A bishop has urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to come up with a manual which discusses the step-by-step process of voting in the May 2010 elections. Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said that the Comelec should prepare the manual now because this is the first time that the elections in the country will be fully automated.

“This is a big challenge to most Filipinos especially to those who haven’t used a computer in their life. They think it might explode or something,” he said in his opening message Saturday at the Manila Cathedral School in Tayuman, Manila, where the 18th anniversary of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) was held.

Pabillo, chairman of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines National Secretariat for Social Action Justice and Peace (CBCP-NASSA), said that the manual would also be a big help to groups engaged in voters’ education such like the PPCRV.

“This is also a challenge for us. How to teach them how to use the voting machines so that they won’t be afraid to use it because if they don’t know how to use that then they’ll have to be assisted by somebody who knows how to use it eliminating the essence of secret voting,” he said.

“We are appealing to Comelec Chairman Melo to immediately come out with the manual enumerating the directions or the system of voting in an automated election,” added Pabillo.

Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said that the poll body is expected to produce the manual next month with general instructions on the automated election system.