The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) in Palawan will undertake final testing and sealing (FTS) of vote counting machines (VCMs) on Wednesday as part of its preparations for the upcoming national and local elections on May 9.
In an information released by provincial COMELEC spokesperson Jomel Ordas on Monday, he said the FTS of VCMs is based on Section 52 of COMELEC Resolution No. 10727 dated November 10, 2021.
Ordas stated that VCMs were sent from the provincial hub on May 1 and 2, with delivery to polling precincts taking place today, May 3, and tomorrow, May 4.
The electoral board will conduct final testing and sealing of VCMs on May 4 to ensure that the equipment units are operating properly.
Following testing, the machines will be sealed and reopened on election day.
Ordas also stated that the COMELEC Election Monitoring and Action Center (CEMAC) and Project Management Office (PMO) had been established at two provincial hubs, Puerto Princesa City and Coron, to manage any machine problems.
“Kapag mayroong defect or kulang sa peripherals or anumang problem, ire-report muna ‘yan sa CEMAC para i-determine ang exact problem at ire-report sa PMO for issuance of needed contingency measure,” Ordas said.
“Kung halimbawa may sira ang sd cards or vcm aayusin, sya sa provincial technical hubs. May dlwa tau technical hubs,” he added.
Candidates, registered political parties, coalitions of political parties, associations or organizations participating in the party-list, and other election stakeholders are invited to attend.
The offices of the election officers in different municipalities have also posted notices for the activity.
Palawan has 1,216 clustered precincts, 521 voting centers and 746,387 registered voters, including Puerto Princesa City.