PCOS machine. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — A failed bidding for the lease of new Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines may result in a scenario of long lines of irate and “hungry” voters come election day, raising the concerns of lawmakers who questioned the delay in the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) preparations for the 2016 polls.
During the House electoral reforms and suffrage committee hearing Thursday, panel chair Capiz Representative Fredenil Castro painted the worst case scenario in case the poll body fails to bid out the lease for new 23,000 Optical Mark Reader technology in time for the next presidential elections.
Castro said the additional PCOS machines to supplement the 82,000 PCOS machines used in the previous elections may augment the number of voters per clustered precinct to ease voters’ woes in casting their vote.
With 56 million voters expected in 2016, the Comelec is eyeing 800 voters per clustered precincts with the 105,000 old and new PCOS machines.
But should the bidding for the new PCOS fails, the Comelec will have no choice but to settle with the existing 82,000 PCOS leased and purchased from Smartmatic-TIM in the previous elections, raising the ratio to 1,200 to 1,400 voters per clustered precinct. There is one PCOS per clustered precinct.
This does not bid well for the next elections, which in the past was usually marred with long queues of irate voters, vote buying, and election-related violence.
“The country cannot afford 1,400 voters per PCOS. Not only will it entail so much delay but it will also [discourage] voters to vote. They cannot afford to line up all day hungry and under the heat of the sun. There is no other alternative but we have to resolve pending issues so that the preparations can go smoothly and we can reduce the number of voters per PCOS,” Castro said.
Castro also warned of vote-buying by political operators “feasting” on the long queues of voters.
“I am witness to this difficulty during the elections. Election operators are feasting on our electorates. That’s the time they operate to buy or discourage other voters who are lining up,” Castro added.
Caloocan Representative Edgar Erice agreed with Castro, saying “more delays (in the preparations would mean) more time for operators and cheaters.”
The House panel questioned the move by the Comelec Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) to disqualify two bidders – Smartmatic and Indra Sistemas – for the lease of new vote-counting machines supposedly due to unresponsive financial bid documents.
With the bid for new PCOS machines pending, the bidding for other services like transmission, warehouse for storage, and other election paraphernalia e also left in limbo, worrying lawmakers who fear either a no-election scenario or a manual system.
“Delays like this, two months or two weeks would really be substantial in terms of the setback in or timeline… We don’t want a scrambling by the commission when we near the dates of the filing of certificates (of candidacy) and preparations of all the ballots,” Cagayan De Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said.
For his part, acting Comelec chair Commissioner Christian Robert Lim assured the body that the Comelec is doing its part to ensure a “pleasant” experience for voters.
“We’d like to make it a pleasant experience… so they can go out and vote,” Lim told lawmakers.
The commissioner also said the poll body is delayed by two months in the overall poll preparations, but assured it will also do its best to fast track its succeeding bids to meet the timeline.
“We will work overtime. We’re looking at the areas where we can crash the timelines,” Lim said.
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