CEBU CITY, Philippines — The a Commission on Elections (Comelec) in Cebu will be conducting a province-wide simultaneous testing and sealing of the vote counting machines (VCM) on May 10, 2019, three days before they are set to be used for the May 13, 2019 midterm elections.
Lawyer Jerome Brillantes, acting provincial election supervisor, said candidates or their representatives are advised to attend the testing and sealing of over 6,000 VCMs in their respective local Comelec offices to see for themselves the credibility of the machines.
Brillantes said at least 6,400 of the 6,716 VCMs intended for each of the clustered precincts in the province has arrived last Saturday, April 20.
The VCMs are now stored at their partner forwarder’s hub in Mandaue City and are guarded by personnel from the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), said Brillantes.
The Comelec official added that they are waiting for the remaining 300 more VCMs to complete the machines for the precincts and the around 400 contingency VCMs which will be used in case any of the 6,716 machines will malfunction. The remaining machines are expected to arrive within the week.
By the end of April or first week of May, the Comelec is also expecting the arrival of the ballots for its over 3 million registered voters. /bmjo