Comelec VCMs Start To Arrive In Pangasinan

The election offices in Pangasinan are now in their final stage of preparation for the coming election as some of the election paraphernalia to be used, including the Vote Counting Machines (VCMs), have already started to arrive.

Some of these are actually being delivered direct to the three designated Commission on Elections (Comelec) hubs located in Urdaneta, Dagupan and Alaminos cities, all the way from the Comelec warehouses in Laguna, said Michael Sarmiento, election officer of Lingayen town.

Speaking during the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters sa Pilipinas (KBP) forum in Dagupan on Thursday, Sarmiento said some of these paraphernalia that had so far arrived were actually delivered to the Provincial Treasurer/’s Office and to the different election offices in 48 towns and cities.

Sarmiento assured the completion of delivery of these election paraphernalia and equipment between April 30 to May 4.

At the same time, he stressed the need to hold a final briefing of members of the local Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) to discuss with them about the voter’s receipts in the light of the recent Supreme Court decision providing this feature.

He added that this feature was not discussed during the regular training of teachers.

” In Lingayen, we are continuously having hearings on the Election Day Computerized Voters Receipt to identify those who are expected to vote in every polling precinct,” said Sarmiento, formerly election officer of San Carlos City.

At the same time, he announced the final testing and sealing of the VCMs on May 6 to be done in all schools with polling precincts.

This is needed in order to prepare the VCMs and to find out if these are in order. If there are problems to be observed on these machines during the testing, these will be addressed immediately. (PNA) RMA/LVM/LVMICUA/1620/RMA