July 22 - The Transparency and Accountability Network, together with the Ateneo School of Government's Government Watch Project organized a very well attended conference held in Astoria Plaza, Ortigas. The reputable speakers were TAN's very own Executive Director, Vincent Lazatin, Ramon Casiple of the Consortium on Electoral Reforms, Tanya Hamada of Youth Vote Philippines for the first discussion topic. Keynote speaker was Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento. The second discussion topic was led by Comelec Executive Director Jun Tolentino and joined by James Jimenez, and Eduardo Mejos.
The winning bidder, Smartmatic-TIM conducted a demonstration of the use of the precinct-count optical system (PCOS). The event had at least 120 audience/participants. It ended with an action-planning workshop where CSOs identified activities they would be interested to undertake in making sure that election automation will be implemented properly.
See the following materials: 1. TAN presentation (procurement findings, monitoring opportunities in implementing automation), 2. Comelec presentation on automation plans, 3. TAN observers' reports (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
