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The Commissions on Elections (Comelec) suspended the printing of voters’ identification cards to give way to the computerized system of registration. This was upon the advice of acting director Jeannie Flororita.

The Comelec said, that upon the resolution of the poll body, printing of the voter’s ID would only resume once the number of voters who have gone through the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) have reached 50 million.
The resolution reads, “In effect, only credible voters can enjoy hassle-free identification to vote.”

Flororita said, she had recommended the suspension of printing because there has been no supply of paper for printing since October 2008.

The Comelec uses data capturing machines (DCMs), under the AFIS project, to get photographs, fingerprints and signatures of voters. The biometrics will then be cross-matched to eliminate double and multiple registrants.

Attorney Teopisto Elnas, Comelec elections and barangay affairs director, said in an earlier interview that the issuing of ID to voters is no longer practical because it does not really eliminate double and multiple registrants from the list. He added that it would be better to wait for the cleared list of voters before resuming the printing of IDs.

The using of DCMs to get the biometrics of registrants was already in used in the Comelec since 2004, however they do not have the machines then to cross match them. In the 2007 elections, only around half of the 45 million voters had their biometrics taken.

A P1.5-billion contract to supply the AFIS machine has been awarded by the poll body last month to the joint venture of Unison Computer System Inc., Lamco Paper Products Co., Inc. and NEC Philippines Inc. The Comelec  said that benefits of AFIS will be reaped in the midterm polls in 2013.