Comelec to hold simultaneous mock elections on Saturday

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced on Wednesday that it will be holding simultaneous nationwide mock elections on Saturday, February 6, to test its automated poll system. Simultaneous mock polls will be held in Metro Manila, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, as required by the Comelec’s rules, Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said. Besides encompassing three major islands as required by its procedures, the mock elections will also be undertaken “to simulate the process of the voting, counting canvassing, which includes transmission," he added. Mock elections will be held in areas chosen for their accessibility and the number of their voters – which are among the factors considered to test the Comelec’s whole automation system in preparation for May. Mock election areas The Comelec will hold the mock elections on February 6 from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the following areas: Metro Manila Quezon City (New Era Elementary School, Tandang Sora Avenue - 760 registered voters) Taguig City (Maharlika Elementary School, Maharlika Village - 996 voters and Gen. Ricardo Papa Memorial High School, Tuktukan - 720 voters) Luzon (Benguet) Baguio City (Pines City National High School, City Camp Central - 544 voters and Community Youth Center, City Camp Proper - 596 voters) Visayas (Cebu) Cebu City (Bulacao Community School, Villa Mangga, Bulacao - 983 voters and Mabini Elementary School, Sitio Proper - 475 voters) Mindanao (Davao del Sur) Davao City (Alejandra Navarro Elementary School, Lasang - 879 voters and Generoso Elementary School, Bago Aplaya - 856 voters) "Everyone can just go there... the number of registered voters for each clustered precinct (is) generally over 500 except for one," Larrazabal said. He said that there will be canvassing sites around the Philippines but that election results will still be transmitted to the central server of the Comelec main office in Intramuros, Manila. Earlier, the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines used in field tests in Pateros and Taguig had trouble transmitting the needed data. Comelec awaiting poll machine report Larrazabal, for his part, said that the agency still is confirming what went wrong with the poll machine. "We are still waiting for the report, initial feedback was that the machine was used was actually a backup machine," he said. During the May polls, the Comelec will be needing GSM network radio signals – the same kind used by mobile phones for calls and SMS –to transmit the election results from the precinct to other servers. But the poll body said that they can always use satellite transmission or Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) for areas which have no available cellular signal. It earlier said that they have 5,000 BGANs at hand, with more on the way. For the mock elections, Larrazabal said that they will using both GSM and BGAN transmission. - RJAB Jr./GMANews.TV