BACOLOD CITY, Philippines?-Forty-eight hours.

That, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec), was how quickly winners of local elections could be proclaimed using the precinct count optical scan (PCOS), the machines that would be used in next year?s automated elections.

James Arthur Jimenez, Comelec spokesperson, said results of local elections would be known a day after the close of elections on May 10 and winners could be proclaimed on May 11.

Proclamation of local election winners, he said, could be done immediately after the results are out.

Municipal, city and provincial boards of canvassers, he said, would proclaim winning local candidates while the National Board of Canvassers could proclaim winning candidates for senators and party list representatives in 36 hours.

Safeguards are in place to ensure reliable election results, he said at a visit here to demonstrate the use of the voting machines supplied by the joint venture firm Smartmatic.

The two steps in voting under the automated system, he said, are simple.

First, the voter marks the small circles beside the names of his choice candidates in the ballot.

Second, the voter inserts the ballot into the machine. As soon as the ballots are fed into the machine, Jimenez said, the machine starts counting the votes.

After the votes are recorded, the machine drops the ballot into a sealed, transparent box attached to the machine.

Jimenez advised voters not to put unnecessary markings on the ballot because this could invalidate their votes.

For example, if a voter shades the circles for two, instead of just one, presidential candidate, his vote for president would be invalidated. But the machine, Jimenez said, would continue counting his vote for senators, congressmen and local officials.

As an added safeguard against cheating, cameras would photograph the ballots while being scanned by the counting machine, Jimenez said.

He also explained that the paper ballots locked in the ballot box could still be used for verification if any one, or any party, questions the machine count.

At the end of the voting on May 10, the machines would print eight copies of the election returns, some of which would be given to watchers of political parties at the precincts, according to Jessie Suarez, provincial election supervisor of Negros Occidental.

The results would also be transmitted electronically to secure websites of the Comelec main office, the dominant majority and minority parties, the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting and the municipal and city board canvassers, Suarez added.