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Comelec to purchase P2.12B worth of vote-counting machines used in 2016 for 2019 polls


The Commission on Elections has decided to purchase vote-counting machines used in 2016 for a price of P2.122 billion, said acting Comelec Chairperson Christian Robert Lim on Thursday.

Lim told reporters that the Comelec’s P8-billion budget for the 2019 elections was “insufficient for new machines.”

“That’s insufficient for new machines so we decided based on ano ‘yung available to us,” he said.

The acting Comelec chief, who is set to retire on Friday, said he signed the contract on January 12, but the decision was made by the Comelec en banc on December 18, 2017, following consultations with various offices, agencies, and stakeholders. 

He took over the head of the Commission after its former leader, Andres Bautista, resigned.

Lim claimed he raised the matter of purchasing vote-counting machines before the Comelec en banc as early as October 2017.

 

 

This deal with Smartmatic covers over 97,000 vote-counting machines, according to an earlier update on Super Radyo dzBB.

Lim explained that the machines used in 2016 offered “better technology” than the ones used in 2010 and 2013. The newer machines, he said, have a higher-level processor and a self-detecting lens, among others.

“We felt that the new machines offer a better technology as compared with the previous one kaya ‘yun ang naging primary decision namin,” he said. —KG, GMA News

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