By Ma. Recellina P. Lafue 

University Commission on Elections (UCOM) Chairman Johncent Del Rosario elaborated in a meeting with political party representatives that additional features and adjustments were applied to the voting platform to assure the integrity of the election.

“Hindi namin siya minove dahil we are in favor of someone or dahil hindi kami confident… Ready na kami, actually. But we had to double-check, triple-check the system. We had to run several tests dahil may additional feature,” he said.

The added feature will require voters to upload a selfie while holding up their school ID for verification purposes and to prevent proxy voting.

Del Rosario also shared that IT-Technical Support Services (ITS) found a bug wherein the system tagged several candidates as inactive despite being enrolled in the current academic year.

Moreover, information about students who opt to use their preferred names over their given names has to be encoded manually into the system.

He explained that the system could only read the candidates’ legal names based on the information provided by their student numbers.

Del Rosario also clarified that UCOM sought approval from the administration before the announcement was made to the student body.

“When we talk about dates, we would give it to SDev, we would ask for feedback and approval because we can’t decide on our own. We have to seek approval with the higher offices. So, do not get the impression that we change dates or we make decisions that are solely decided by COMELEC alone,” Del Rosario said.

Isanliyab Servant Leaders’ Union (ISLU) Chairperson Kristoff Luzon, ISLU Secretary General Mariel Cruz, Kadiwa Student Coalition Chairperson Aizel Jorge, and UCOM student representative Arvene Dela Cruz were present at the said meeting.

Students may cast their votes starting Monday, May 8 until Tuesday, May 9, through FEU Powerapps while an in-campus voting precinct will open at the Viewing Room, 2nd floor of the University E-Library from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

(Photo courtesy of FEU Advocate/Alyssa Andrea Quiogue)