WITH the Bangsamoro Parliamentary Elections (BPE) set to be pushed back to October 2025, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has adopted a wait-and-see stance on using the automated counting machines (ACMs) of its service provider, Miru Systems for the regional polls.
In an interview, Comelec chairman George Garcia refused to answer if they will use the ACMs of Miru when they hold the BPE on October 13 as proposed by Congress.
“We will have to look at the performance in the coming national and local elections. To see is to believe,” said Garcia.
“Let us see first if the machines will perform well and not malfunction. If it will have major problems, why would we want to continue using them,” he said.
The poll chief said this is the same reason why the Comelec only leased and did not purchase the 110,620 ACMs from Miru.
“This (national and local polls) will be a learning process,” said Garcia.
In case it will use the Miru machines, Garcia said they will require some 3,000 units of the ACMs.
“For the 2.3 million voters in Bangsamoro, about 3,000 machines will be needed. This does not yet include the contingency machines in case some units malfunction. So, we will probably need around 3,200 to 3,300 machines,” he said.
Asked what alternatives the poll body have in case they do not use Miru’s machines, Garcia said they are open to different options.
“The options will remain with the Comelec. We cannot have our decisions tied up if our purpose is to ensure the clean and orderly elections,” he said.
The Comelec issued the statement as it awaits the signature of President Marcos Jr in the proposed law deferring the BPE for five months.
This after the bill rescheduling the BPE from May 12, 2025 to October 13, 2025 was ratified and approved by the bicameral conference committee on Tuesday.
