A COMMISSION on Elections (Comelec) 11 officially clarified Thursday only one Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine will arrive on December and will travel to each province for demonstration.

Comelec 11 regional attorney Danilo Cullo said each region in the country would receive one poll automation machine and the Comelec provincial election supervisors would handle transferring the PCOS machines to each municipality or city in their province strictly for demonstration.

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"When the automation machine arrives the provincial election supervisors will coordinate with the designated election officers per municipality or city so that demonstrations can be made for the public," Cullo said in vernacular.

Cullo, however, said there is still no schedule on the machine's travel from province to province.

Admitting the possibility that the schedule will be finalized after the machine arrives in the region, Cullo said he has confidence in the provincial election supervisors' preparedness for the task.

"They are always prepared (the provincial election supervisors). Although sa ngayon wala pang schedule, it is one of the things we are working on," Cullo said.

Cullo also clarified that PCOS machines will arrive in the voting precincts three days before Election Day on May 10.

"Bakit ganito? It's because we have what we call the sanctity of ballots. Kung idi-deliver mo ng mas maaga yung mga machines, which is also the ballot box, mas maraming mga reklamo yan na 'Ah, siguro na-manipulate or na rig yung mga machines sa mga presinto.' To avoid the doubts, the central office sees it to give only an ample time to settle the machines in precint areas. Sabay sabay uan nationwide itra-transfer," Cullo said.

Cullo expressed confidence in the automated voting process. "It is very easy to vote. Even if the voters do not have prior knowledge, kahit wala silang knowledge about computers, makakaboto sila. It is very easy to istruct the voters, even on the Election Day, on what they will do to vote," Cullo said.

"Ang napaka importante is maturuan ang mga teachers and those na mag aasist on the election day. They should be the ones who really have to know what to do because they'll be the ones operating the machines before and after the people votes," Cullo said.

Cullo admitted that Comelec has a lot to prepare before the Election Day especially on the information dissemination on the technicalities of voting.

Cullo said Comelec 11 is busy finalizing the registration results, which concluded last October 31 with processing extensions made early this month.

"We cannot give you the exact number of newly registered voters because this is still unofficial without an ERB (Election Registration Board) hearing on November 16 to 20. This is still subject for approval. Pero, even after ng hearing hindi pa rin ito final kasi lilinisin pa namin ang lista ng voters kasi yung iba nag-apply for voters' transfer. So tatanggalin muna namin yung mga nag-doble ang pangalan," Cullo said.

As for the estimates, Cullo, also first district acting election officer, gave an estimate of 930,000 new voters in District 1.

Second district officer-in charge April Mitchor said the area has an estimate of 306,420 new voters, while third district election assistant Usman Abas Jr. said his area has estimated 240,000 new voters. (JCZ)