Optical scanners to be put in the city for polls

CEBU, Philippines - More than 600 units of Precinct Count Optical Scanners will be installed in clustered precincts throughout the city’s 80 barangays for the poll automation of the elections in 2010.

Miguel Avila, demonstration manager of Smartmatic-TIM consortium, explained the 623 PCOS that will be placed in Cebu City are part of the 82,200 Precinct Count Optical Scanners that will be installed by them throughout the country for the realization of the automation of the coming national elections.

For every five of the existing 3,115 precincts in the city’s two districts, these will be clustered to one precinct and each clustered precinct is to be assigned with a precinct count optical scan machine.

Avila and Bonifacio Belen, the regions manager of the Smartmatic-TIM consortium, appeared in yesterday’s forum with the members of the local press at the Marcelo Fernan Press Center as part of the activities in the celebration of the Press Freedom Week. They briefed members of the press on how the poll automation will work, claiming the new method will contribute to good governance through a transparent process.

      Since the P7.2 billion-worth automation project is only for the provision of 82,200 PCOS, the officials of the Commission on Elections have decided to cluster at least five of the existing precincts to a single precinct. — Rene U. Borromeo/WAB   (FREEMAN NEWS)