Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPREPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

Sixteenth Congress
First Regular Session

1046

House Bill No.

Introduced by REP, MERCEDES C, CAGAS

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Since the inception of the Republican System, earmarked as an integral
component of Democracy, the then newly introduced system of choosing the set
of people who will govern the entire body polity has already been pre-organized,
its precepts carefully pre-assembled, fraudulently mechanized, so as to be capable
of being manipulated by the decadent powerful one way or another.

Later to be widely and most commonly referred to as the “Elections”, this
democratic exercise has been abused by crooks to amass power, fame and wealth
by all means necessary, including the employment of force and threats, only to be
proclaimed the victor in the battle.

More often than not, the term election is interchangeably portrayed as,
and or more commonly associated with violence, fraud and corruption.
Everywhere Elections is in action, fraudulent machinations to manipulate the
results always ensue. Accordingly, not a single democratic jurisdiction anywhere
in the world can say that their electoral exercises have not been visited by any
form of fraud and violence.

In the Philippine settings, the exercise of the Constitutional Right to
Suffrage has never been easy and peaceful too. Rampant open-ballot-vote-buying,
ballot switching and snatching, countless acts of election-related terrorism,
political killings, are just some of the noted events that transpire every time
elections are being held. As a matter of fact, these scenarios are the most favorite
issues commonly seen in all election protests filed by adverse political rivals due
to its rampant occurrence.

Some say that as long as the procedure, mechanics, operation and the
parameters of holding the elections involve human discretion, election related
fraud and massive cheating will always be present. If there is present, human
volition, that maybe subjected to control, then no amount of remedy however
expensive it will be that will work to combat all these election related maladies.

Ergo, following the successful shift of procedure from manual to electronic
system done in many countries today, our government has tried to modify our
Jong, fraud —prone and cumbersome manual system of elections, hoping that the
aforesaid dilemma would be stopped. Apart from the expensive costs of the
machines that require to be in such number as to negate the disenfranchisement
of people in the far flung suburbs and barrios; the relatively inexperienced


agencies that will coordinately work for the launching of the first ever automated
elections in the country; the dearth in information technology- man power who
will be responsible for the trouble-shooting of the machines in case they back
down during the elections; the adoption of the new election system was certainly
forthcoming. The government was so adamant to bid farewell to all those election
controversies in the manual system, even if it will mean spending billions of hard
earned tax payers’ money

.Y
Come May 10, 2010 synchronized National and Local Elections, the people
of the Philippines took part in the historic launching and holding of the first ever
automated elections in the country. .¥
However, what was perceived to be the ultimate solution to forestall poll
cheating customarily practiced in our country, proved to be not entirely correct.
‘The automated election system was not spared by electoral fraud as well. Albeit
the cause for fraud is not something attributable to human discretion like that in
the manual system, the same solicited countless disappointments from the voting
public. Everything, starting from electronic registration of voters, to an
unorganized voters’ list, isolated cases of failure of scanning, printing and
consolidating of electronic returns, to unexplained possession of Smartmatic
Flash Cards in the hands of candidates were just some of the noted problems.
Interestingly though, noted by numerous critics, the predicaments encountered
in the operation of the automated system in the recent national and local
elections, were not as severe as those encountered in the past,

Commensurate with the plight of the discontented few, is the
overwhelming satisfaction of the contented many. Counting of votes and the
proclamation of winners came quick unlike in the past, when counting and
canvassing could reach up toa month after the election day. Terrorism and ballot
switching were minimized because electronic results will be transmitted through
networking apart from the required personal delivery of the authorized custodian
to canvassing centers as mandated by law.

Everything in the operation of the automated system seemed fine save of
course to some technical issues that under the circumstances may be absolved as
excusable mistakes. ‘This is the first time that automated elections were held in
the country, and, albeit said excusable mistakes should be rectified, the same was
somewhat expected as a calculated risk. What can we do, apart from the long and
arduous preparations that the government has gone through; mistakes are always
bound to happen.

The legal as well as political experts linked the law authorizing the
automated election system itself as the one that caused all the imperfections. It is
submitted that with the comprehensive input that the law requires, coupled with
the fast approaching election time, Congress has overlooked the inclusion of
material components in the law,

Time and again, Congress should be called to rectify an apparent mistake.
In order not to fail the constitutionally guaranteed rights of the citizens to vote
for their chosen candidates during elections, it is high time that the law
authorizing the automated election system be amended.

In view of the foregoing, passage of the amendatory law is highly sought.

annoy C. CARAS


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPREPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

Sixteenth Congress
First Regular Session

1046

House Bill No.

Introduced by REP. MERCEDES C, CAGAS.

AN ACT AMENDING THE AMENDATORY REPUBLIC ACT 9369,
OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE AUTOMATED ELECTION LAW,
AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7166 AND
OTHER RELATED ELECTION LAWS, PROVIDING FUNDS
THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES,

Be it enac
in Congre:

ed by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines
assembled:

5
4

Section 1. Title. - This ACT shall be known as the Amendatory
Automated Elections Act of 2013

Section 2. Section 7 of Republic Act 9369 amending Section 6 of
Republic Act 8436 is hereby further amended and/or
supplemented to read as follows:

6 Minimum System Capabilities. "The automated
election system must at least have the following
functional capabilities

-XXX-

() System — auditabili which provides

¢ supporting documentatién for verifying the
correctness of reported election results,
especially the required official and
designated signatures and indication of
transmission and printing time of
election returns;

Xxx

Section 3. Section 8 thereof amending for that matter Section 7 of is
Republic Act 8436 is hereby further amended to read as
follows:


"Sec, 7, Communication Channels for Electronic
Transmissions. - All electronic transmissions by
and among the ABS and its related components
shall utilize pre-designated —_—_secure
communication channels as recommended and
officially designated by the Advisory Council, to
ensure authentication and — integrity of
transmissions." | > ¥

Section 4. The third(3") to the last paragraph of Section 9 amending
Section 8 of Republic Act 8436 is hereby further amended to
read as follows:

"Sec. 8. The Advisory Council. - The Commission
shall create an Advisory Council, hereafter
referred to as the Council, which shall be
convened not later than eighteen (18) months
prior to the next scheduled electoral exercise,
and deactivated six months after completion of
canvassing: Provided, for purposes of the 2007
elections, the Advisory Council shall _ be
immediately convened within ten (10) days after
the effectivity of this Act.

