Exactly a day before Election Day, May 9, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Sunday, May 8, held the final testing and sealing (FTS) of vote-counting machines (VCMs) at around 170 polling precincts in Cotabato City.
Recently, the 200 teachers who are set to serve on Election Day in the area were reportedly replaced with untrained ones. The poll body even probed the incident.
But, Comelec Commissioner George Erwin M. Garcia said the supposed replacement of teachers has already been resolved.
“In Cotabato City, ongoing na po ang final testing and sealing, and therefore all the vote-counting machines were distributed already for purposes of FTS ngayong maghapon (all day), more or less 170 lamang po ‘yung ating presintong involved sa (more or less only 170 precincts are involved in) Cotabato City,” he said during a press briefing.
When asked by reporters for specifics about what transpired in Cotabato City, Garcia declined to provide further details as the poll body currently has ongoing negotiations with the teachers, saying such is “to prevent any kind of eventuality, especially in the conduct of elections tomorrow.”
“Ang importante po ay nag-ko-conduct na tayo ng FTS , matatapos ngayong hapon na ito, and wala na po tayong magiging problema sa pagko-conduct ng election by tomorrow. So kung ano man po ang magiging outcome ng ongoing discussion sa area, we will announce it to all (What’s important now is that we are now conducting FTS, which is expected to be accomplished this afternoon, and we will have no more problem conducting the election tomorrow. So whatever the outcome of the ongoing discussion in the area ism we will announce it to all),” said the poll commissioner.
Per Garcia, out of the 790 defective VCMs that they discovered through the conduct of FTS, 632 were already fixed, and the remaining machines are expected to be repaired within the day. Comelec has repair hubs strategically located nationwide.
He also noted that the Comelec will stand by its guidelines that only teachers who have been trained and certified by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) can serve as poll workers on May 9.
Meanwhile, Comelec Acting Spokesperson John Rex C. Laudiangco disclosed that “as of yesterday (May 7), out of the 106,174 VCMs subject of the FTS, nakaka-85 percent na po kami (we have already achieved 85 percent).”
Makeshift poll facilities, generator sets
The Comelec said that it has put up makeshift poll facilities in Bohol and Leyte which have been badly devastated by Typhoon Odette.
“So ang naging instruction natin sa ating field personnel, in coordination with DepEd (Department of Education), ay magtayo ng mga makeshift (So our instruction to our field personnel, in coordination with DepEd, is to build makeshift polling facilities),” Garcia said.
According to the poll commissioner, they have also rented generator sets for some areas that have no electricity until May 9.
“At the same time, mayroong mga unenergized tayo na mga lugar, ilan lang naman , hindi siya bayan (there are unenergized areas, just some, not a municipality). Ilang polling places in Bohol and Western Leyte unenergized siya sa kasalukuyan hanggang bukas, walang kuryente doon sa area (Some polling places in Bohol and Western Leyte are currently unenergized until May 9, there is no electricity in some of those areas). But we authorized our field personnel na mag-arkila na agad as early as two weeks ago na mga generator sets na malalaki na malalagay sa polling places na ‘yan at dun sa mga makeshift polling facilities (to rent big generator sets as early as two weeks ago that we will put in polling places and makeshift polling facilities).”
Garcia said the Department of Energy (DOE) has loaned them around 1,000 generator sets.
“More or less, dalawa ang (two) generator sets na available na mayroon tayo (are available)---isang nirent ng ating (one rented by the) Comelec field personnel at isang pinahiram ng DOE (and one loaned by the DOE),” he said.
Comelec also noted that the DOE has provided the poll body with floodlights for polling precincts in the said areas.