DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — The Negros Oriental Provincial Police Office (NOrPPO) has reported that no untoward incident took place during Tuesday's delivery of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines to the different towns and cities in the province before the final testing and sealing yesterday.
NOrPPO deputy director, Supt. Alet Virtucio, said the PCOS machines, except those for Dumaguete City, were delivered safely to their intended destinations in separate vehicles with police security escorts.
A total of 1,076 PCOS machines, equivalent to the total number of clustered voting precincts in Negros Oriental, had arrived earlier in Dumaguete via Bacolod, Negros Occidental.
The units allocated for Dumaguete, totaling 92, were delivered directly to the voting precincts for the final testing and sealing on yesterday.
However, contingency units reserved in the event of failure of a PCOS machine were not included in the delivery, contrary to the instructions of the Comelec's acting provincial chief Juvenal Tuale to the official cargo forwarder.
Tuale told The Freeman in a telephone interview that one contingency PCOS machine has been allocated per municipality or city, or a total of 25 reserved units for Negros Oriental.
He assured the public that he will find out from the cargo forwarder why the contingency units were not delivered on Wednesday, although he said there is enough time to have these delivered for testing prior to May 13.
Aside from the PCOS machines, ballot boxes and batteries were also handed over to the election officers who received the items before Wednesday's regional simultaneous final testing and sealing of the machines at pre-identified areas like schools or barangay halls.
Tuale also disclosed that the CF cards, testing ballots and other paraphernalia needed by the board of election inspectors for the final testing and sealing were inside each of the sealed boxes containing the PCOS machines.
Ten test ballots were used during the final testing and sealing to determine the usability and accuracy of the PCOS machines. This was done through a list of procedures as mandated by law, and the machines were once again sealed before deployment to the voting precincts.
The PCOS machines were stored at a pre-designated area by the election officers until they will be delivered to the polling precincts either Sunday or hours before the polls open at 7 a.m. on Monday, Tuale said. (FREEMAN)