Comelec holds walkthrough at vote-counting machines' warehouse

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday morning held a walk through at one of the warehouses rented to store the vote counting machines in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

Comelec Chair Juan Andres “Andy” Bautista led the members of the media during the walk through at the 48,000 square meter property in Sta. Rosa housing four warehouses to let them show the May 9 polls preparation.

The property is said to be owned by Jam Liner and is being rented by the Comelec for P68 million for one year.

Bautista said the Comelec is charged P110 pesos per square meter for covered areas and P60 per square meter for open spaces. Comelec Director Thaddeus Hernan explain that the P68 million includes rent for facility, trucking system, and conveyors used in some areas.

Meanwhile, during the press conference, the Comelec said there are now 90,000 vote counting machines which arrived in the country and there are 6,000 more in transit from Taiwan.

It added that there are currently 71,456 vote counting machines stored in the Laguna warehouse. These machines undergo hardware acceptance testing.

Aside from the vote counting machines, several ballot boxes are also being delivered in the Laguna warehouse.

Bautista said the current warehouse is more work-conducive than the previous warehouses now that it houses more than 1000 workers. He added that the ventilation is better because Sta. Rosa is cooler than Cabuyao.

“Mas maaliwalas ito It is more convenient for the employees,” Bautista said.

The Comelec boasted that one of the warehouse’s innovations is the construction of the viewing deck as they are promoting transparency.

Bautista encouraged groups to visit the warehouse and witness what is happening inside the viewing deck and observe the processes inside. He also invited schools and students to hold field trips to have an idea what happens during the election but noted that it must be done with prior arrangements.