Elections

MANILA, Philippines – Smartmatic International Corp.-Total Information Management Corp. has finished manufacturing nearly half of the 82,200 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines to be used in the May 2010 polls.

An official from the joint venture of Smartmatic and Total Information Management (TIM) on Friday said it could not continue with the software customization of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines until the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has finalized the official list of candidates as well as the number of registered voters in each…

Short training period just won’t work, says group MANILA, Philippines – With the postponement of the training for teachers who will serve during the automated elections, a group expressed fear that the teachers are being set up as scapegoat in case confusion mars the exercise or if it fails completely.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday said the number of registered voters for the 2010 national elections has breached the 50-million threshold even without the addition of the December registrants, which reached more than 258,000.

MANILA, Philippines – Some of the newly delivered precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines to be used in the upcoming elections have failed in initial test, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) confirmed yesterday.

To ensure that all the election paraphernalia and the 82,200 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines will be delivered to their destinations on time, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is forming a technical working group (TWG) that will outline plans for such poll undertakings.

MANILA, Philippines – In the wake of a global economic crisis that brought the Philippines to its knees, the country is one with the world in looking forward to a recovery in 2010. And the year’s main event—the national elections—can’t come at a better time.

Let us pause a moment, take a deep breath and consider what is the single most important test the nation must hurdle in order to have a fair chance of success in 2010 and beyond. Some will say that it is electing the right person—their preferred presidential candidate naturally—as the 14th president of the Republic.…

MANILA, Philippines – For almost the entire year, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has been preoccupied with the full automation of the local and national polls on May 10, 2010.

MANILA, Philippines – Seventy-nine members, or nearly one-third of the House of Representatives, are “graduating” from Congress on June 30, 2010 after the May elections.

New leader to balance  present with  past MANILA, Philippines – In the aftermath of Ondoy’s devastation and amid the continuing fallout from the global economic decline, a vast majority of Filipinos—86%, according to a Pulse Asia survey—are entering 2010 with hope, much more than those who said they were optimistic about 2009.  

The country’s two largest telecommunications companies, or telcos, have expressed worry about the automated elections next year, because the technical requirements have yet to be issued by the consortium Smartmatic-TIM. Globe Telecom Inc. and Smart Communications Inc. said that the terms of reference for the first fully automated elections in the country ware important to…

MANILA, Philippines – Voters can still register for next year’s elections until Jan. 9 after the Supreme Court voided the Oct. 31 deadline set by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

MANILA, Philippines – Trouble is brewing in the Philippines’ first nationwide poll automation, and the signs are slowly unfolding.

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines – Mindanao will be in big trouble in the next five years if the shrinking of the reserve capacity of the Mindanao power grid remains unchecked.

This is one for Ripley’s. The total number of registered voters for the May 2010 polls has climbed to more than 49 million, or some 54 percent of the total Philippine population and rising.

MANILA, Philippines – At least 49.1 million voters have registered for next year’s elections, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said yesterday. Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said the figure does not include voters in 22 municipalities that have not yet submitted their official list of voters.

MANILA, Philippines – A majority or 61 percent of Filipinos have little knowledge about the automated election system (AES), but a significant number remain optimistic that the automatic counting of votes will result in clean elections with credible results, a latest survey by the Pulse Asia revealed yesterday.

The Commission on Election (Comelec) is harnessing cellular phone text messaging linked to online social networking sites—Facebook, Friendster, Tweeter and Plurk—as a medium for concerned citizens to report to it and the rest of the world possible attempts of cheating during this country’s synchronized national and local elections this May 10,2010. The functionality forms is…

The Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC) over the weekend released a list of demands it said the government and the Commission on Election (Comelec) should fulfill before teachers do poll duties in the 2010 national elections. “We are appealing to the national government and the Comelec to hear our demand first before ordering us to do…

MANILA, Philippines—At least 50,000 information technology (IT) people are needed for the automated elections in May, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced Tuesday.

As 2GO drops out and Smartmatic switches manufacturers of ACMs Too many changes in the poll automation contract between Smartmatic-TIM, the winning bidder, and the Commission on Elections, as well as the reports of the withdrawal of 2GO, the Aboitiz delivery and warehousing firm which also got the nod of the poll body, prompted a…

Some 48,000 locals will be hired by the Smartmatic and Total Information Management (TIM) for a couple of weeks to assist in the country’s first automated elections in 2010, a company executive said. Smartmatic-TIM would hire 42,000 Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) technicians, 4,000 supervisors, 2,000 canvassing and consolidation technicians and 600 call center agents,…

Dear Atty. Josie Lichauco, It is a great pleasure to be once more working with you in this our common objective, indeed a rare opportunity, to contribute to our country’s “democratic aspiration” in this “recent phase of human history”.

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has deputized five government agencies to check out prospective voting center sites for the May 10, 2010 elections.

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is enlisting the help pf teachers, police and IT groups to help survey available network infrastructure in preparation for the 2010 elections.

A Malacañang survey reported that Noynoy’s Sept. 5 to 6 rating of 51 percent has gone down to 33 percent by Sept. 21. Veteran campaigner, DILG Secretary Ronnie Puno expressed the view that the euphoria from President Cory’s death will not last till election day. Recall that in the survey of The Center, headed by…

The proposed automated elections next year now face a new hurdle, computer trans-missions, which, if not assured for at least 25 percent of the country, would make the Commission on Elections (Comelec) revert to manual polling next year, Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said yesterday.

The survey on Sept. 5 and 6 conducted by the Social Weather Station (SWS) commissioned by businessmen led by Ramon “Boy Blue” del Rosario, chairman of the Makati Business Club, and former Sen. Serge Osmeña, a fellow political detainee of the late Eugenio Geny Lopez, founder of the then newly revived ABS-CBN after the Edsa…

A group called Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Jose Melo among the doomsayers on the success of the automated elections next year after Melo admitted that Comelec expects 30 to 50 percent of polling precincts to remain using the manual system due to electricity problems.