Comelec to junk plans to automate barangay polls

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is not automating the barangay elections in October and is studying if it will buy the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines used in the May 10 elections.                                                                   

“If we will automate the barangay elections, we will have to lease the automated machines again and open a new contract to whatever provider and bid the project which means starting the process again,” Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said.

He said the local elections do not need a consolidation and transmission system used in the national polls.                   

“If we will do the counting manually it will be faster so it would be highly unlikely to automate the barangay elections,” he said.                                                    

Jimenez also expressed reservations on the plan to purchase the used PCOS machines because of storage and maintenance problems.                                                             

The Comelec would also have to spend an additional P3 billion to P4 billion for proprietary software, as well as counting and transmission software.                                                    

Smartmatic Asia-Pacific president Cesar Flores earlier said the government can save as much as P22 billion if it buys the used PCOS machines now for the next four elections.

Jimenez said the Comelec needs to complete a post-election evaluation before deciding if it will buy the machines.       

“This is not a small purchase so the Comelec cannot just decide without any serious analysis,” he said.  

Jimenez said the Comelec is also tapping the services of international groups as well as local information technology experts to review the conduct of the recent elections.