The Commission on Elections demonstrates the automated counting machines by Miru Systems to be used for the 2025 Midterm Elections at the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center in Quezon City on June 19, 2024. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News

MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday rejected a proposal to adopt a hybrid poll system next year. 

Law requires the poll body to implement automated elections in 2025, noted Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia. 

“Kakailanganin po kasi ng isang batas para magpatupad ng tinatawag na hybrid system,” Garcia told TeleRadyo Serbisyo. 

“Hindi po pupuwedeng magpatupad ang Comelec ng isang sistema na katulad po ng kanilang pino-propose nang wala namang batas. Ang Comelec ay tagapagpatupad lamang ng batas,” he said. 

The hybrid election system involves manual voting and counting at the precinct level and an automated transmission and canvassing of results.

But Garcia noted that a Comelec study showed that under the hybrid system, vote-counting at the precinct level alone would take around 3 days, causing significant delays in the elections. 

The coalition Alyansa ng Nagkakaisang Mamamayan (ANIM) had called for hybrid elections due to the supposed lack of transparency in the automated system. 

“Tulad nung May 2022, nobody knows kung ano talaga yung bilang dahil ang computer ang nagbilang at nag-transmit. Nobody has the records of whether the votes that were transmitted were accurate or not,” said ANIM’s Edwn Fernandez. 

But Garcia noted that in 2025, voters for the first time could see a photo of their ballot on the machine to prove that it was counted. 

After the voting, the machines would print out 9 copies of election returns before transmitting the results. One copy would be posted outside voting precincts while other copies would be sent to watchdogs and political parties, he said.   

“Kung 300 ang bumoto, 300 balota po ang makikita ng lahat ng watchers at observers… puwede nilang bilangin ngayon ano ang boto ni mayor, ano ang boto ni vice mayor doon sa mismong picture images na nahulog po maghapon sa makina,” Garcia said. 

“Dati yun po ang katanungan: nabilang ba ang boto ko? Ngayon po, hopefully ay masagot na namin yung tanong sapagkat yung mismong imahe ng balota na nahulog sa maghapon, hindi lang individually ipapakita sa botante – ipapakita yung lahat ng nahulog sa watchers at observers.”