Comelec to set up PCOS demo center

CEBU, Philippines - Information officers from the Education and Information Department of the Commission on Elections Manila are now in Cebu to set up a demonstration center for the Precinct Count Optical Scan machines (PCOS).

Leo Lim, EID information officer, said that setting up demonstration centers around the country prior to the election day is part of Comelec’s initiative to make the public more familiar on the use of PCOS, especially the first time voters.

This is not the first time they are setting up PCOS demo centers, said Lim, which was also done as part of their preparation in the May 2010 election.

Since that was the first time for the Philippines to shift from manual to automated poll election, Lim said that they had a bigger and stronger campaign for voter’s education.

“This is just for reinforcement,” added Lim.

As of now, Lim said that they are just waiting for feedback from two prospect places where the PCOS demo center will be set up.

They have sent requests to two major malls in the city, which Lim said are good areas because of huge crowd traffic.

Lim explained that through the PCOS demo centers, first-time voters will be oriented on how to fill up a ballot and how to feed it to the PCOS machine.

The Comelec have already started setting up demo centers in other parts of the country when the election period kicked off last January.

So far, they have deployed 50 demo machines all over the country. PCOS demo centers will run until the end of April.

Lim said that they are hoping to start the PCOS demo center in Cebu before the holy week.

Apart from demo centers, Lim said that they also accommodate special requests from large groups or organizations that want an orientation on how to use the PCOS machine.

He said that they have made demonstrations for major political parties as well as schools around the country.

Interested organizations can formally send their request at their email [email protected], or coordinate through regional or provincial offices.

Lim said that they will have at least three personnel to man the PCOS demo centers which would have one PCOS machine in every major city.

Meanwhile, Comelec Cebu Provincial Supervisor Eddie Aba said that the Comelec Regional Office has sent a reminder to the Department of Public Works on Highways to remove illegally posted campaign propaganda.

Aba said they are expecting more campaign propagandas to be set up as the local campaign period will officially start by the end of the month.

Aba said that they have already sent notices to some election candidates in Cebu who have violated campaign regulations on posting posters and tarpaulins.

He reiterated that these materials should only be in common posting areas and should abide by the allowed sizes and dimensions.

He also stressed that no local campaigning should be done on March 29, which is a Good Friday. Instead, the start of the local campaign would be on March 30. (FREEMAN)