Comelec plans to donate old VCMs to DepEd

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) plans to donate old voting counting machine (VCM) units to the Department of Education (DepEd) so that they can be utilized for other purposes, its chairperson said Wednesday.

Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia said the poll body will offer the VCM units to the DepEd for free.

“Ino-offer namin kahit libre na. Ido-donate namin sa DepEd. Tayo po ay nananawagan sa ating Secretary Sonny Angara, baka puwedeng mapag-isipan, baka may puwede magawa dun sa ilang units doon na pu-puwede pang maging operational,” Garcia told Super Radyo dzBB.

(We’re offering the units to the DepEd for free. We ask DepEd Secretary Sonny Angara if he can find another use for the machines.)

“Kahit pang-check man lang po ng papel ng ating mga estudyante...para kahit paano mabilis ang pagc-check ng papel ng mga pang-exam natin,” he said.

(It can be used to check the exam papers of the students, to make the process faster.)

At least 93,000 units of VCMs were stored in Comelec warehouses, according to Garcia. In May 2023, the poll body said the units were "unserviceable.”

The Comelec tapped South Korean firm Miru Systems Co. Ltd. for the procurement of a new automated election system for the 2025 national and local elections. — Sundy Locus/VBL, GMA Integrated News