THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) said many vote-counting machines (VCMs) have already been deployed in various regional hubs in preparations for the coming May 9 elections.
In an interview, Comelec Commissioner Sheriff Abbas told reporters that most of the remaining VCMs that are still stored in its warehouse in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, are to be used in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Abbas said the poll body expects to finish the deployment of the VCMs to NCR at the end of the month.
From the various hubs, the VCMs will be deployed to polling precincts between May 2 to 6 in time for the final testing and sealing (FTS).
Abas, chairman of the Comelec-Packing and Shipping Committee, said they have reached 90 percent in the deployment of the VCMs.
“What [remains] are those for [the] NCR, which we hope to deploy before the FTS,” he added. “If we do the deployment earlier, we could have problems. We don’t want to compromise the machines.”
Abbas also disclosed that the Comelec has already started the shipping and distribution of the official ballots to the city and municipal treasurers to be used on May 9.
Ballots have already been shipped to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and in some provinces in the Visayas and far-flung provinces in Luzon.
“We already started last Monday, April 25. So it’s already about four days,” Abbas said. “We expect to finish around May 4.”