ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Comelec inks P17.99-B contract with Miru for 2025 automated elections

Comelec inks P17.99-B contract with Miru for 2025 automated elections

Published Mar 11, 2024 11:19 am

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday, March 11, and South Korean firm Miru Systems has signed a contract for the lease of the Full Automation System with Transparency Audit and Count (FASTrAC) or the Automated Election System (AES) to be used in the 2025 midterm polls.

viber_image_2024-03-11_12-53-28-144.jpg
The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and MIRU Systems sealed their partnership for the 2025 National and Local Elections as COMELEC Chairman George Erwin Garcia and MIRU Systems President Jinbok Chung signed the contract for the Full Automation System with Transparency Audit/Count (FASTrAC) Project at the Comelec office in Intramuros, Manila on Monday, March 11, 2024. (Arnold Quizol)

Miru Co. Ltd is together with Integrated Computer Systems, St. Timothy Construction Corporation, and Centerpoint Solutions Technologies Inc. in a joint venture in signing the P17.99 billion contract.

According to the document provided by Comelec, Miru will be providing the systems and software; ballot printing, and technical support of the AES.

Under Comelec's Terms of Reference (TOR) for FASTrAC, whoever will be providing the machine will also provide the papers that will be used, the stamp, as well as the other collaterals needed including the software for the AES except for transmission.

To promote transparency, watchers of accredited political parties and deputized citizens’ arms shall be allowed to witness all stages of the printing, storage, and distribution of official ballots.

During the press conference, Garcia said that Miru shall make the systems customizable, and Comelec may require reasonable system modifications without additional charge during the customization phase of the project.

The poll chief has described that FASTrAC will employ a "hybrid election system within the machine". Comelec has already retired its 98,000 Vote-Counting Machines (VCMs) last used in the highly criticized May 2022 elections

In February, the Special Bids and Awards Committee (SBAC) issued Resolution No. 3 3declaring Miru Joint Venture as the bidder with the Single Calculated andResponsive Bid, and recommending to the Commission en banc the award of contract in favor of Miru which was met with various criticism.

Miru President Chung Jin Bok addressed allegations being hurled against them and said that these were coming from losing candidates.

“For the elections, there are words of trouble especially for those who are on the losing side. And also for the news, there are many, many rumors that are coming out of the news that are not facts, that are just based on rumors and they tend to be replicated,” Ching said through a translator.

Following this development, this will become the first election exercise that will not involve Smartmatic Philippines, Inc.

It can be recalled that the Comelec En Banc has granted the petition to disqualify and disallow Smartmatic Philippines, Inc. to participate in any public bidding process for elections.

Related Tags

Commission on Elections (Comelec) comelec chairman george erwin garcia Commission on Elections automated election system (AES) miru
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.