(UPDATED) Two thousand units of automated counting machines from Miru Systems will be made available to communities for testing by the public, according to Commission on Elections (Comelec) spokesperson Atty. Rex Laudiangco.

The 2,000 machines that the public can access through public demonstrations will run from December to February next year, Laudiangco said Monday.

“Every city, every municipality, every region, bukod pa dito sa Central Office, eh merong makina na ide-demo po by barangay. Magde-demo po tayo,” Laudiangco said in an interview.

(Every city, every municipality, every region aside from the Central Office, we will have a machine available for demonstration purposes per village.)

“By the time na dumating na yung hinihiling namin na 2,000 for roadshow, ang magde-demo na election officers. At sino ang magiging recipient ng demonstration? Ang common tao po sa mga barangay,” Laudiangco said.

(One our requested 2,000 machines are already here for roadshow, we will demo it to election officers and the common people in barangays.)

According to Laudiangco, the initial 20,000 units of  automated counting machines intended for the 2025 midterm elections will be delivered by Miru Systems between June and July this year.

And this he said, will be followed by the hardware and acceptance testing of these machines and later on, demo and training of their IT personnel.

“Ine-expect namin sya (machines) around June. It’s either late June or early July darating po yung first 20,000 machines. Ang gusto namin dyan masimulan natin yung demo. Yung roll out,” Laudiangco said.

(We are expecting the machines around June. It’s either late June or early July. The first 20,000 machines will be here. We want to immediately do the demo, the roll out.)

Members of the Electoral Board or teachers will also undergo the same training in December and January, Laudiangco said.

The Comelec is expecting to receive all its ordered 110,000 voting machines from Miru in January, the official said.

NEW VOTER APPLICANTS

As of April 26, 2024, an additional 2.398 million new voters have been already been recorded by the Comelec.

Out of this number, 1.016 million are new registered voters, Laudiangco said.

“We’re right on track. At ine-expect po namin as we roll out our voter’s ed (education) for internet voting, ang makadadagdag talaga ng marami, ang mga kababayan natin abroad. Magpapa-register sila. Because right now, there are 15 million of them worldwide,” he said.

(We’re right on track. We are expecting to roll out our voter’s education for internet voting. And we are expecting to increase our registered voters from our fellow Filipinos numbering to 15 million worldwide.)

The rise in the number of Filipinos who choose to register is being credited by the Comelec to the interest of the people to vote using modern equipment, the official said.

QUESTIONABLE VOTERS

And with just more than a year before the 2025 midterm, the Comelec continues to purge questionable electorate from its list of registered voters, Laudiangco said.

“Kung talagang hindi naman sinasadya, meaning, hindi lang nabura yung record, talagang ang intensyon lang nya trumansfer (transfer), magkakaroon kami ng administrative decision. So ang matatanggal dyan most likely, ang original nya,” Laudiangco said.

(If there was no negative intention like the record was not deleted and the voter merely transferred, that will be subjected to administrative decision. The original will just deleted.)

“Unless may overt act na mandaya. Sample... Pareho po ang itsura, iniiba-iba lang ng konti. Naglalagay lang ng kung ano-ano. Pero, iniba ang pangalan, iniba ang birth place, iniba ang address, pero hindi nila nadaya ang fingerprint nila. Yan po, talagang kakasuhan po namin sila ng double or multiple registration. Election offense po yan,” he stressed.

(Unless there’s an overt act like, if the same person attempted to change his or her looks and used a different name, different address, different birth place, but he or she has the same fingerprint.)

Before last year’s Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, around 100,000 registered voters out of the 500,000 that the Comelec deleted from the voter’s list have been qualified as multiple or double registrants.

“Out of that 100,000, mahigit 10,000 na po ang nasampahan ng kaso, at patuloy pa po yung imbestigasyon doon sa iba.... dun nga po sa nakita namin talagang may pananadya. Inaba ang pangalan, iniba ang itsura, iniba ang address, pero pareho ang fingerprint.  Malinaw po, talagang sinadya po,” Laudiangco said.

(Out of the 100,000, more than 10,000 have been charged and the investigation is still ongoing. Some of those we’ve seen changed their looks, address, but have the same fingerprint. So, there was really an intention to misrepresent.)