On the AES, and how quickly “Watchdog” was shed for “Lapdog”
Already we are being barraged with commentary hailing the Automated Election System (AES) as a success, despite glitches in the hardware, software and other logistical concerns, which they downplayed as minor. With their bets already winning, some have readily shed their misgivings since, hey, their candidate has already won, haven’t they? All of a sudden, the commentary have taken a 360-degree turn, now naysaying IT experts and critics without differentiating the “gloom and doom” prophets from those genuinely concerned.
How quickly our judgment disappears with victory’s taste touching the tip of our tongues. How quickly we forget that from the onset, hundreds of thousands of late registrants were excluded from voting. How convenient to overlook the fact that, despite thousands of documented reports indicating technical glitches that could have been avoided if COMELEC listened to concerns from onset, we are now calling COMELEC’s implementation as a success. Maybe, in the euphoria of victory, they have forgotten to keep tab on updates, such as the one fromGMANews.TV indicating that canvassing is still not over yet, and many municipalities still haven’t transmitted results yet.
For want of actualizing the favorable results, people have already shed their “Watchdog” stances into a “Lapdog” one. To the rest who are genuinely concerned with wanting to have a credible and inclusive AES, and who refuse to let the bungling COMELEC get away with it, let us remain vigilant in guarding the elections down to the final moments of canvassing.
Poll watchdog Kontra Daya continues its monitoring, keep yourselves updated in their monitoring page. VoteReportPH continues to map fraud and glitch incident reports with our Ushahidi-based tool. Continue guarding our votes with us. As what the Computer Professionals’ Union tweeted earlier, The electoral battle may be over, but the struggle for AES integrity continues.
Reposted by Vote Reporter Jose Leon Dulce from his personal blog:
