MANILA, Philippines – The precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines can run even during massive power outage, Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said Wednesday.
“Even in a power outage [the PCOS] will still work,” Brillantes told reporters in an ambush interview in the Supreme Court (SC).
Large parts of Luzon including Metro Manila suffered massive electricity cut when several major power plants had shut down, according to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.
Government offices, such as the Comelec and the SC, were without electricity for at least an hour. Trains on the Light Rail Transit (LRT) line 2 stopped on their tracks for several minutes due to the blackout.
Brillantes said in previous interviews that the PCOS machines are equipped with an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) that can keep the equipment running for up to 12 hours.
“The contingency plans are being repeatedly asked and I already said we have those in place,” Brillantes said.
“It’s a good thing that the power outage happened today instead of on [Election Day],” he said.