Baguiio, the commercialism and the floats… well that will be for another article… less exuberant than this.

We have an uncertain year ahead of us. Jobs will be cut, relatives will come home from overseas postings that have ended, costs of education will rise in the new school year and we will be forced to tighten our belts. We may forget these in the weeks of festivities ahead… but perhaps in the midst of these festivities there is a way we could reaffirm our stake in our future…

We are a people of movement. Give us a beat and we will sway, we will bob our heads, we will dance. Give us a stage and we will perform, we will shine… heck we will even build our own stage. Give us a song and we will render it in as many versions as we have islands in this nation of happiness.

Pretty soon, school will be out, young (and not so young) Filipinos will head home to our provinces. For vacation, for summer work, to visit our families, to escape the city for a while, or simply to go home. The festivals will welcome us, the beats will resonate and the cheers and songs will fill the summer air. It is in this exuberance that we hope all young Filipinos bring one message home… We have to register to vote in May 2010.

The COMELEC has cut the registration period to October 31, 2009 from Dec 15. This means students and young working Filipinos will not have another chance to go home to their provinces to register after this summer. Not sem break not Christmas. This is it. This has to be our Festival!

The steps are simple enough… 1) invite your friends, barkada and neighbors from the same voting district. 2) download the 4-page registration form from the COMELEC Blogsite or the official COMELEC site. 3) fill up the forms but do not sign yet or put your thumbmark (you need to do this in front of the Election Officer). 4) Go to your local COMELEC any day from Monday to Saturday and holidays from 8am to 5pm (or to announced satellite mobile registrations in schools and barangays) and submit the forms with a valid ID for validation. 5) Have your photo, fingerprints and signature taken by the data capturing machines (DCMs) 6) get your receipt to claim your voter’s ID 7) HAVE FUN!!!

For those who would want to organize satellite registration centers, registration awareness activities and summer gimmicks to encourage the youth to register, get in touch with us through this site, through YouthVotePhilippines, or through email at yvotephilippines@gmail.com and we will gladly link you up with other youth groups in your area. Celebrate summer! Celebrate with your kababatas and kababayans! and lets all make this a SUMMER REGISTRATION FESTIVAL to remember.
Posted in op-eds, opportunities ]]> http://register2vote.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/summer-registration-festivale/feed/ 0 yvotephilippines http://register2vote.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/youth-assembly-on-march-14/ http://register2vote.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/youth-assembly-on-march-14/#comments Thu, 05 Mar 2009 05:45:38 +0000 yvotephilippines http://register2vote.wordpress.com/2009/03/05/youth-assembly-on-march-14/ ]]>

Great news! Youth Vote Philippines has just signed an agreement with GMA Network on a partnership that will bring our advocacies to GMA’s TV audience nationwide. This partnership aims to increase awareness among students, young professionals and the public on our programs that are focused on the need to get registered, the importance of voting wisely and making the youth more politically and socially aware.

We would like to share with you a video clip of our MOA signing yesterday with GMA Philippines. This was aired last night during 24Oras, Saksi and the late night news and was shown again this morning during its morning program Unang Hirit and again this afternoon at Balitanghali.

http://www.gmanews.tv/largevideo/related/37677/Saksi-GMA-Youth-Vote-Phils-sign-MOA-for-2010-polls

Our online portal is in its final stage of development and can be viewed at www.youthvotephilippines.com. (comments welcome!) A formal launch will be made once all the technical features have been finalized.

We thank all those who have continuously supported Youth Vote Philippines. YVP is a consolidated force of reform oriented youth groups whose programs are geared towards efforts for voter’s registration and voter’s education. We bring to the groups a common platform for cooperation through our online portal and a solid foundation of support through the YPS alliance of young leaders and organizations. We are non-partisan but take pride in having organizations from different reform camps who, with integrity, come together to ensure full cooperation in addressing areas of mutual concern.

A special thanks goes out to our media liaison officer Niel Lim who was the moving force behind this partnership with GMA. Looking forward to an exciting year ahead!

We will step up and take the lead!

