HEY, what’s he saying? With the country’s first-ever automated elections a mere four months away, here comes no less than Commission on Elections chairman Jose Melo admitting that he is worried over the circumstances that might occur between now and then. Now, when the Comelec chief is himself worried over something(s) related to the 2010 polls, shouldn’t all the rest of us who have never seen a precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machine in our life be worried, too? The Comelec says that the polls will require the installation of 82,200 PCOS machines from Aparri to Taw-Tawi to accommodate all qualified voters who are eager to do their thing in the name of democracy. When old year 2009 ended to make way for 2010, only 7,200 so far of such machines had arrived. Where are the other 75,000? Probably aboard a slow boat. If at all. Not reassuring. As it is, Melo says that, on a scale of 1 to 10, the rating of the Commission on Elections’ level of preparedness is only 8. To a layman, that’s neither here nor there. And that’s not all. “There are still other problems that bother me,” Mr. Melo confessed. Now, here we have a Comelec head who is not only worried, but bothered, as well. Which reminds us of the line in a song – “bothered and bewildered”. In one breath, Melo says, “I’m very confident that there will be automated elections. But, there may be some problems which we really cannot predict all the time. There may be some cases where there may be some hitches here and there.” Maybe? What sort of double talk is that? First, he says he is confident, then the next moment he tells us that there “may be problems we cannot really predict all the time.” Aha! Like – there won’t be automated polls after all? Scary. Mr. Melo admits he cannot predict what other problems may arise on the run-up to the elections. Well, we don’t expect him to be a Nostradamus who could see far into the future, but we certainly expect him to be able to solve problems that automated polls are heir too, if any. On the other hand, like the rest of us who haven’t seen a precinct count optical scan in our lives, perhaps the Comelec chairman is entitled to his jitters. But only as far as the PCOS is concerned. Beyond that, we expect him to be faithful to his oath as Comelec chair and see to it that extraneous matters do not derail the 2010 elections. That is, in case the Arroyo administration has other things in mind, like manipulating the elections to suit their fancy – meaning, coming up with shenanigans that would tend to make automated polls impossible to push through, thereby forcing this country to fall back on the old and lamented method of electing its leaders. We have had enough of dirty, dishonest elections that more often than not have sent the wrong people to positions of power. Chairman Melo must be a patriot, first and foremost, and do what he can to see to it that the much-anticipated automated elections of 2010 will push through. That way, he can be sure that the Filipino electorate will no longer be bothered and bewildered.
