Comelec’s three-month training for poll workers begins Jan. 27

The last batch of the automated counting machines (ACMs) arrives for the 2025 polls on Wednesday, November 27, 2025, at the Comelec warehouse in Biñan, Laguna. (Photo from the Office of the Comelec chairman)
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will begin the three-month training of its field officials on Jan. 27.
They will work on national and local elections (NLE) this year.
“Monday next week (Jan 27) is the start of our NLE training,” Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia told reporters in a Viber message. “It will last until May.”
Garcia said the training mainly includes automatic counting machine (ACM) operations, which the Comelec will use for the first time after switching from precinct count optical scanners or PCOS machines.
READ: Comelec gets P12M from sale of old PCOS, bins
Article continues after this advertisement“Their training is jam-packed because this is the last time we will brief them face-to-face,” he also said.
Article continues after this advertisementIn November last year, the Comelec held its 1st National Convention of election officers, where they were taught how to operate the ACM machines.
During that time, election officers had a chance to try the ACM, which was still novel to them.
“I have experienced the previous automated [machines], but this one is different; it’s fast,” election officer Armando Mallorca, an election officer for 37 years, told INQUIRER.net on Nov. 20, 2024.
“This can easily be picked up,” Mallorca also said. “And since I have experience, this is easy for me.”