By Marie A. Surbano ( The Daily Tribune )
Link: http://www.tribune.net.ph/
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported that the cost of transporting the 50.7 million ballots from the National Printing Office (NPO) to the Philpost distribution center has been sliced by more than 50 percent of its original P92 million quotation.
Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said from the initial cost of P92 million, the transportation cost of the ballots went down to some P50 million and was further reduced to P23 million.
But Larrazabal refused to provide additional details of the forwarding companies the poll body will be tapping to transfer these ballots from the NPO.
In a separate interview, Comelec Commissioner Lucenito Tagle also confirmed that the en banc agreed to cut the cost of the ballots transfer to P23 million.
“We were informed that the cost was reduced to P23 million from P92 million but I don’t know if they (bids and awards committee) already awarded the contracts,” Tagle said.
He said small trucking companies are bidding for this saying that the cost “should be lower because the distance from the NPO to the Philpost distribution center is short.”
Larrazabal added that since there was, as yet, no selected forwarder yet, Comelec trucks are being used to transport this ballots.
“It was agreed upon by the en banc. Chairman (Jose) Melo said that we continue with it there because there is no space at the NPO and there is no other viable location for the official ballots,” he noted.
Comelec suspended the transfer of the ballots following questions on the expensive transportation cost of bringing this ballots from NPO to Philpost.
As of 7am yesterday, a total of 46.8 million ballots have been printed and the poll body expects to complete the printing of the remaining more than 4 million ballots two days ahead of the April 25 target.
It will be recalled that several biddings of the Comelec had been questioned and now being scrutinized following the controversial awarding of the nearly P700 million ballot secrecy folders as well as the issues on the purchase of the portable ultraviolet lamps and the indelible ink.
In a related development, Smartmatic Corp., the supplier of the more than 82,000 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines has agreed to undergo a random manual audit of more than 1,000 precincts once the voting and canvassing is completed to show its critics that the automated election system works.
Cesar Flores, Smartmatic Corp., president for Asia said the 1,145 precincts that will be subjected to random manual audit is basically, though less than 2 percent of the 76,340 clustered precincts, would be a good basis to establish the credibility of the coming May 10 polls.
“I think it’s a good-sized sample but the important thing is not the size but the geographically representative and its also random,”Flores told reporters.
He added that they are confident that the random manual audit will prove that the automated election system they have provided to the Comelec works and proving their critics wrong in saying that the system is unreliable.
“The objective (of the RMA) is to see if there is evidence that, somehow, the system does not work properly or evidence that there was manipulation. Basically, this will corroborate the stability and the reliability of the system,” Flores stressed.
Flores also said that they don’t expect the manual and computerized tallies to be a 100 percent match saying “I can assure you, there will be no significant difference between the manual count and digital count. The difference will not be more than 0.5 percent, (and) that is tops.”
In its Minute Resolution, the Comelec en banc ordered the involvement of five precincts in each of the 229 legislative districts nationwide which was more than the one precinct per legislative district required under Republic Act 9369 or the Election Automation Law.
The five page resolution also stated that the manual audit will be conducted immediately after the shut down of the PCOS machines inside the precincts and in the presence of the citizensf arm group, political parties and the public.
At least 229 fish bowls representing all the legislative districts will undergo a raffle draw in the Comelec head office.
The random manual audit will cover the votes cast for the national positions as well as the votes for congressmen, governor, vice governor, mayor and vice mayor.
Meanwhile, as more and more camps expressed doubts over the success of the country’s first every fully automated elections, the Comelec has decided to hold a mock polls to prove that the 1,000 voters in each of the 76,300 clustered precincts will not be disenfranchised.
Larrazabal said that in their meeting with the Management Association of the Philippines , the Makati Business Club and the Information technology group over the weekend, it was agreed that simulated elections be held soon.
Larrazabal explained that the purpose of the mock polls is basically to show that the 1,000 voters in each precinct could be accommodated when they cast their ballots on May 10 or during the 11 hours voting period.
“Its basically the ability to process 1,000 voters within 11 hours --we would like to focus on the voting,” Larrazabal told reporters.
Precincts, Larrazabal said will open at 7am and will be closed at 6pm but voters who are within the pemises and were not able to vote will still be accommodated.
He said details on the mock polls are being finalized now including the venue and the date.
The National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) together with Kontra Daya earlier expressed fear that many voters will be disenfranchised with the clustering of the precincts.
But Comelec NCR director Michael Dioneda said that the clustered precincts are also within the same compound or school premises, therefore it would not be too hard for the voter to locate their precincts.
“Usually the clustered precincts are within the same level and basically these are three precincts that were clustered. It will not create any confusion for our voters,” he said.
