By Marjorie Gorospe
INQUIRER.net
PASAY CITY, Philippines — The United States Embassy in the Philippines gave Filipinos a chance to experience the voting technology used during US elections.
Also hoping to showcase how Americans conduct their election, the US Embassy conducted a mock election that coincided with the US Election watch.
Set up at the SM Mall of Asia, the mock elections attracted people from various sectors, including Filipino politicians, government officials and celebrities.
TV host and Optical Media Board chairman Edu Manzano lamented that the Philippines should consider having an automated system for its own elections.
Former government official Orly Mercado stressed that he is a believer of technology, as he pointed out the need to automate elections in the country and gave his vote for President-elect Barack Obama.
Meanwhile, Rebecca Thomson, US Embassy Press Attaché, said the Election Watch 2008 and mock elections was also held in Cebu City.
Manila City Mayor who chose John McCain because “he is war veteran,” said that he preferred the touch-screen, automated election system showcased during the mock elections.
5 Feedbacks on "Filipinos experience high-tech US mock elections"
Robert Facun
Based here in Virginia Beach, Virginia. I say the hight tech election results is what the Philippines must have. My wife and I went into the polling place at 5:30PM and at 7:34 PM, the results for the local election was projected and the national election results were out at almost midnight. NOT one month —– hours. No killings and no civil commotion.
In Asia » Blog Archive » Election Morning in the Philippines
[...] But before we could start commenting on the horse race, coverage cut away to an Election Day event hosted by the American Embassy at one of the big Manila Malls. Large screen TVs were carrying cable feeds, hundreds of Filipinos as well as the general public had been invited, and dozens of USAID and Embassy officials were on hand to explain the intricacies of the U.S. electoral process. Ambassador Kristie Kenney gave a lively interview where she praised democracy, talked about the solemn responsibility of citizens when choosing to change their leaders, and denied that her choice of red clothing was anything but a patriotic symbol. She also urged the interviewer to join other Filipinos there in the mall in the mock election being carried out. [...]
pnoy
I have been following/watching elections for years, here and the abroad. This year, I’ve been an avid fan of Politico.com, CNN, Yahoo, RealClearPolitics and FoxNews for some info about the US election. I’ve been amazed by the way the US handled the election, imagine the number of states they have and how soon the election result can be made.
Our country is just comparable to one of their states yet we cannot handle the election on time. Our government can spend the money for pork barrel or other “government projects” prone to graft but we cannot afford to buy these computers??? or digitalize this small country??? I don’t think we cannot afford it, the question maybe is, does the government have the will to do? Maybe if they’re out of reasons and are about to be out-of-office, they can do it, so their predecessor can no longer do the same corrupt practices they have afforded themselves. But wait, this is another big amount to be spent for computerization, what happened to the previous bidding for computerization??? Is it gone for the moment or will they have to re-bid again so they can get commissions out of it.
pnoy
Sometimes I could also say we (or most of today’s Filipinos) are partly to be blamed. We are not mobilized, we are not vigilant against those corrupt practices or if we do, we tend to think it’s the government’s job to run after them but look, they are the ones running the government. I could only hope and wish that we learn to speak out, have our voice heard and not just worry about the daily bread, we can cope up. We have to act the soonest before it’s too late, otherwise we might be in a situation wherein one day we can no longer complain but just stick to the bread afforded to us, by the UN or other countries.
dan sui
our senators, congressmen, governors and mayors, even the barangay captains doesn’t want to have an automated polls. they cannot pad the results. cheating in the elections have been a culture. so when can we change our electoral system. the computers are there at the comelec, but when are we going to use such? only in our dreams!
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