SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE ) 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
)
Third Regular Session 
)
S E N A T E  
S.B. No. J^206
'K i. 
eV.: 
"  ■ I i
•19 FEB-4 P7:31
R E L u ,
Introduced by Senator Aqiiilino “Koko” Pimentel HI
AN ACT
AMENDING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8436, ENTITLED “AN ACT 
AUTHORIZING THE COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS TO USE 
AN AUTOMATED ELECTION SYSTEM IN THE MAY 11, 1998 
NATIONAL OR LOCAL ELECTIONS AND IN SUBSEQUENT 
NATIONAL AND LOCAL ELECTORAL EXERCISES, TO 
ENCOURAGE TRANSPARENCY, CREDIBILITY, FAIRNESS 
AND ACCURACY OF ELECTIONS, AMENDING FOR THE 
PURPOSE BATAS PAMBANSA BLG. 881, AS AMENDED, 
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7166 AND OTHER RELATED ELECTION 
LAWS, PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES”, AS AMENDED
EXPLANATORY NOTE
A COMELEC Advisory Council was created by Republic Act No. 
9369, the law that amended R.A. 8436, or the Automated Election 
System (AES) Law. 
One of the more important functions of this 
Advisory Council is to recommend the most appropriate, secure, 
applicable and cost-effective technology to be applied in the AES.
The amendments proposed in this bill are taken from the 
recommendations of the Advisory Council in its CAC Resolution No. 
2018-0011 submitted to the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on 
Automated Election System, as follows:
Dated 18 June 2018.


1) In the definition of automated election system, the clause "‘which 
has been demonstrated in the voting, counting, consolidating, 
canvassing, and transmission of election results'>' is proposed to be 
replaced with ""with proven capability to perform the counting of 
votes and other electoral processes” to allow the entry of other 
AES solution providers to participate in the National and Local 
Elections (NLE)2;
2) The amendment in Section 6 (1) of the law reflects the fact that 
national and local electoral exercises use not only paper resources 
but also digital resources3;
3) The membership of the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) 
enumerated in the law is proposed to be amended by replacing the 
membership of COMELEC with a representative from the 
academe, information and communications technology (ICT) 
group, or citizens’ arm, while still mandating the COMELEC to 
provide full support to the TEC4;
4) The requirement of an international certification for an AES is 
proposed to be changed to any qualified certification entity thus 
allowing local certification entities to participate and conduct the 
certification processes needed for the AES. It also proposes to 
omit the clause ""not later than 3 months before the date of the 
electoral exercise" since, by experience, there has been no 
compliance with this requirement due to factors beyond the control 
of concerned stakeholders ;
5) The reference of prior electoral exercises in Section 12 of the law 
on procurement of equipment and materials is proposed to be 
deleted thus allowing a system that complies with the 
specifications to be determined by the COMELEC to be eligible to 
participate6; and
6) For the conduct of the source code review, the word ""promptly" is 
proposed to be replaced with a specific time frame 
""thirty (30) 
calendar days from the signing of the contract" with the winning 
bidder7.
2 Item 1, CAC Resolution No. 2018-001.
3 Id. at Item 3, page 3.
4 Id. at Item 5, page 3.
5 Id. at Item 6, page 4.
6 Id. at Item 2, page 2.
7 Id. at Item 7, page 4.


With these amendments, it is hoped that our AES will be closer to 
the vision of the Constitution of a free, orderly, honest, peaceful, 
credible, and informed elections.
For these reasons, passage of this measure is earnestly sought.
AQUILINO ^KOKO” PIMENTEL III


SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE ) 
IH^PUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
)
Third Regular Session 
)
S E N A T E  
S. B. No. _Z2.0S
f  . -V
*19 FEB-4 P7 31
R E L -
Introduced by Senator Aquilino “Koko,, Pimentel HI
AN ACT
AIVIENDING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8436, ENTITLED “AN ACT 
AUTHORIZING THE COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS TO USE 
AN AUTOMATED ELECTION SYSTEM IN THE MAY 11, 1998 
NATIONAL OR LOCAL ELECTIONS AND IN SUBSEQUENT 
NATIONAL AND LOCAL ELECTORAL EXERCISES, TO 
ENCOURAGE TRANSPARENCY, CREDIBILITY, FAIRNESS 
AND ACCURACY OF ELECTIONS, AMENDING FOR THE 
PURPOSE BATAS PAMBANSA BLG. 881, AS AMENDED, 
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 7166 AND OTHER RELATED ELECTION 
LAWS, PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES”, AS AMENDED
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines 
in Congress assembled:
1 
SECTION 1. Section 2 of Republic Act No. 8436, as amended by
2 
Republic Act No. 9369, is hereby further amended to read as follows:
3
4
"SEC. 2. Definition of Terms. - As used in this Act, the 
following terms shall mean:
Page 1 of 5