Link: http://www.tribune.net.ph/
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported that the cost of transporting the 50.7 million ballots from the National Printing Office (NPO) to the Philpost distribution center has been sliced by more than 50 percent of its original P92 million quotation.
Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said from the initial cost of P92 million, the transportation cost of the ballots went down to some P50 million and was further reduced to P23 million.
But Larrazabal refused to provide additional details of the forwarding companies the poll body will be tapping to transfer these ballots from the NPO.
In a separate interview, Comelec Commissioner Lucenito Tagle also confirmed that the en banc agreed to cut the cost of the ballots transfer to P23 million.
“We were informed that the cost was reduced to P23 million from P92 million but I don’t know if they (bids and awards committee) already awarded the contracts,” Tagle said.
He said small trucking companies are bidding for this saying that the cost “should be lower because the distance from the NPO to the Philpost distribution center is short.”
Larrazabal added that since there was, as yet, no selected forwarder yet, Comelec trucks are being used to transport this ballots.
“It was agreed upon by the en banc. Chairman (Jose) Melo said that we continue with it there because there is no space at the NPO and there is no other viable location for the official ballots,” he noted.
Comelec suspended the transfer of the ballots following questions on the expensive transportation cost of bringing this ballots from NPO to Philpost.
As of 7am yesterday, a total of 46.8 million ballots have been printed and the poll body expects to complete the printing of the remaining more than 4 million ballots two days ahead of the April 25 target.
It will be recalled that several biddings of the Comelec had been questioned and now being scrutinized following the controversial awarding of the nearly P700 million ballot secrecy folders as well as the issues on the purchase of the portable ultraviolet lamps and the indelible ink.
In a related development, Smartmatic Corp., the supplier of the more than 82,000 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines has agreed to undergo a random manual audit of more than 1,000 precincts once the voting and canvassing is completed to show its critics that the automated election system works.
Cesar Flores, Smartmatic Corp., president for Asia said the 1,145 precincts that will be subjected to random manual audit is basically, though less than 2 percent of the 76,340 clustered precincts, would be a good basis to establish the credibility of the coming May 10 polls.
“I think it’s a good-sized sample but the important thing is not the size but the geographically representative and its also random,”Flores told reporters.
He added that they are confident that the random manual audit will prove that the automated election system they have provided to the Comelec works and proving their critics wrong in saying that the system is unreliable.
“The objective (of the RMA) is to see if there is evidence that, somehow, the system does not work properly or evidence that there was manipulation. Basically, this will corroborate the stability and the reliability of the system,” Flores stressed.
Flores also said that they don’t expect the manual and computerized tallies to be a 100 percent match saying “I can assure you, there will be no significant difference between the manual count and digital count. The difference will not be more than 0.5 percent, (and) that is tops.”
In its Minute Resolution, the Comelec en banc ordered the involvement of five precincts in each of the 229 legislative districts nationwide which was more than the one precinct per legislative district required under Republic Act 9369 or the Election Automation Law.
The five page resolution also stated that the manual audit will be conducted immediately after the shut down of the PCOS machines inside the precincts and in the presence of the citizensf arm group, political parties and the public.
At least 229 fish bowls representing all the legislative districts will undergo a raffle draw in the Comelec head office.
The random manual audit will cover the votes cast for the national positions as well as the votes for congressmen, governor, vice governor, mayor and vice mayor.
Meanwhile, as more and more camps expressed doubts over the success of the country’s first every fully automated elections, the Comelec has decided to hold a mock polls to prove that the 1,000 voters in each of the 76,300 clustered precincts will not be disenfranchised.
Larrazabal said that in their meeting with the Management Association of the Philippines , the Makati Business Club and the Information technology group over the weekend, it was agreed that simulated elections be held soon.
Larrazabal explained that the purpose of the mock polls is basically to show that the 1,000 voters in each precinct could be accommodated when they cast their ballots on May 10 or during the 11 hours voting period.
“Its basically the ability to process 1,000 voters within 11 hours --we would like to focus on the voting,” Larrazabal told reporters.
Precincts, Larrazabal said will open at 7am and will be closed at 6pm but voters who are within the pemises and were not able to vote will still be accommodated.
He said details on the mock polls are being finalized now including the venue and the date.
The National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) together with Kontra Daya earlier expressed fear that many voters will be disenfranchised with the clustering of the precincts.
But Comelec NCR director Michael Dioneda said that the clustered precincts are also within the same compound or school premises, therefore it would not be too hard for the voter to locate their precincts.
“Usually the clustered precincts are within the same level and basically these are three precincts that were clustered. It will not create any confusion for our voters,” he said.
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