Comelec leaning toward PCOS, says exec

The plan to reuse the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines and to lease and eventually purchase new optical mark readers (OMRs) for the May 2016 elections has elicited mixed views from officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

According to Comelec Commissioner Arthur Lim, reusing the PCOS machines is still the first option of the poll agency, while the purchase of new optical mark readers (OMRs) is Plan B.

Lim said that if the bidding for the repair of the more than 80,000 PCOS machines would be successful, a notice of award should be issued only for it.

“[The lease] of [new OMRs with option to purchase] should only be a fallback position for the commission,” said Lim in his footnote to a minute resolution regarding the conduct of a parallel bidding for two projects for the elections next year.

OMRs to cost more

Explaining his position to reporters, Lim noted that the procurement of new OMRs would cost more than the refurbishment of the old counting units.

The repair of the PCOS machines was pegged at P2.88 billion while the lease of more than 70,000 and 23,000 OMRs with option to purchase has been estimated at P7.8 billion and P2.5 billion, respectively.

“So, this amount (Option A) versus this amount (Option B), it is common sense to [stick with the former]. It is a very simplistic approach and I think it is also the proper approach,” said Lim.

On equal footing

Earlier, newly appointed Comelec Chair Andres Bautista said the two options were on “equal footing.”

“We still have to decide which option we will choose but only after we find out if the bidding will be successful,” Bautista had said. “We will weigh the pros and cons, consult with Congress and civil society groups.”

The Comelec is conducting a bidding for the refurbishment of the PCOS machines, which the government now owns, as well as for the lease of OMRs in separate quantities—23,000 and 70,977 units.

The 23,000 OMRs are expected to be used to supplement the PCOS machines in the event that the bidding for its repair succeeds, or to supplement the more than 70,000 units should the refurbishment project fail.

The Inquirer last week reported that majority of the Comelec commissioners were open to a “hybrid” voting as they agreed to hold a public demonstration on Saturday of the precinct automated tallying system being pushed by former Commissioner Gus Lagman.

Under the system, the counting of votes would be done manually with only the transmission and canvassing done electronically.

Earlier, election watchdogs and nongovernment organizations had called for the junking of the plan to reuse the PCOS machines, citing the discrepancies between the results of a physical count of ballots and the voting machines.