PCOS show held in 27 towns in Abra

By Maria Teresa B. Benas

BANGUED, Abra -- The Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) Road Show by the Commission on Elections was carried out in all 27 municipalities of Abra last week. 

The road show which was participated by the members of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs), the candidates as well as the voting public, was a venue for the Comelec to demonstrate proper operation of the PCOS machine to ensure a safe and free elections (SAFE) on May 13. 

The event was also an opportunity for the participants to air their questions, feedbacks and reactions.     

On the question of the possibility of PCOS machines being hacked, lawyer Mae Richelle B. Belmes, provincial election supervisor and concurrent election officer of Bangued, said it would be impossible for these PCOS machines to be hacked because the PIN codes assigned to each unit are a combination of trillions of numbers.

Before anyone could hack the machine, the result of the election shall already be transmitted to all concerned agencies and recipients because it is automated, she explained. 

Belmes also announced that the training of the BEIs was finished before the Holy Week. The trainings were conducted in five batches at Vigan City. 

The training was provided for in the Omnibus Election Code and the operation of the PCOS machines. 

The BEIs after undergoing the PCOS machine training have to pass the examination conducted by the Department of Science and Technology to be given certification.

This is in line with the memorandum of agreement signed between the DOST and the Comelec “to work for clean and credible automated elections.” 

Meanwhile, the Comelec has issued its notice to the general public on the final testing and sealing of the machines in Bangued on May 6, 2013. 

Belmes said final testing and sealing of the PCOS machines will be simultaneously conducted at 9:00 AM on May 6 in all the 39 polling precincts in the 31 component barangays of the municipality. -- PIA