Imee Marcos pushes for 'hybrid' election system in PH
Senator Imee Marcos, sister of frontrunning presidential candidate Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., is pushing for a "hybrid" election system, where votes will be counted not only electronically but also manually, to ensure integrity of the elections as well as to have "evidentiary requirements" when there is an electoral protest.
Marcos disclosed Thursday that she actually proposed a bill that pushes for a joint automated and manual election system, which is called "hybrid." The same setup is also being applied in countries such as "Germany, Australia, Austria and Singapore," she said.
Under her proposal, which is still pending and has no chance of being passed into law before the elections, Marcos said, "if a delay is imminent, there should be a manual count at the precinct level."
"Sa presinto lang ha, wala naman akong sinasabi all the way eh magiging manual, aabutin tayo ng siyam siyam, (That should be done at a precinct level. I'm not saying that all the way, it should be a manual counting. It will take us a long time)," she clarified during the Pandesal Forum.
According to Marcos, it might take some time and more money to also conduct manual counting of votes, but it is better than having doubts on the winning candidates.
"Alam na alam natin, manonood tayo sa mga teachers natin, magsusulat doon.. nakikita naitn mga boto natin. Parang diskumpiyado tayo na yung balota natin, isusubo nalang sa VCM (vote counting machine), bahala na si batman.. 'di na natin nakikita, biglang may tally na, mayroon nang nanalo, may natalo (We all know that we're fond of seeing our teachers counting our votes. But now, we seem to be not confident about our ballots because they are just inserted into VCMs. After that, there will already be a tally, who is the winner and who has lost)," she said.
"Medyo hassle talaga siya, pero if you think about it...ano yung delay, ano yung hirap at gastos kung ikukumpara sa walang tiwala sa eleksyon, sa kandidatong nanalo? (It might cause hassle, but if you think about it, what is delay, hard work and expenses if you will compare them to the trust in the election and in the winning candidates))," she added.
Another reason why Marcos pushed for a manual counting of votes is to be able to expedite the process of electoral protest.
"Ang problema pati noon (The problem with that) is the evidentiary requirements, whether there is a protest case, cannot be met wala ng pinanghahawakan na ebidensya (because there is no evidence anymore)," she said.