MANILA – Polling precincts opened nationwide on Monday that will decide half the Senate's seats and thousands of local posts.

The Commission on Elections said procedural and administrative concerns topped the issues encountered by the members of the electoral board as precincts opened at 5 a.m.

The Comelec has set up their National Technical Support Center at the Paranaque Integrated Terminal Exchange. This serves as their “call center” for any concerns on the automated counting machines and other matters with the electoral board.

Comelec Spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said they have so far received 20 calls from the DepEd Supervising Officer and all were already resolved.

“Mayroong kinakabahan, hindi alam paano isaksak ang wire, nakalimutan paano buksan. Nandiyan ang technician, nandiyan ang ating supervisor. Mayroong issues sa pagkakabit ng thermal paper, again, nare-resolve siya, tinuturuan natin,” Laudiangco told the media.

“Kinabahan, ano ba ang gagawin? Isasaksak ba ang baterya, isasaksak ba muna sa kuryente? Paano ipasok ang thermal paper? Bakit ayaw mag-print, baliktad pala ang pagkakakabit, yan ang karamihan ng procedural [concerns]” he said.

“Itong mga issues na 'yan, mga bagay na 'yan – kung magde-develop sa major issue, aabot na sa isang oras at hindi pa ma-resolve, gagana na ang continuity plan at palit agad ng makina,” he added.

Each municipality and city, he said, have their own reserved automated counting machines that would be released once the request was approved by the poll body.

Around 110 repair hubs were also on standby.

“Paano kapag kinulang si election officer, walang dapat ipag-alala dahil may hubs na nandoon probinsya, mayroon pa ring contingency machines doon. All in all, 16,000 automated counting machines across the Philippines to serve as contingency machines,” he said.

Highly-technical issues will be handled by Comelec’s IT personnel who are also in the operations center.  

“Kung mayroon talagang it involves the whole system, nandyan din sa level 3 ang providers natin for ACM and election management system, nandito ang joint venture ng Miru para naman sa transmission, nandito ang joint venture ng IOne,” he said.

The operations center is open 24/7 until the end of the midterm elections.