Comelec to hold public bidding for automated poll system

MANILA, Philippines – A public bidding will be held next month for the automated election system (AES) to be used in the 2016 presidential polls.

However, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. could not immediately ascertain which aspect of the AES would be bidded out first.

“We are still working on the Terms of References (TOR) right now. We start when we finish drafting it,” he said.

TOR is a document containing the project’s details and the procedures to be followed in holding the bidding.

Brillantes said the bidding could start even if the budget for the procurement of the voting machines under the 2015 General Appropriations is not yet in their hands.

“Our budget is as good as approved,” he said. “We know how much it will be.”

The Comelec has asked Congress for P16.9 billion for the 2016 elections.

The Comelec Advisory Council has recommended that the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines be used again, along with a secondary system that should be optical mark reader technology like the PCOS.

It will also test direct recording electronic machines in selected areas nationwide, as well as the Internet voting among overseas absentee voters.

Indigenous peoples,detainees, PWDs

The Comelec will partner with the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to encourage indigenous peoples, detainees and people with disabilities to vote.

The two agencies signed yesterday a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for this purpose.

Under the MOA, the CHR will provide a series of human rights-based election management training for Comelec officials and field personnel in order to enhance their capacities on the protection and promotion of vulnerable sectors’ right of suffrage.

The training will be conducted in three batches, starting with employees and field officials in Luzon from Sept. 25-27.