Now that the elections are over, it is time to look at how lessons can be learned especially on the part of the Commission on Elections.
There have been accusations that the agency has been remiss on so many points that even Congress intends to call its officials to explain why the problems were experienced.
But one of its biggest failures in the latest political exercise was its failure to maximize the use of technology so that voters would be able to easily exercise their right of suffrage. For example, it was only days before election day when the agency made the website available for voters to check on their precincts, or on whether they can still vote or not. Had the website been made available earlier, voters would have a longer time to look for their names, schedule their activities on election day and the agency would have a smoother way to run the event.
The agency had three long years to prepare for the elections, but the problems that were experienced were the same as those in the past elections. To say that it did not learn the lessons of the past is an understatement. It did spend huge amount of taxpayers’ hard-earned money to make the elections smooth, but its performance was wanting.
The agency must remember that three years from now another big election is taking place as the Filipino people will choose their new President. It must be ready and must be able to ensure that problems will be minimized, if not totally addressed so that it can justify its budget. After all, it only has one mandate, and it must work doubly hard to show that it is capable of complying with its responsibility.
