How important are the public and private keys of the Smartmatic-TIM machines in the automated election system? Some justices disagreed with the majority in the Roque v. COMELEC case (GR No 188456) in the matter of the significance of Smartmatic having possession of the public and private keys. Justice Brion cited the explanation of Prof. Manalastas, a noted expert in computer science: "the person in possession of the secret key can change the votes of the precinct."
The Constitution gave the Congress the authority to enact laws to regulate the conduct of elections to ensure that they are honest, orderly, free, and peaceful. The Constitution then assigned the COMELEC to be the enforcer of these laws. Pursuant to the Constitution, the Congress enacted RA 8436 and RA 9369 which mandated that COMELEC have exclusive control and supervision over elections.
COMELEC in its contract with Smartmatic-TIM put Smartmatic in-charge of the technical aspect of the AES. This is a violation of the law, and such provision must be declared void, according to Justice Carpio. But doing so will not dim our chances of having automated elections in 2010. Justice Carpio also pointed out that the contract contained a separability clause that would preserve the unaffected provision and oblige the parties to renegotiate the ones declared void.
All the justices seem to be eager to have automated elections. The whole country is excited to have automated elections. I personally cannot wait to see the 3-foot long ballots this May when i go to vote.
There is a reason why Congress gave COMELEC exclusive charge of the conduct of elections. A republican type of government like ours draws its authority from the people who exercise sovereignty through the representatives that they elect. Elections should reflect the sovereign will of the people. The dissenting opinions are a reminder of this principle. we can automate the elections. In fact, it automation would make for cleaner elections. But let's do it the right way.
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I think the automation process should have been planned very well. There is no flexibility in the deadline - on May 10, 2010 we have to have a clean run of the automated elections. Planning is the key.
We are the first nation to fully automate in one election - meaning in one go. All other countries partially automated first before orienting the whole nation to the automation process.
Right now, the public has a lot of questions - when is the training for the teachers (majority of the people who will man the precincts during elections)? when is the voter education? Not all teachers are tech savvy. Moreover, not all Filipinos are tech savvy. Not all Filipinos can even read or write.
From this point onwards, COMELEC should have been advertising the timeline in which the people need to have training to be properly oriented to the system. Mind you, even those who are tech savvy could still have a lot of questions on the process since it will be the first time for us to see these machines.
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