Decision on PCOS machines Tuesday

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will make the final decision on Tuesday on whether or not to reuse the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines for next year’s midterm polls.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said an evaluation of the physical condition of the automated voting machines as well as the validity of the poll body’s acquisition of the devices via an “option to purchase” is expected to be completed tomorrow.

“Definitely, we will finish the evaluation as soon as possible… By [Tuesday] we need to have a decision already,” Brillantes told reporters Friday.

The poll chief earlier confirmed that Comelec officials had initiated talks with Smartmatic Corp., the manufacturer of the PCOS machines, to determine if the devices were still in good working condition and if glitches had been eliminated.

Should the machines be found unusable, Brillantes said the Comelec would have  to conduct a new bidding.

Brillantes said they had set March 14 as the final public bidding date. Jerome Aning