407 BEI certifiers undergo training for May polls

Instead of reporting for his day job, 38-year-old science research specialist Esteve Lopez went early Friday to the Bayview Hotel along Roxas Boulevard in Manila. But he went there not for any rest and recreation, but to begin his involvement in the conduct of the country's very first automated elections. Lopez is just one of the 407 personnel from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) who will be in charge of cetifying the 160,000 Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) who will oversee and conduct the voting process on election day. Comelec Resolution 8739 states that at least one member of the BEI shall be an IT-capable person as certified by the DOST.

DOST Undersecretary Fortunato de la Peña said their regional directors personally hand-picked the IT specialists who will be testing and certifying the BEIs. "We sounded off our regional units, agencies at the DOST, giving them a description of the work, if you notice most of them are young, they are IT capable," he said, adding that they will be tapping some professors of state universities for provinces with a shortage in IT specialists. But in order to give them a better understanding of the automed election system, Commission on Elections (Comelec) National Capital Region (NCR) director Michael Deonida said that will be required to attend two-day training sessions. He said that the sessions began simultaneously all over the counrty on Friday, February 19. "Ito ay napakaimportante dahil itong mga tine-train ngayon hanggang sa next week, ito yung mga magte-train sa mga BEI so nakasalalay sa kamay ng mga ito kung ano yung ituturo sa ating BEIs (This training is very important because people will be the ones to train the BEIs, so it lies on their hands what the BEIs will learn)," he said. Overview of voting system Deonida said that the certifiers will be given an overview of the voting system in the Philippines and of the functions of the BEI. He said they will also be taught how to operate the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines. And based on the response of the 54 certifiers undergoing the training at the Bayview Hotel, he said that the endeavor was going pretty well. "Oo maganda naman ang response, okay sila sumagot sa open forum (The response is good, I was satisfied with how they answered at the open forum)," Deonida told GMANews.TV in an interview. Lopez echoed the poll official's statement. "So far malinaw naman po, nadalian naman kami (It was clear so far, we found the process to be easy)," he said. De la Peña said that after the two-day training, the certifiers will still have to undergo a one-day seminar for the administration of the test for the BEIs. He said that the BEIs will likewise undergo two-day seminars, this time conducted by the certifiers, between March 1 to March 30. He said that the teachers will undergo trainings and lectures on the first day and a written and practical exam on the second day as administered by DOST's personnel. If a BEI fails to get a 60 percent passing grade, he or she will still be allowed to take the practical exam. If the BEI passes the practical test, he or she will be allowed to re-take the written exam. Once they pass the tests, Deonida said that they will be certified as IT-capable by the DOST. But de la Peña said that he is confident in the capabilities of both the certifiers and the BEIs. "I can say na talagang everybody is doing his or her best to make it (the elections) a success," he told GMANews.TV. - RSJ, RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV