MANILA, July 8 (PNA) — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it is ready to answer the petition filed before the Supreme Court (SC) against the ongoing parallel public bidding for the automated election system (AES) to be used in the May 2016 polls.
Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said they are just waiting to get a copy of the petition before they will issue their comment.
“It would be difficult to comment without reading the petition. Let us just wait for a copy and let us study it,” he said in a press briefing.
For his part, Commissioner Christian Robert Lim said, “We will answer it accordingly after being able to study the case.”
Both officials noted that they were no longer surprised on the petition questioning the twin biddings.
“Personally, I was not surprised anymore (with the filing),” Bautista said.
Lim added, “If you ask me, we are already used to having cases filed.”
On Tuesday, the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) filed a petition against the biddings for the refurbishment of the old Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines, and the lease with option to purchase of new Optical Mark Reader (OMR) units.
The Comelec is looking at three options for the system to be used in next year’s polls: the first one is the use of all new OMR machines by combining the 23,000 and the 70,977; while another is the refurbishment of the 81,896 PCOS machines to be supplemented also by the 23,000 OMR machines.
The third option is the hybrid system, wherein the voting and counting will be done manually while the transmission and canvassing shall be automated. (PNA)