SMARTMATIC-Total Information Management Inc. (TIM), the consortium that won the poll automation project, said Thursday it has printed 22 million or a little over half of the 50 million ballots needed in the May elections.
By weekend, total number of ballots printed would reach 25 million, Smartmatic said in an update it released amid continuing fears of failure of elections.
The National Ctizens’ Movement for Free Elections, meanwhile, took issue with the Commission on Elections’ refusal to let it conduct a random manual audit (RMA) in certain precincts provided in the automation law or Republic Act No. 9369.
“Namfrel’s position is to conduct the RMA right after the electronic count before the proclamation of winners. Comelec is leaning towards conducting RMA after the proclamation when any discrepancy between the manual versus the electronic count shall not be recognized until much, much later,” it said.
“Clearly, Comelec is choosing speed over reflecting the true will of the people, speed over transparency and auditability,” Namfrel said.
Smartmatic spokesperson Gene Gregorio said about 800,000 ballots are being printed daily and that a fifth leased printer is being installed at the National Printing Office this week amd will boost printing capacity by 20 percent.
He also said 24,023 PCOS (Precinct Count Optical Scan) machines have been configured and tested with precinct-specific information at the rate of 2,000 PCOS being configured a day.
Smartmatic said two PCOS and two CCS units have been delivered to the disputed Kalayaan Island Group in the South China Seas, while 845 PCOS and 845 CCS will be delivered to Palawan by April 8.
According to Smartmatic, 20,000 ballot boxes have arrived in the country and 13,000 more will be arriving in two weeks.
Delivery of 600 VSATs to the canvassing centers is set and installation will start on April 5, it said.
Gregorio also said 1,200 BGANs are already in Smartmatic’s warehouse, with 600 BGANS in transit and expected to arrive on Saturday. He said 3,700 units are awaiting shipping documents.
On the training of technical people that would man the automation project, Smartmatic said a total of 43,566 PCOS support technicians and 2,315 CCS support technicians have been trained and certified.