In Negros Oriental: PCOS machines malfunction during tests

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines – A number of PCOS machines were reported to have malfunctioned during the final testing and sealing (FTS) the other day in various parts of Negros Oriental: In the polling precincts of the cities of Bayawan and Guihulngan City and the towns of Zamboanguita, Tayasan, Siaton, Dauin and Manjuyod.

At the close of the FTS around 5 p.m. Wednesday, at least six PCOS machines were reported to have malfunctioned but the problems will have to be verified first before these would be declared no longer functional.

One machine in Guihulngan City may not be operational anymore for Monday’s polls after a teacher reportedly plugged the power supply AC adaptor in the wrong port, causing the unit to emit smoke, said a report from the Comelec provincial office.

Another hitch was reported in Dauin town where a PCOS machine, assigned to the Anhawan-Mag-aso-Casili clustered voting precinct, had no Smart SIM card for its modem.

In Dumaguete, final testing and sealing went on smoothly with less problems, except one at the City Central School where the PCOS failed to detect the memory card. It was immediately resolved by recalibrating the machine, said city election officer Jerome Brillantes.

At the North City Elementary School, two PCOS machines were interchanged, while in Camanjac the power supply was lacking. It was not immediately known as of press time yesterday whether other areas also came across some problems.

Provincial election officer Juvenal Tuale said it was expected that some machines will encounter technical and mechanical problems because these were not brand new units, and were used in the 2010 local elections. He doubted that these malfunctioning machines can be repaired.

However, Tuale assured the public that voting will continue in the absence of a replacement machine, but with a considerable delay. After the voting, all the cast ballots will be gathered and will be fed later in the PCOs machine of an adjacent precinct that has completed its transmission of the results.

There were confusion also as some city and municipal treasurers were unaware that the yellow plastic seals were for the FTS and the red seals will be used on election day.

Another common problem reported to Tuale’s office was an “error” in starting up some PCOS machines, which later was linked to the compact flash (CF) cards which were not properly loaded in their slots. The memory cards were already inserted in the machines

To correct the problem, the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) in areas experiencing the glitch was told to remove the main memory card from its slot and put it back properly in place. They were also told to record the glitch in the minutes of the FTS for future reference.

The FTS for the 1,076 PCOS machines allocated for the province were tested and sealed. Tuale met with the election officers of the six cities and 19 towns of Negros Oriental yesterday to review and find solutions to the problems reported during the FTS. (FREEMAN)