Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 30) – The Commision on Elections (Comelec) said a pilot area for computerized polls suffered delays over faulty vote counting machines (VCM) due to paper jam and overheating during the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE) on Monday.
The Comelec said two VCM in a school in Dasmariñas, Cavite were recorded as faulty, something which was expected since the machines are old.
“Ay opo madaming hindi naman nasira pero nag-jam. Sakit na ng vote counting machines simula noong 2022 elections. Yun po talagang magjajam kasi nag-iinit kailangan ng electric fan, kailangan paypayan dahil nga po lumang luma ang mga makina na yan. Expected po yan,” Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia told reporters.
[Translation: Yes, there are many machines that got jammed but they are not broken. It’s just the condition of these vote counting machines since the 2022 elections. Because of the paper jam and the overheating, so it needs an electric fan to cool off the old machines. These are expected.]
Garcia said the glitch was expected since the units’ final testing and sealing exhibited the same problems, but added that these were still deployed to compare with manual elections.
He also said Comelec still used faulty machines to show to the public that it needs to buy new units for the midterm election in 2025.
Garcia said the paper jam can be solved by putting the paper again in the machine, while election results may be known after an hour compared to the longer time for manual checking.
Early voting hours
Garcia said Congress should allow early voting hours for seniors and persons with disabilities. He suggested extending the voting hours.
“At the same time, yung BSKE sana po mapag-isipan na ng ating kagalang-galang na Kongreso, gawing 7 to 5, hindi lang 7 to 3 o’clock lang. Kasi kapos po yung 3 o’clock siyempre po may boboto sa SK, may boboto sa barangay. Napakahaba po ng pila sa basât presinto,” he said.
[At the same time, for the BSKE, I hope the Congress will consider the 7am-5pm because the 7am-3pm is not enough to accommodate all of the voters for SK and Barangay. The queues are too long.]
SOCE reminders
The Comelec chief said candidates should submit Statements of Contributions and Expenditures (SOCE) as failure to comply may be grounds for disqualification.
“Kung ito po ay pangalawang beses kayo hindi makakapag-file, hindi kayo nag-file nung 2018, hindi kayo nag-file ngayon, kayo po ay hindi na makakatakbo kahit kailan at hindi na rin kayo puwedeng ma-appoint sa kahit anong ahensya ng pamahalaan,” Garcia said.
[If this is their second time not to file, if they were not able to file in 2018 then were not able to again, they will not be able to run for the elections, they cannot be appointed in any agency in our government.]
The Comelec said it plans to issue an order for outgoing officials to properly turn over in at least one week the equipment and resources to the newly elected officials.
“Sa amin, ang role namin tumanggap ng SOCE at mag-issue ng certification. Pero yun pong transition napaka importante po yun. Sana pakiusap natin sa DILG na sana yung sinasabi nating issue ng transition. Kahit isang linggo lang para makahinga hinga lang. At the same time, makapagbigay ng turnover ng kagamitan,” Garcia concluded.
[Our role is to receive SOCE and issue certifications. The transition period is very important. We’re asking the DILG to grant our request to at least have one week to turn these over to ease the situation and properly turnover the equipment.]
CNN Philippines correspondent Paige Javier, AC Nicholls, and digital producer Kristelle Razon contributed to this story.
