Comelec to rent additional ballot printer

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will rent another printer in addition to the existing four units to expedite the printing of ballots that will be used in the May 10 automated elections. “We still need one more, it will be coming very shortly," said Comelec Chairman Jose Melo at a press briefing Wednesday. Gene Gregorio, spokesman of election machine supplier Smartmatic, said this does not mean that the ballot printing is behind schedule. "We are renting a fifth printer only to ease the load of printing and be more prepared, but not because we are not outside the deadline," he told GMANews.TV in a text message. Melo said they decided to rent another printer to avoid possible problems in the printing of ballots. "You have to consider every thing; you have to be ready for everything. What if [a] machine suddenly breaks down?" The four Kodak printers are currently at the National Printing Office (NPO) in Quezon City. Each has a capacity to print 200,000 ballots a day, but Melo said so far only 700,000 ballots are being produced daily by the four machines. Melo said he ordered the prioritization of ballots in populous areas - Metro Manila, Cebu, and Davao – “to be a little bit ready for any eventuality." He did not elaborate. He said the poll body is ready to conduct manual elections in far-flung areas in case the printing of ballots will not be finished before April 25, the start of the shipping of the ballots to their respective areas. Gregorio, however, expressed confidence that they would be able to print all the ballots on schedule. “Printing is in full swing and meeting the deadline," he said. Meanwhile, Gregorio said that Smartmatic has purchased 500 additional Broadband Global Area Networks (BGAN) and 650 more Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT) for the transmission of election results in areas that do not have cellular phone signal. Comelec spokesman James Jimenez told GMANews.TV in a text message that all additional equipment will be paid for by Smartmatic. - Kimberly Jane Tan/KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV