Project MODEX and the Modernization of Philippine Elections

Abstract

Project MODEX is the name of COMELEC’s modernization project. It was conceptualized in 1992, during the incumbency of COMELEC Chairman Christian Monsod. While it was supposed to be a six-year plan, the Project still hasn’t achieved its goal of providing for a modernized elections system fourteen years after formulation. In this light, this research endeavored to find out what Project MODEX is, its effects on the country, and why it has seemed to be an apparent failure. Project MODEX in a nutshell aims to speed up the counting and canvassing of votes in the country and to minimize the errors due to human intervention in both the counting and canvassing stages The framework of analysis for the study will delve on the concept of praxis. Praxis' closest translation is “practice”, although it is on a different level. Praxis seeks not only to interpret reality, but rather, to change it. Praxis derives its origins from Marxist philosophy, which basically means the combination of theory and practice to initiate major changes. Books, papers, and interviews with key informants were the main sources of information in the research. De rigueur authorities like COMELEC Commissioner Ressurreccion Borra, NAMFREL Secretary-General Guillermo Luz, and NAMFREL Quick Count Operations Head Augusto Lagman were interviewed and consulted. The history of Philippine elections is traced in this research, with a special focus on the history of the COMELEC’s modernization effort. The facts surrounding Project MODEX are also discussed thoroughly. In this research, the several reasons that the researcher perceives to be the cause of the Project’s failure are listed. The effects of this failure are also studied and pondered upon. The positive effects that the modernization project had it been successful are also examined. In the hope to remedy the problems of the COMELEC and to achieve the positive effects that modernization could bring, several proposals are also raised in this research, all in the hope of wanting to help achieve elections that are fair, free, orderly, and honest.