For those who have not heard of it yet, Botong Pinoy is a software that will fully automate the election process in the Philippines. Once adopted by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), it will ensure honest and speedy election results because the counting of ballots is tamper proof. Thus, the so-called dagdag-bawas (addition-subtraction) strategy of many politicians and their cohorts in the electorate will be completely eliminated.
The software is easily installed in any personal computer and is user-friendly. It is composed of three modules which can operate individually by themselves but which can easily be integrated to form one complete TOTAL election solution. It has built-in safeguards against fraud and manipulation, and has specific design features to help even the disabled and the illiterates in voting.
Because the tabulation is done internally by the computer and then transmitted to Comelec at the end of the voting day, stealing or tampering with the ballots will not be possible.
The votes will be transmitted to the internet through dial-up’s, local area networks (LAN), virtual private networks (VPN), cable internet, digital subscriber line (DSL), and/or whatever methods required to connect to the internet.
It was designed and developed by Mega Data Corporation specifically for Philippine elections. Its chairman, Rafael Garcia III is an alumnus of Harvard and Ateneo de Manila University. He has offered the Botong Pinoy software to the Comelec for free.
However, Comelec did not accept the offer. We can only surmise the reasons why the offer was rejected.
There can be no cheating because it is tamper-proof. And probably the more important reason is because the software is being offered free. Therefore, there is no money in it. No kickback!
?