The news that is getting much public concern these days is the possibility of going back to manual voting after hopes have been generated by the much-vaunted computerized balloting in next year’s presidential elections.

The consternation is understandable.

Until last week the Commission on Elections was expressing optimism the modernization of the electoral processes would push through despite certain problems that were being sorted out by its officials.

In fact, up to Tuesday last week, the news was that the commission was not giving up on poll automation.

“I don’t know with the other commissioners, but my personal assessment is that there is at least a 50/50 chance that they may come into an accommodation of each other,” Comelec Chairman Jose A. R. Melo said in a press interview.

He was referring to the possible settlement of differences between the winning bidders Smartmatic Corp. and its Philippine partner Total Information Management (TIM).

The contract signing between the Comelec and the winning bidders was scheduled for the second time last Tuesday but was postponed anew to Friday following the partners’ failure to reconcile their disagreements.

The worse part of it all is that such disagreements have caused the withdrawal of the Philippine party from the consortium, citing “irreconcilable differences.”

Already, the delay in the signing of the contract, and particularly the pullout of the Philippine partner, have raised some disruptive speculations.

Senator Richard Gordon has sounded an alarm that some people may be “playing with the fate of democracy in our country.”

The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, through its chairwoman, Henrietta de Villa, has voiced sadness by the turn of events, saying it should prompt investigation to clear up disturbing speculations.

Gordon, an advocate of automation of the election process, entertains the probability that somebody may be “forcing partnership with Smartmatic” or it could be a deliberate attempt, he opined, to torpedo the automation process so there would mass cheating at the polls as usual.

“It is now incumbent upon the Comelec to find a way within the parameters of the law to continue implementation of poll automation, such as pilot-testing poll automation in two highly urbanized areas in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao which it failed to do when it awarded the contract to Samartmatic/TIM,” Senator Francis Escudero said in a statement.

He added that it is fortunate that the Comelec problem cropped up this early while the commission has still the time to address the situation.

From Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, a declared aspirant for president (or vice-president, he said) we heard him saying “Regardless of the system used, we should guard against fraud, especially wholesale fraud done with the connivance of some corrupt personnel of the Commission on Elections.”

Well, the last word from the Comelec is that the decision of the Smartmatic and TIM will determine whether the May 2010 polls will be manual or automated.

But Chairman Melo remains optimistic.

(zhern_218@yahoo.com)