PCOS machine testing in Davao

I just came from the PCOS machine testing & sealing by the BEIs of the Kapitan Tomas Monteverde Grade School in Barangay 3A in Davao City, attended by candidates’ representatives, barangay and school officials, media and curious citizens.

The Smartmatic AES1800 machines tested that I was able to witness were for Clusters 12, 13 and 14 for Barangay 4A. I don’t know why the machines for one barangay were being tested at another, but I didn’t bother to ask because there were too many people crowding in the room and the BEIs were clearly having a tough time.

I must say, the teachers who were appointed to be BEIs in this poll exercise deserve our appreciation. While I was observing, they were doing their best to accomplish the tasks at hand, while being watched by scores of people who were intent on their every move. One BEI was obviously nervous, what with the tv news camera pointed at her — her hands were visibly shaking, but I could see she was trying very hard to keep her composure. She even managed a smile when one of the friendlier members of the media joked with her.

Unfortunately, I have to report that the BEIs appeared to have been under-trained. They were fumbling while going through the procedures, and their movements showed that they weren’t fully prepared for the process. I’d like to point out, however, that the BEIs I observed were far from stupid. When faced with something unfamiliar, they gave their utmost in order to overcome the difficulty.

Still, seeing the BEIs like that left me with the impression that Comelec and Smartmatic did not do their best to train the teachers, the front-liners of the elections. One BEI didn’t even know where the PCOS machine’s power cable jack was; when mounting the machine on top of the ballot box, they were at a loss; the whole time, their actions weren’t fluid. They were just following a set of printed instructions — without the benefit of actually having seen a PCOS machine beforehand.

One of the PCOS machines, which will be for Barangay 4A Cluster 14, generated an error twice. The screen said it was a memory card read error. On the third try, however, the machine was able to read the CF card and the diagnostics all reported a nominal status. One of the BEIs conducting the test reported to the observers that they had inserted the wrong CF card. Curious.

On the whole, the PCOS machines testing & sealing event went fairly well. I could see that the poll watchers present were satisfied with the outcome. The machines tested at that precinct all reported an initial state of having zero votes for all candidates, then reported the correct number of votes after some of the poll watchers were asked to cast sample ballots.

The downtown precincts of Davao City are nominally ready. Hopefully everything will run smoothly tomorrow. Hopefully, none of the machines will break down or fall victim to any of Murphy’s Laws.