Comelec wants P11 B to purchase new PCOS machines

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is asking for P11 billion to purchase 121,800 new precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines for the 2016 national and local elections, poll officials told a congressional hearing yesterday.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said at the hearing of the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms that the poll body started preparing for the 2016 elections in December last year.

“With the help of Congress and other concerned agencies, we will be able to lay down all these preparations. By the end of this year, we will be able to prepare for the conduct of another credible and peaceful election,” Brillantes told lawmakers.

He said his retirement in February next year will not affect preparations of the Comelec for the 2016 polls where 56 million voters are expected.

He said the poll body wants to greatly reduce glitches that marred the last two elections when the PCOS machines were first used.

Brillantes also told the panel the Comelec is busy preparing for the Sangguniang Kabataan elections and the plebiscite on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law next year.

Comelec executive director Jose Tolentino Jr. said the P11 billion was included in the proposed P36-billion budget of the agency for 2015 that it earlier submitted to Malacañang.

Tolentino said they intend to start conducting public biddings next year for the purchase of the PCOS machines.

He said the Comelec will also consider other suppliers of PCOS machines aside from Smartmatic-Total Information Management, the company that supplied machines for the 2010 and 2013 elections.