THE post-election evaluation of 81,896 Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines will soon commence to determine if the units can still be utilized in the 2019 midterm polls, a top official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Tuesday.
This developed as Comelec approved the budget for the diagnostics of the voting machines used in the 2010 and 2013 elections.
Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said the en banc has approved the P10.6 million budget for the assessment of the old machines.
"Comelec En Banc approved a budget [of] P10.6-M for [the] diagnostics of [the] PCOS to check if usable for 2019 elections," Guanzon announced in her Twitter account.
The assessment will cover all the machines purchased by the poll body from service provider Smartmatic International in the amount of P1.8 billion prior to the 2013 polls.
She noted that the diagnostics will be conducted by the Comelec–Information Technology Department (ITD) and estimated to run for 91 days.
On the other hand, Guanzon clarified that the said budget does not include the possible refurbishing of the old machines.
“[It] will cost P10-M just to diagnose,” Guanzon added.
It can be recalled that refurbishing the PCOS machines supplemented by new ones were among the options eyed by the Comelec for the 2016 polls.
But it did not push through as they decided to lease new vote counting machines (VCMs) in the national and local pols last May.
Comelec Chairman Juan Andres Bautista had said that they have plans on refurbishing and upgrading the PCOS machines for the next midterm polls. (Sunnex)