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"1. Automated election system, hereinafter referred to 
as AES - a system using appropriate technology [which has 
been demonstrated in the voting, counting, consolidating, 
canvassing, and transmission of election results,] WITH 
PROVEN 
CAPABILITY 
TO 
PERFORM 
THE 
COUNTING OF VOTES and other electoral processes;
xxxxx
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SEC. 2. Section 6 (1) of Republic Act No. 8436, as amended by 
Republic Act No. 9369, is hereby further amended to read as follows:
"SEC.6. Minimum 
System 
Capabilities. 
- 
"The 
automated election system must at least have the following 
functional capabilities: 
xxxxx
(1) Provide for the safekeeping, storing and archiving 
of physical [or] paper, DIGITAL OR OTHER resources 
used in the election process; 
xxxxx
SEC. 3. - Section 8 (a) of Republic Act No. 8436, as amended by 
Republic Act No. 9369, is hereby further amended to read as follows:
"SEC.8. The Advisory Council, -xxxxx
"(a) 
The 
[Chairman 
of the 
Commission 
on] 
SECRETARY 
OF 
THE 
DEPARTMENT 
OF 
Infonnation and Communications Technology [(CICT)j 
DICT who shall act as the chairman of the council;
28
29 
SEC. 4. - Section 10 of Republic Act No. 8436, as amended by
30 
Republic Act No. 9369, is hereby further amended to read as follows:
31
32
33
"SEC. 10. The Technical Evaluation Committee. - The 
Commission, in collaboration with the chairman of the 
Advisory Council, shall establish an independent technical
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1 
evaluation committee, herein known as the Committee,
2 
composed of [a] ONE representative each from the
3 
[Commission, the Commission on Information and
4 
Communications Technology and the] Department of
5 
Science and Technology, who shall act as Chairman of the
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Committee, THE DEPARTMENT OF INFORMATION
7 
AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY, AND
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FROM THE ACADEME, INFORMATION AND
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COMMUNICATIONS 
TECHNOLOGY 
(ICT)
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INDUSTRY GROUP, OR THE CITIZENS’ ARM.
11 
THE 
COMMISSION 
SHALL 
PROVIDE 
FULL
12 
SUPPORT NEEDED BY THE COMMITTEE IN
13 
FULFILLING ITS ACTIVITIES
14 
"The Committee shall be immediately convened
15 
within ten (10) days after the effectivity of this Act."
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SEC. 5. -Section 11 of Republic Act No. 8436, as amended by
18 
Republic Act No. 9369, is hereby further amended to read as follows:
19 
"SEC. \\. Functions of the Technical Evaluation
20 
Committee. - The Committee shall certify, through [an
21 
established international] A QUALIFIED certification
22 
entity to be chosen by the Commission from the
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recommendations of the Advisory Council, [not later than
24 
three months before the date of the electoral exercises,]
25 
categorically stating that the AES, including its hardware
26 
and software components, is operating properly, securely,
27 
and accurately, in accordance with the provisions of this
28 
Act based, among others, on the following documented
29 
results:
30
xxxxx
31 
SEC. 6. -  Section 12 of Republic Act No. 8436, as amended by
32 
Republic Act No. 9369, is hereby further amended to read as follows:
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"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
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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] THE system 
procured must have [demonstrated] PROVEN capability 
[and been successfully used in a prior electoral exercise 
here or abroad. Participation in the 2007 pilot exercise shall 
not be conclusive of the system's fitness[, WITH 
SPECIFICATIONS TO BE DETERMINED BY THE 
COMMISSION AS IT DEEMS APPROPRIATE AND 
PRACTICAL FOR THE PROCESS OF VOTING, 
COUNTING 
OF 
VOTES,
CANVASSING/CONSOLIDATION, 
AND
TRANSMITTAL OF RESULTS OF ELECTORAL 
EXERCISES.
16 
xxxxx
17 
SEC. 7.- Section 14 of Republic Act No. 8436, as amended by
18 
Republic Act No. 9369, is hereby further amended to read as follows:
19 
A. Examination and Testing of Equipment or
20 
Device of the AES and Opening of the Source Code for
21 
Review, -xxxxx
22
xxxxx
23
xxxxx
24 
xxxxx
25 
"Once 
an 
AES 
technology is 
selected 
for
26 
implementation, 
the 
Commission shall 
[promptly],
27 
WITHIN THIRTY (30) CALENDAR DAYS FROM
28 
THE SIGNING OF THE CONTRACT, make the source
29 
code of that technology available and open to any
30 
interested political party or groups which may conduct
31 
their own review thereof"
32 
SEC. 8. Implementing Rules and Regulations. — The Commission
33 
shall promulgate the implementing rules and regulations of this Act
34 
within ninety (90) days from its effectivity.
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SEC. 9. Separability Clause. -  Should any provision of this Act or 
part hereof be declared unconstitutional, the other provisions or parts not 
affected thereby shall remain valid and effeetive.
SEC. 10. Repealing Clause. -  Any law, presidential decree or 
issuanee, executive order, letter of instruction, or rule or regulation 
ineonsistent with the provisions of this Act is hereby repealed modified 
accordingly.
SEC. 11. Effectivity. -This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days 
after its complete publication in the Offieial Gazette or in two (2) 
newspapers of general cireulation.
Approved,
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