All systems go for May 10 – DepEd

All systems are go for the May 10 elections, as the 229,020 teacher-members of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) are ready to ensure the success of the country’s first automated polls, the Department of Education (DepEd) said on Sunday. “Our teachers, our superintendents, our election task forces all over the country are all set for Monday’s polls. We have been preparing for this for a long time and I am confident of the readiness of our BEIs in the different clustered precincts across the country," Education Secretary Mona D. Valisno said. While the DepEd does not foresee any untoward incident that may disrupt the polls, technical problems may delay the start of voting, she said. (See: All CF cards, 93% of PCOS delivered, Comelec says) “Our teachers will not tolerate any delays on their part. Our BEIs have been trained by Comelec and are DOST-certified. They have been deployed and are now in place as we speak – in the various precincts doing testing and sealing of the PCOS machines," she said. “This they will do as the compact flash (CF) cards are arriving in their stations." “Should there be delays caused by technical problems with the PCOS machines, we ask our voters to be patient while Comelec [Commission on Elections] and Smartmatic technicians resolve these," she added. “Comelec has committed to provide one technician per clustered precinct on election day, so we hope that they will be in place should technical problems arise," DepEd Spokesman and Assistant Secretary Jonathan Malaya said. In the unlikely event that BEI members sustain election-related injuries, the Comelec has set aside some P30 million as part of a teachers compensation arrangement, Malaya said. —VS, GMANews.TV