MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / May 6, 2013) – Various women groups in the Philippines are alarmed by the admission of the Commission on Elections that it cannot hold a source code review as required by law.
A group called Babae, Bantayan ang Eleksyon! (BABAE! Network) said it will closely monitor the election processes from polling to counting to proclamation and to educate voters about their rights and to accept and record reports of incidences of election-related problems, fraud or harassment.
“We are calling on all women and poll watchers to be more vigilant in watching their votes specially now that the May 13 automated election may suffer credibility and legal questions, added to the ill-preparedness of Comelec’s automation project with the Smartmatic; this aside from election frauds and harassments, and the use of 4G, goons, guns, gold and girls, that continue to demolish the moral of the Filipino voters,” Mary Joan Guan, Babae Network spokesperson, said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.
Guan also pointed out the problem regarding the source code. “Without the source code, voters will be denied the right to know how the machines are programmed to count the votes. There is a need to be vigilant , so we must harness the women’s experiences and we need to mobilize them to guard their votes,” Guan said, adding the Comelec subcontracted the automated election process to a private foreign company when what is at stake is the exercise of the people’s rights.
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