MANILA, Philippines - The first batch of 4,000 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines was received by the Commission on Elections Monday night, Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said yesterday.
“Before the end of the year, we expect to get 7,200 units. This constitutes almost 10 percent of the machines,” he said.
Smartmatic-TIM had been contracted by Comelec to deliver a total of 82,200 PCOS machines for the May 10, 2010 polls at a cost of P7.2 billion.
The poll body is expecting the joint venture to make full delivery by Feb. 21.
The PCOS machines will be subjected by the Comelec to field testing to determine if they can endure the country’s varying topography and weather conditions, among other factors.
An estimated 80,000 polling precincts will be established across the country, with around 2,200 machines as spare.
Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said the machines would be stored at a warehouse in Cabuyao, Laguna.
Larrazabal added that the machines would be configured and installed with software after passing the tests.
But a Bureau of Customs official, who requested anonymity, said that there could be a delay in the release of the second shipment of PCOS machines because of the five-day year-end holiday.
The second shipment of the PCOS machines was scheduled to arrive at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) today in three shipping containers.
“We were informed that it was supposed to arrive either Dec. 29 or 30. But up until late yesterday afternoon, I have not received information that the machines have already arrived,” the official said.
The shipment would have to be stored at the container yard of the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) for five days because Dec. 30 is Rizal Day, Dec. 31 has been declared a special holiday, Jan. 1 is New Year’s Day and after the weekend the first workday of 2010 is Jan. 4, Monday.
“I don’t think that people would be reporting for administrative work in the next five days,” the BOC official added.
The Comelec is expecting the arrival of 3,200 PCOS units today.
Teachers want training soon
Meanwhile, public school teachers reiterated yesterday their demand for the Comelec to start holding the training on the automated poll system by January to adequately prepare them for their coming poll duty.
Benjo Basas, national president of the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC), said they were seriously concerned that the Comelec has continuously postponed giving the training despite the May elections drawing near.
“We are reiterating our call for earlier training and orientation for the coming automated elections. We ask Comelec to start the program by January before it is too late,” Basas told The STAR.
He said the earlier pronouncement from Comelec that they will start holding the training by March and April was unacceptable.
“That is too late. That is already one and two months before the elections,” Basas lamented.
Another teachers’ group, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT), had earlier aired concern that unprepared teachers might be used as scapegoat in the event of serious problems come election day.
“We’re very worried. They have repeatedly postponed the training. They had first set them last September only to reset it in November. Then they postponed it again to December. And now they’re saying they will hold them in March, April. That’s less than one month before the elections,” ACT’s national chairman Antonio Tinio said.
“That’s too ‘last minute’ considering that this system will be very new.”
He said that teachers are especially concerned over a scenario wherein their lack of training could result to some errors being committed on election day, and they will be blamed for any failure of elections.
“We’re concerned over the success of the elections with such an apparent lack of preparation for teachers largely due to the Comelec’s failure to give them enough time for training,” Tinio said.
Education Secretary Jesli Lapus also admitted concern over the last-minute holding of the teacher training for the automated election system.
“There’s a lot of anxiety among the teachers. The teachers are worried, they wouldn’t want to be the scapegoats in the event of project failure,” Lapus said.
“This election will use new technology that needs technology transfer. It’s important that there’s a very high level of confidence among the teachers going into election day,” Lapus said.
Lapus said that he has already conveyed to the Comelec the need to hold the training much earlier than the March-April schedule they have apparently set for the activity.
“Comelec has to come out with concrete plans and preparations to reassure the public and the teachers that they are in control and that there are concrete plans for contingencies,” Lapus said.
If election fails, blame Comelec
However, a non-government organization in Quezon province said that there is a possibility of failure of elections next year if the voting and counting machines will not be delivered on time.
“I am worried by the reports that voting and counting machines may not be delivered on time for the May elections next year and it could lead to failure of elections owing to the failure of the Comelec to ensure the delivery of the electoral machines by its supplier,” Hobart Dator Jr., chairman of Save Quezon Province Movement (SQPM), said in an interview yesterday.
SQPM figured in the successful campaign against the province’s division last year.
Dator was referring to the alleged delay by Smartmatic-TIM in delivering the PCOS machines.
In a recent congressional hearing, Comelec officials admitted they were behind by three months in their preparations for the national automated elections.
Dator, who comes from a political clan from Lucban, Quezon, has expressed concern that “billions of pesos in the first-ever national automated elections may go down the drain and could result in the May 2010 elections being jeopardized and compromised.”
He called on President Arroyo to create an independent task force composed of individuals from various sectors to ensure that the delay of Smartmatic-TIM in delivering the poll machines would not derail the May 2010 elections.
“I suggest that she (Arroyo) should consider the creation of this task force or special citizen election body to insure the conduct of the national automated elections next year and this would serve as her legacy to the nation in need of a credible, honest and peaceful election,” Dator said.
He said such independent body would “allay fears and worries of the people who may have been thinking that they are being set up by shadowy forces for a failure of elections next year.” -- Michelle Zoleta, Rainier Allan Ronda, Evelyn Macairan
By Sheila Crisostomo
(The Philippine Star)
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