Election materials, power assured for May 9 polls

DELIVERY of the election paraphernalia from Manila to Cebu for the May 9 elections will be made this month, the shipping firm contracted for the job said yesterday.

“As far as the delivery and deployment, we are ready. We have handled this (transport) during the 2013 elections after we won the bidding. I believe we can do this again,” Roy Quidlat, operations manager of 2GO Visayas, told reporters.

The assurance came amid a statement from the Visayan Electric Co. (Veco) which said that it mapped out a contingency plan with the police to ensure stable power supply during the elections.

“We will have no planned activities in our substations or any major lines two weeks before the elections,” Veco systems operations chief Juan Miguel Exaltacion said.

Quidlat attended a meeting with the National Telecommunications Commission and the military to discuss the delivery of the election paraphernalia to Camp Sergio Osmeña.

Senior Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, deputy regional director for operations of the Police Regional Office, said security escorts will be provided to ensure delivery of the vote-counting machines to the provincial hubs.

Regional Director Jose Nick Mendros of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said teachers will conduct a final testing and sealing of the VCM machines.

As far as power supply is concerned, Exaltacion said more than 100 Veco personnel will be deployed to repair power trip-offs and restore power immediately to affected areas.

“The National Grid Corp. assured us there will be 500 megawatts of reserve power for the elections,” Exaltacion said./Correspondent Apple Mae Ta-as