An overwhelming 92 percent of Filipino voters want the Arroyo administration to give priority to the automation of elections in 2010, according to a Social Weather Stations survey commissioned by civil society groups.

The survey showed that majority of the Filipino voters believe that the election automation law should be implemented to ensure fast, reliable and fraud-free elections. Only 8 percent thinks that the administration does not need to give priority to the computerization of elections.

?It is unfortunate that the Election Automation Law has long been enacted by Congress but the Filipinos have yet to see its full implementation,? said Loreta Rosales, former congressman representing the party-list group Akbayan and now president of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms.

In 1997, Congress enacted Republic Act 8436, which authorized the Commission on Elections to use an automated system in the 1998 elections. Two years ago, the law was amended through RA 9369.

Rosales called on the Executive and Legislative branches to provide and release adequate funding on time to ensure ample preparations for the automation of the 2010 political exercise.

?If we really want change in the electoral system, we have to modernize the voting, counting and canvassing process. This is a test of political will,? Rosales said.

Rosales said that ?although the full implementation of the law may entail a higher cost, this investment is all worth it in the long run.?

The successful pilot testing of election technologies in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao elections last August, is also a clear indication that automation can work for the rest of the country.

?If we were able to do it in ARMM, there is no reason why we can?t do it for the rest of the country, our people do not want anything less than full automation?, Rosales said.

Comelec officials have begun the process of bidding for the supply of voting machines after Senators Richard Gordon and Edgardo Angara assured them that Congress will allocate budget for the poll automation. Gordon said the first tranche can be released this year while the balance of the budget will be released in 2010.

But the promised budget is slow in coming because the lawmakers want Comelec to draw up a detailed proposal that will serve as basis for a supplemental appropriation. With Arlie Calalo