One Step Backward

The Supreme Court has just found the P1.3-B contract between the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Mega Pacific consortium for the computerization of the coming May 10 polls null and void. Full story here.

The computerization, part of the Comelec's Election Modernization program, has been heavily opposed by many, citing a number of irregularities in the vote-counting machines and software provided by Mega Pacific. An estimated 800 billion pesos had already been spent by prior to the cancellation of the contract. The Court has ordered the Solicitor General to find a way of recovering the said amount. Returning to manual counting could push the elections back by a couple of months. What's scary about this is the threat of a Military takeover in the event the polls, which is always supposed to be held on the second Monday of May, does get delayed.

Philippine politics sucks.