Automated polls is Arroyo's legacy - Zubiri

MANILA, Philippines - A fully automated 2010 elections should be the legacy of the Arroyo administration, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said Monday. Zubiri also expressed confidence that the recently signed P11.3-billion supplemental budget for the automation of next year's elections would help regain the Filipino people’s trust in the electoral system. He also said an automated election would help redeem the “dwindling credibility" of the Commission on Elections (Comelec). "The approval of the measure will be the legislative department's gift to the Filipino people in terms of the conduct of honest, orderly, peaceful and credible elections in 2010. And I think that it should be the legacy of the administration of President Macapagal-Arroyo," Zubiri said in a statement. Zubiri issued the statement on the same day President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo approved the P11.3 billion for the automation of the 2010 elections. For his part, Senator Richard Gordon said the Filipino people would greatly benefit from an automated electoral system not only because it would get rid of massive electoral fraud that often marred past elections but also ensure speedy, clean, honest and orderly elections. “It will change the way we vote. It will change the way we count votes. It will change the way elections are decided. It will also change the way politicians plan to cheat in the balloting," he said. Gordon is the author of the amended Automated Election Systems Law or Republic Act 9369. - Amita Legaspi, GMANews.TV