Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Harriet Demetriou told reporters at a press forum at the Holiday Inn in Manila yesterday the Department of Budget and Management has approved the appropriation of P2.45 billion for the lease of vote-counting machines from Canada.
At the same forum, Jose Concepcion Jr., National Movement for Free Elections chairman, said that it is not too late for the Comelec to install the machines in time for the local and congressional elections in May.
"It could still be done," he said. "The machines have been tested and they worked. We can use them here."
Concepcion said the counting machines could "perform 80 percent on the job" and speed up the counting of votes, which traditionally was done manually, and took days to complete.
The Comelec had earlier suspended negotiations for renting the counting machines because the budget department was not able to release the entire amount necessary to finalize the contract with the city of Toronto.
Demetriou said that no prominent personality has yet filed his certificate of candidacy, but that she expects people to beat the Feb. 12 deadline.
On the other hand, Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado, who is said to be running for the Senate, refused to discuss with reporters his political plans.
"We are in the middle of a lot of things right now," he said. – Jose Aravilla