Through electoral reforms, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia vowed to remove the distrust that the public has on the poll body.
In an interview on ANC's Dateline Philippines, Garcia said that the poll body was able to do this in the 2022 elections they "promise" to actively do it again in the 2025 elections and in the other forthcoming electoral exercises.
He explained that in the past elections, the poll body's hands were tied simply because there were no legislations allowing them to do further, to move further, and to act further since they were following the 1985 Omnibus Election Code.
"Now if we're going to revise not only amend the Omnibus Election Code, surely we can do everything legally possible, as mandated by the Constitution, such as, for example, the computerization of the election," he added.
With this, Garcia stated that concerns such as ensuring all candidates will have to appear in Comelec debates can be properly remedied once the poll body amends or revises the present laws.
Hybrid elections
To ensure transparency, Garcia said that he is personally in support of the hybrid system of election. Under this, both manual and automated means of voting will be employed.
"Personally I had been supporting the hybrid system of election when Senator Imee Marcos was then Chairperson of the Committee on Electoral Reforms of the Senate, we were able to pass the legislation at least as far as the Senate is concerned but there was no sufficient time," he disclosed.
"That's why it was set aside, but next time the Congress will will pursue with the hybrid system election definitely, at least, personally I will support that and I will try to convince the members of the Commission, the other Commissioners, the en banc that we should likewise support this system because this ensures greater transparency," he added.
Garcia mentioned that it's not enough that results are being transmitted quickly. He said that what's being transmitted should be accurate and that people can really see that their votes are being counted.