FINAL TESTING AND SEALING OF PCOS MACHINES GENERALLY SUCCESSFUL IN CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY

May 09, 2013
Prepared by: NAMFREL CDO-Mis.Or. Chapter

NAMFREL CDO-Mis. observed and participated in the scheduled Final Testing and Sealing (FTS) of the PCOS machines conducted on May 9, 2013. The deployed NAMFREL volunteers were able to cover about 95% of the 360 clustered precincts in the whole city. 

The FTS proceeded generally well, with most precincts starting their testing by mid morning. In farther hinterland barangays, the PCOS machines arrived late in afternoon around 4:00PM, according to volunteer’s reports.

NAMFREL observed that the PCOS machines were functional, except for the following problems which occurred in the specific polling centers:

One PCOS machine assigned in Balulang Elementary School was damaged, however the authorized technician did not repair the said machine. Said machine was sealed together with the other functional machines and will be replaced on the day of the election.

Programs and memory cards not properly functioning - The PCOS machine in Lapasan Elementary School reflected number of ballots counted even before any ballot was fed into the machine. Said machine was transported back to the COMELEC office. In MOGCHS, one machine’s counter failed to calibrate back to zero because of defective back-up memory. The recorded action taken was that the authorized technician will replace the CF card on the day of the election.

One PCOS machine in the City Central School was delivered without its battery; this was immediately reported to COMELEC.

The FTS were delayed in Bongbongon, Suntingon, and Balubal Elementary Schools, and in COBSAT in Bugo. The FTS will be re-scheduled on Friday or Saturday instead. In Bongbongon, one machine’s display screen would not function properly. The ballot box cover did not properly align, leaving the box open and the PCOS machine not properly fitted to the box cover. Thus FTS is postponed until the said machine will be fixed, to which the COMELEC assured that this will be addressed before election day. In Balubal, the BEI were not present to receive the PCOS machines from Air21, thus the said machines were brought to the Puerto Elementary School where they were stored for the night. This was verified by the City COMELEC. FTS will also be rescheduled on the following day.

NAMFREL volunteers also observed that the result of the manual audit in some precincts showed that there was inconsistency with the PCOS machine printed results, and that with the manually counted votes. This was observed in the Consolacion voting precinct. Some of the ballots that were not properly shaded were still counted by the machine. Other minor incidents included paper jam and loosely installed memory cards which caused delay in the process. These were eventually sorted out by the BEIs handling the machines.
Concerns outside of the PCOS machine was on the need for beefed up security or police personnel in the polling precincts. This was expressed by both members of the BEI, as well as by the volunteers and observers who took part in the FTS. ###