The Commission on Elections in Negros Oriental completed the delivery of all Automated Counting Machines (ACMs) to the province’s towns and cities Monday afternoon. April 28.
Five delivery vans, carrying the ACMs, were dispatched simultaneously starting 5 a.m. to transport the machines to the six cities and 19 municipalities of Negros Oriental. The delivery convoys were escorted by personnel from both the police and military to ensure security.
Lawyer Lionel Marco Castillano, Comelec-Negros Island Region director, said the deliveries were completed as scheduled by the end of the day.
Castillano invited volunteers from the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting/Diocesan Electoral Board, as well as other interested parties and individuals, to witness the arrival of the ACMs in their respective towns or cities.
“In the interest of transparency and public trust, we are encouraging poll watchers, volunteers, candidates, and the public to observe the deployment and arrival of the ACMs. They are also welcome to ‘guard’ the ACMs until election day,” he said in an interview.
A total of 1,289 ACMs, matching the number of clustered voting centers in the province, were deployed Monday, along with contingency units assigned to each town or city. The battery packs for the machines were transported separately at an earlier time.
Upon arrival, the ACMs were received by the election officers at their respective offices for safekeeping until the final testing and sealing process, which is scheduled for May 6 at the designated polling places.
Castillano assured that the Comelec is on schedule with the delivery of the ACMs and other essential election paraphernalia, and that the process has proceeded without any significant untoward incidents.
He earlier told the Philippine News Agency that all towns and cities in Negros Oriental will have contingency ACM units as backup during the May 12 polls.
This is a deviation from previous elections where a “generic” contingency unit was used to cater to different areas.
“The contingency ACMs, this time, are programmed for specific use only in its assigned town or city and cannot be transferred to other places, unlike in the past,” Castillano said.
He noted that only about 20 contingency voting machines were assigned to Negros Oriental in the 2022 elections, and they were transported from one town to another to replace a broken or malfunctioning machine.
The contingency units will be prepositioned in the towns and cities in the care of the election officers in case a unit breaks down on election day, to avoid slowing down the voting process, he added.
The Comelec had received 194 contingency ACMs for Negros Oriental and 20 for Siquijor late last week. ||