Sincerely,

Ching Jorge

Lead Convenor

Young Public Servants, Youth Vote Philippines

INQUIRER.net

First Posted 11:35:00 01/28/2009

Filed Under: Elections, Eleksyon 2010

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections has started notifying 151, 157 residents in Quezon City who have been delisted to register again, an official said.

The names of 113, 395 and 37, 762 voters in the second and third districts, respectively, were removed from the Quezon City Computerized Voters’ List during the Election Registration Board (ERB) hearing on January 19, said James Jimenez, Comelec spokesman.

Jimenez said deactivation was a way to “cleanse the voters’ list.”

“We expect more names of deactivated voters. The National Capital Region Comelec offices will finalize the numbers of deactivated voters by early February. Under the law, the Comelec will notify the deactivated voters, who are given until December to reactivate their registration,” said Jimenez.

Under Section 27 of Republic Act 8189, registered voters will be deactivated from the Comelec voters’ list for “failure to vote in the last two regular elections” specifically in the May 14, 2007 synchronized national and local elections and the Oct. 29, 2007 Barangay (village) and Sangguniang Kabataan (youth) Elections.

Lawyer Dinah Valencia, Comelec second district election officer, sent letters starting January 5, advising deactivated voters in the second district to file for reactivation of registration at her office from January 27 to December 15.

At least 17, 124 letters have been delivered to the deactivated voters and that more letters would be sent until March, said Ma. Teresa Gancita, election assistant II, Comelec Quezon City District II office, in a phone interview.

Gancita noted that the bulk of the letters were returned to the Comelec office, stating that the voter no longer lived in the address registered with the poll body.

The Comelec will decide in the second ERB hearing in March if the person’s name will be deleted from the voters’ list, said Gancita.

Third district election officer Evelyn Bautista said aside from notification via mail, they tapped the 37 village leaders to help in information dissemination.

“We sought the help of the barangay chairman in the 37 barangay to post the list of deactivated voters on the barangay bulletin boards and they welcomed the idea, saying it is one way of giving early advise to the voters and surveying if the voters still reside in the area,” said Bautista.

Bautista said they would start sending letters this week to advise delisted voters to reactivate their records.

“We waited for the ERB to release the final set of voters’ names because we do not want to send premature notifications, which already happened before,” said Bautista.

Under Section 28 of RA 8189, registered voters could file a sworn application for reactivation of registration not later than 120 days before the regular elections.

Jimenez said voters could bring one valid ID, excluding a barangay residential certificate, and fill up a form for reactivation of registration at the Office of the Election Officer in the municipality a voter is registered.

If the application is approved, the election officer will retrieve the registration record from the inactive file and include the voter’s record in the precinct book of voters, he said.

Posted in news ]]> http://register2vote.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/delisted-qc-voters-told-to-register-anew/feed/ 1 Bianca http://register2vote.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/comelec-gets-ready-to-purge-current-voter%e2%80%99s-list/ http://register2vote.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/comelec-gets-ready-to-purge-current-voter%e2%80%99s-list/#comments Mon, 26 Jan 2009 10:37:38 +0000 Paula Bianca Lapuz http://register2vote.wordpress.com/?p=352 ]]>

01/26/2009 | 02:04 AM

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said that it would purge voters from the voter’s list who had not voted in the past two elections.

Comelec spokesperson James Arthur B. Jimenez said that there were 53,000 voters who were deactivated or taken off the voter’s list in Bacolod.

“We [will tell] these deactivated voters that they [will] need to re- register if they wish to vote in the next elections. This method is actually a part of efforts to cleanse the voter’s list,” Mr. Jimenez
said in a statement issued on Sunday.

The Comelec has been criticized for not actively pursuing the purchase of biometric data scanning machines to cleanse the voter’s list.

The Comelec said that machines that cross-match the biometric data, or fingerprints, of a voter are expensive and that they would rather focus on getting the elections automated.

Mr. Jimenez said that deactivated voters have until the end of the year to register again. Continuing registration has yielded 45,000 new registrants in Metro Manila alone.

No national numbers have yet been released by the Comelec but the poll body expects around one to two million new voters for the upcoming elections.

Meanwhile, Comelec Chairman Jose Armando R. Melo said in a separate interview that of the 17 vendors with optical mark reader technology, around a third have expressed interest in bidding for the automation of the 2010 national elections.