XxX iN

XXX
XXX

"Any violation of the two immediately preceding
paragraphs shall disqualify said member from
the Advisory Council and shall be punishable as
provided in this Act and shall be penalized in
accordance with the Anti-Graft and Corrupt
Practices Act and other related laws. Said
disqualified member shall not be eligible for re-
appointment in such capacity in the future.

XXX
” XxX +

Section 5. Section 10 thereof amending for that matter Section 8 of

Republic Act 8436 is hereby further amended to read as

follows:

“Sec. 12. Procurement of Equipment and Materials. -
To achieve the purpose of this Act, the Commission is
authorized to procure, in accordance with existing
laws, by purchase, lease, rent or other forms of
acquisition, supplies, equipment, materials, software,
facilities and other services, from local or foreign
sources free from taxes and import duties, subject to
accounting and auditing rules and regulations. With
respect to the May 10, 2010 elections and succeeding
electoral exercises, the system procured, or any


Section 8.

Section 9,

"Sec. 29, Random Manual Audit. - Where the AES is
used, there shall be a random manual audit in one
precinct per congressional district randomly chosen
by the Commission in each province and city. Any
difference between the automated and manual count
will result in the determination of root cause and
initiate a manual count for those precincts affected by
the computer or pracédiral error, subject to the
applicable statistical and operational
standards set for the purpose by the
COMELEG, after due recommendation from
the Advisory Council.”

Section 28 thereof amending for that matter Section 29 of
Republic Act 8436 is hereby further amended and
supplemented to read as follows:

"Sec, 35. Prohibited Acts and Penalties, The
following shall be penalized as provided in this
Act, whether or not said acts affect the electoral
process or results:

{a) Utilizing without authorization, tampering
with, damaging, destroying or stealing:
\

x
Xxx

Xxx

(3) The supporting documentation for veri
the correctness of reported election results, especially
the required official and designated signatures and
indication of transm' n and printing time of
election returns.

ing

XXX

‘The last paragraph thereof is hereby further amended
to read as follows

"Any person convicted for violation of this Act,
except those convicted of the crime of electoral
sabotage, shall be penalized with imprisonment
of twelve (12) years and one day to fifteen (15)
years without possibility of parole, and perpetual
disqualification to hold public office and
deprivation of the right of suffrage. Moreover, the
offender shall be perpetually disqualified to hold
any non-elective public office

Section 42 thereof amending Section 27 (b) of Republic Act
No. 6646 is hereby amended to read as follows

"Sec. 27. Election Offenses; Electoral Sabotage. - In
addition to the prohibited acts and election offenses
enumerated in Sections 261 and 262 of Batas


Section 10.

\

Pambansa Blg. 881, as amended, the following shall
be guilty of an election offense or a special election
offense to be known as electoral sabotage, subject to
the penalty provided herein:

“(a)xxx

(b) Any person or member of the board of election
inspectors or board: 6f canvassers who tampers,
increases or decreases the votes received by a
candidate in any election or any member of the board
who refuses, after proper verification and hearing, to
credit the correct votes or deduct such tampered
votes: Provided, however, That when the tampering,
increase or decrease of votes or the refusal to credit
the correct votes and/or to deduct tampered votes are
perpetrated on a large scale or in substantial numbers,
the same shall be considered, not as an ordinary
election offense under Sections 261 and/or 262 of the
omnibus election code, but a special election offense
to be known as electoral sabotage and the penalty to
be imposed shall be life imprisonment.

"The act or offense committed shall fall under the
category of electoral sabotage in any of the following
instances; 4

"(a) When the tampering, increase and/or decrease of
votes perpetrated or the refusal to credit the correct
votes or to deduct tampered votes, is/are committed
in the election of a national elective office which is
voted upon nationwide;

"(2) Regardless 6f the elective office involved, when
the tampering, increase and/or decrease of votes
committed or the refusal to credit the correct votes or
to deduct tampered votes perpetrated, is
accomplished in a single election document or in the
transposition of the figures/results from one election
document to another;

Provided finally, ‘That any and all cither persons or
individuals determined to be in conspiracy or in
connivance with the memberS of the BEIs or BOCs
involved, shall be meted the same penalty of life
imprisonment.”

Appropriations. - To carry out the provisions of this Act, the
amount necessary for the automated system shall be charged
against the current year's appropriations of the Commission.

‘Thereafter, such sums as may be necessary for the
continuous implementation of this Act shall be included in
the Annual General Appropriations Act.
If the said funds shall not be fully utilized, the same shall
continue to be appropriated for the electoral modernization
and shall not revert to the General Fund.


Section 11.

Section 12.

Section 13.

Approved:

Separability Clause. - If, for any reason, any section or
provision of this Act is declared invalid or unconstitutional,
the remainder thereof shall not be affected by such
declaration.

Repealing Clause. - All laws, presidential decrees, executive
orders, rules and regulations or parts thereof inconsistent
with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or
modified af accordingly.
Effectivity. - This Act shal] take effect fifteen (15) days after
its publication in a newspaper of general circulation.