4,000 machines for 2010 polls now with Comelec

Some 4,000 election machines that will be used in next year's automated polls arrived from China on Monday night, with 3,200 more expected to be delivered by Wednesday morning, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Tuesday. “The [precinct count optical scan] shipment arrived already. It arrived last night at 9 p.m…we will have this released by today [Tuesday]," Chairman Jose Melo told reporters in an interview at the Comelec headquarters in Manila. Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said the machines would first be inspected by the poll body and then delivered to a warehouse in Cabuyao in Laguna province. “When the machines [are] delivered to the warehouse, they will be stored, they won’t yet be configured," he said. The machines will undergo five or six tests from the time of their delivery before any software is installed in them, according to Melo. A mock election would also be held as part of the tests, he added. Initially, the first batch of poll machines was supposed to be delivered last November. However, costlier shipping and traffic then caused another delay in the delivery of some 12,000 PCOS machines. Melo had earlier assured the public that all the 82, 200 PCOS needed for the 2010 polls would be delivered by February. “By the first week of February, 100 percent [of the machines] manufactured na and in transit for our deadline," he said in an earlier interview. Based on contract with the poll body, Smartmatic-TIM is expected to deliver 82,200 PCOS machines before February 28. But Melo said that they are not so keen on imposing a punishment for the delays just yet. Smartmatic assured Chairman Melo that it could deliver the machines on time. If worst comes to worst, the Comelec could conduct manual elections in some parts of the country, Melo said. Aside from the shipment delivered on Monday, Melo said that there are already 200 PCOS machines in the Philippines, most of which are being used for trainings. - LBG/KBK, GMANews.TV