Comelec taps 3 firms to deliver PCOS machines

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has contracted three local shipping firms to deliver the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines and the ballot boxes to voting precincts nationwide.

Comelec Chairman Jose Melo yesterday said the Comelec signed a contract with forwarders Argo Forwarders, Ace Logistics, and Germalin Enterprises to transport the 82,200 counting machines to 82 provinces starting next month.

Aboitiz group of companies subsidiary 2Go Shipping Corp. has backed out of the multi-million shipping contract with Smartmatic-TIM.

“These companies have good reputations as forwarders. They are seasoned and experienced forwarders,” Melo said.

Germalin Enterprises will deliver counting machines and ballot boxes to Luzon, Argo Forwarders to Visayas, and Ace Logistics to Mindanao.

The shippers will store the election materials in a warehouse in each region before transferring them to the polling precincts three days before Election Day on May 10.

Melo said they have not yet decided if the same firms will deliver the 50 million pre-printed ballots to the provinces.

He said it is very important that the right ballots and counting machines are delivered to the proper voting precincts because both are configured for specific precincts. 

“The ballots and the PCOS machines... they are precinct-based,” Melo said.

Melo said the Comelec plans to leave more spare machines in Metro Manila because it has more polling precincts compared to other provinces. Of the 82,000 machines, 6,000 will serve as spare.