SC ruling on PCOS machines key to 2013 polls

BAGUIO CITY ,Philippines  — Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes hopes the Supreme Court (SC) will rule early on the P1.8-billion automated voting machines.

Delays in rulings in past elections had affected the conduct of public bidding, he added.

Brillantes said the petitions are minor issues that the SC may resolve easily during sessions in Baguio City this summer.

“It is very difficult to go back to the manual system of voting as we are already in automated times,” he said.

Brillantes hopes the SC will allow them to push through with automated elections by the end of the month or early May.

The Comelec has paid for the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines by as much as 70 percent, he added.

Comelec has an option to use the same PCOS machines by paying the remaining 30 percent, Brillantes said.

Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said technical glitches and bugs in the system - as pointed out in the petitions - have already been fixed since 2010. Other technical problems and bugs in the automated system are currently being settled, he added.

Commissioner Armando Velasco said whether the SC favors the deal is no longer a concern.

An early decision will be more important so that they can look for other alternatives while still early, he added.