“Many of the companies interested are South Korean, American and Indian. But we have no preference yet, not even for those companies whose technology we have used before,” said Mr. Melo.

He added that bidding can commence once the budget is approved and the terms of reference are released. Even companies that have previously won contracts with the Comelec may also bid. The Comelec has decided to use the optical mark reader technology, which scans marked ballots over the direct recording electronic system, which uses touch pads.

The Comelec has been given a supplemental budget of P11.3 billion for the automation of elections.

Automating the national elections has been planned since 1998 but several failed bids have prevented its installation.

– Emilia Narni J.

David, BusinessWorld

http://www.gmanews.tv/story/145872/Comelec-gets-ready-to-purge-current-voters-list

By Kristine L. Alave

Philippine Daily Inquirer

First Posted 04:34am (Mla time) 01/20/2009

Filed Under: Elections, Computing & Information Technology, Eleksyon 2010

MANILA, Philippines—Cheap has won over fast.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will use the less expensive paper-based Optical Mark Reader (OMR) technology instead of the Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) system using the faster touch screen technology in the country’s first computerized elections in 2010.

Comelec Chair Jose Melo on Monday said they were following the recommendation of the poll body’s advisory council to use the OMR instead of the DRE.

Melo said “affordability” was the main concern as the agency had asked for only P11.9 billion from the government for the 2010 polls.

“It’s the OMR,” he said. “It has a paper trail and paper audit, so there’s proof of the vote.”

Melo noted the OMR, where voters mark specially-printed ballots that are scanned and recorded into computers, was widely used abroad.

Touch-screen systems used in the November 2008 presidential elections in the United States were fraught with problems, with complaints that votes were not recorded properly, he said.

Melo said that there were also fears the touch-screen system could be easily hacked.

The Comelec tested the two technologies in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao elections last August.

The DRE was found to be faster in transmitting results but the OMR was much cheaper, Melo noted.

The Comelec had initially asked for P21 billion for the automated polls, but this was rejected by the lawmakers. The amount was lowered to P11.9 billion.

Since Congress has yet to approve the Comelec’s supplemental budget, Melo has asked lawmakers to act immediately so the poll body could bid out the project.

The poll chair said they hope to have the funds by mid-February so they could go full steam ahead on preparations and test the machines.

Posted in news ]]> http://register2vote.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/comelec-opts-for-slower-cheaper-system/feed/ 0 Bianca http://register2vote.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/nine-out-of-10-pinoys-interested-in-2010-polls-pulse-asia/ http://register2vote.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/nine-out-of-10-pinoys-interested-in-2010-polls-pulse-asia/#comments Wed, 14 Jan 2009 03:51:13 +0000 Paula Bianca Lapuz http://register2vote.wordpress.com/?p=340 ]]>

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 01/14/2009 10:56 AM

Nine out of every ten Filipinos are looking forward to the 2010 elections, according to the results of the latest Pulse Asia survey released Wednesday.

In an October 2008 Ulat ng Bayan survey, Pulse Asia found that 90 percent of Filipinos said that they are “interested in the coming electoral exercise,” with 87 percent of respondents saying that they are “likely to vote.”

On the other hand, the survey said that the remaining 10 percent of its respondents are either disinterested or undecided regarding their stand in the upcoming elections.

Pulse Asia said that small majority of Filipinos–or 59 percent–believe that the elections will push through in 2010, with 47 percent saying that there will be a lot of trouble in case elections are not held as scheduled.

Only 12 percent of Filipinos see the postponement of the 2010 elections, while 30 percent are undecided.

The nationwide survey covered 1,200 representative adults from Classes A to E. Pulse Asia said that their survey has a ± 3 percent error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.

Factors considered during the period when the survey was conducted include the global financial crisis, the filing of a new impeachment complaint against President Arroyo, the Supreme Court decision on the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain, and the euro generals controversy.

Other issues taken into account include the P728-million fertilizer fund scam, the deportation of former agriculture secretary Jocelyn “Jocjoc” Bolante, and the melamine scare in China.

Posted in news ]]> http://register2vote.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/nine-out-of-10-pinoys-interested-in-2010-polls-pulse-asia/feed/ 0 Bianca