Watch more News on iWantTFC

MANILA (UPDATED)— The number of vote counting machines (VCM) that needed replacement rose to 512 from 355 on Friday, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said.

This was based on the final testing and sealing of VCMs just 3 days before Monday's elections, Comelec Commissioner Marlon Casquejo said.

Casquejo added that the number of SD cards needing replacement also increased to 91. Both are less than 1 percent of the total, according to the commissioner.

In a separate briefing, Comelec Commissioner George Garcia said these machines accounted for only a "small percentage" of around 106,000 VCMs that will be used on May 9.

• Comelec: 73% of ballots already printed; ‘good’ ballots printed at 47.4%

Garcia noted that majority of the 355 VCMs reported defective on Thursday were already sent for repair.

"Lahat ng mga 'yan ay dinala na sa ating repair hubs, kasalukuyang ginagawa. Marami na rin pong nagawa doon mga almost 200 na. Hopefully hanggang bukas magsusubok tayo ay hindi ganoon pa karaming makina ang magkakaproblema," he added.

(All of those were brought to our repair hubs, they are being fixed. Almost 200 have been repaired. Hopefully, we can test them until tomorrow and fewer machines would encounter problems.)

The commissioner said that while the VCMs seemed old, these were still "effective and efficient."

"A hundred percent" of VCM and ballots have already been distributed nationwide, Garcia said.

"Technically lahat po halos ay na-distribute na at nakahanda na para sa Lunes, ang araw ng eleksyon," he said.

(Technically almost all have been distributed and ready for Monday, election day.)

The poll body this week said a failure of election scenario was "not an option", after the camp of presidential candidate Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. reported allegedly defective vote-counting machines. The Comelec said it had "contingency procedures" in case of VCM glitches.

• ALAMIN: Mga paalala ng Comelec sa pagboto ngayong #Halalan2022