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On Tuesday, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) emphasized the necessity of internet voting to streamline election administration and boost overseas Filipinos’ participation in voting.

The Comelec remarked outside of the internet voting demonstration before the national and local elections in 2025.

Comelec chairman George Erwin Garcia said during a Facebook live stream that it is past due for the nation to study its options for automated voting in light of recent technical breakthroughs.

“We should now explore the alternative voting processes. We interpreted the law’s clause allowing the Commission on Elections to experiment with different voting methods, such as internet voting. As a result, during the en banc session, the en banc established a policy to move internet voting forward.

Garcia noted that the Philippines spent over PHP417 million to guarantee that 600,000 voters could vote in the 2022 elections.

“Per capita, that would cost around PHP400 per voter; (that’s) too expensive given that only 39% of eligible voters participate in the election. That is the reason the Comelec is currently thinking creatively, he continued.

According to Republic Act 9189, also known as the Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003, the polling organization is required to “study and explore the use of the internet to cast votes for overseas Filipino voters,” according to a statement from Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco.

Eight international providers of internet voting solutions were presented at the event.

Miru, Smartmatic, Dermalog, Indra, E-Corp, Tambuli Labs, Voatz, and Thales are a few of the participating solution suppliers.

According to Laudiangco, the demonstration’s results will create the nation’s term of reference (TOR).

As a result, “Such TOR will then be the subject and basis of a competitive public bidding in time for the 2025 national and local elections,” he stated.

It is also anticipated that the development of the TOR will consider the nation’s needs in terms of “cybersecurity, accuracy, cost-effectiveness, efficiency, integrity, convenience, sustainability, transparency, inclusivity, and audibility.”

The demonstration to evaluate the technology platforms utilized by the providers of online voting solutions also received cooperation from more organizations.

The Comelec Advisory Council, the Department of Information and Communications Technology, the Department of Science and Technology, and a few members of the national IT community are among the participating agencies.

Take a step forward.

Representative Marissa “Del Mar” Magsino of the OFW Party list praised the Comelec for its tenacious efforts to launch a campaign allowing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) to cast online ballots.

“As of this day, we have a concrete plan from technology providers, and the likelihood that it will be used in the 2025 elections is very high. Today, we saw the detailed strategy of our technology providers, and there is a good chance that it will be put into practice for the elections of 2025. Finally, the era of democracy is upon us, Magsino declared in a statement on Tuesday.

She claimed that Comelec’s ideas had the full support of the House.

“However, we will pursue our proposed legislation to avoid any legal obstacles that could later derail this endeavor. In addition to supporting the budgetary allocations for the project in the budget discussions for FY 2024 and the years following, there will be a parallel endeavor of the OFW Party-list to ensure that internet voting will be a reality for the 1.8 million overseas voters by 2025, she said.

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