MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will decide by January if it will look for another system provider for the 2013 polls.
Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes said, “We have to decide if we're keeping the [precinct count optical scan] or if we have to look for another provider for the 2013 polls.”
The PCOS technology was used for the 2010 elections. Brillantes said the Comelec has no problem using the same for another election, but “we saw some deficiencies in last election so we want Smartmatic to fix those before we exercise the option to purchase.”
The steering committee under Commissioner Augusto Lagman is currently studying other technologies for the 2013 polls.
In its proposed budget, the Comelec has an allocation of P7 billion for leasing poll machines for the 2013 elections. - by Jeff Canoy, ABS-CBN News