NGO asks Comelec to nix PCOS

Comelec office. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—A nongovernment organization has revived calls for the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to junk the use of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines for the 2016 elections.

In a statement, Government Watch strongly urged the Comelec to just opt for an entirely new automated election system (AES).

“Better yet, the Comelec could consider the wisdom of using a new system altogether and discard the old PCOS machines,” said the group led by industrialist Raul Concepcion.

He noted the incident during the recent hearing of the Senate Oversight Committee, wherein alleged cases of discrepancies between the results of physical count of ballots and the voting machines were found, as the main reason to junk the PCOS machines.

“The mechanism for election must be of the highest credibility, especially since doubts about the results of the 2013 automated elections remain,” he said.

Concepcion said the Comelec should not hesitate to heed their call since there remains 20 months before Election Day.

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