THE pre-bidding conference set by the Commission on Elections on Saturday, March 14, will make or break the push for the full automation of the local and national polls in 2010.

Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said that if the Saturday bidding fails, the Comelec will go back to manual voting and tabulation in 2010 as ?the timeline will not allow [for] a second bidding process.?

Speaking at a news forum at the Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan, Sarmiento said the suppliers need to submit a lot of papers for the bidding and the long process involved practically leaves no time for a second bidding. But he added that if the bidder meets all requirements, the awarding of contract will be on May 22.

Congress has approved an P11.3-billion supplemental budget for the automation of the elections in 2010.

He added that the Comelec is willing to televise the bidding for the automated counting machines to uphold the principle of transparency in government procurement projects.

The Comelec commissioner also said that even with poll automation, teachers will still be manning the poll precincts but with less work compared to previous elections. ?The teachers will [also] be assisted by an IT expert,? Gordon said.

He said the teachers assigned as board of election inspectors should be certified by the Department of Science and Technology since they will be operating machines.

But Sarmiento clarified that the machines to be used are only for transmittal of results.

Meanwhile, Senator Richard Gordon yesterday allayed fears that the full computerization of the 2010 elections may not be fool-proof. Gigi Mu?oz David, Fel V. Maragay