THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday said it will inspect 8,640 units of brand new automated counting machines (ACMs) initially delivered from South Korea to be used in next year’s midterm polls.
The ACMs, expected to arrive today, will be stored in a Comelec warehouse in Biñan, Laguna while awaiting the bulk of the equipment to be delivered in the coming months.
The poll body is renting a total of 110,000 ACMs for the May 12, 2025 national and local elections from the joint venture of Miru Systems Co Ltd, Integrated Computer Systems, St. Timothy Construction Corp., and Centerpoint Solutions Technologies, Inc.
Comelec chairman George Garcia said preparations for next year’s political exercise are now in full swing. He expressed confidence Miru will deliver more ACMs this September.
“Before the end of December, the total 110,000 ACMs will be in the Philippines, at least four months before the election day,” he said.
“We are on time. We are not experiencing any delays,” poll spokesman Rex Laudiangco said.
The poll body conducted last month demonstration tests on more than 200 ACMs, saying that there were no glitches during the trials.
Laudiangco said the units went through the required Hardware Acceptance Test (HAT) in the Laguna warehouse.
“The diagnostic test results show that all of the ACM parts such as the sensor, touchscreen, scanner, printer, camera, USB (universal serial bus) ports, LED (light emitting diode), external keypad, etc. passed the appropriate criteria for each component during the HAT,” Comelec said in statement.
During the tests, each ACM went through different diagnostics to ensure all components were working based on the Comelec specifications.
