ACMs for 3 Northern Mindanao provinces arrive in Iligan City hub

Workers unload the automated counting machines and other election paraphenalia at F2 Logistics hub in Pala-o, Iligan City. — Photo by Elnathan Brant Ermac

ILIGAN CITY, Philippines — Five trucks loaded with automated counting machines (ACMs), automated election system and other election paraphernalia intended for the provinces of Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur and Misamis Occidental finally arrived at a hub owned by F2 Logistics in Pala-o here on Wednesday, April 9, officials said.

Police Major Zandrex Panolong, spokesperson of the Iligan city police office, said the cargoes which passed through Philippine Ports Authority in Cagayan de Oro City before these were transported here had been heavily secured by the police until they will reach their destinations in the barangays and polling precincts.

Lawyer Joseph Hamilton Cuevas, provincial election supervisor in Lanao del Norte, said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) would conduct the final testing and sealing of the ACMs in the respective provinces towards the third week of April before these, along with other election paraphernalia, would be dispatched to the municipalities and barangays of the three provinces.

Cuevas, however, said the schedule of the final testing still had to be finalized and would be announced by the respective provincial election offices later.

READ: Comelec’s ‘technical call center’ operational starting May 2

Earlier in Davao City, Comelec dispatched a total of 340 Starlink kits, composed of satellite devices and solar panels to be used in the May 12 polls to different offices of election officers in the Davao region after their discovery inside an unsecured house in Buhangin district here created a stir.

Comelec, however, allayed fears of any irregularities as the transmission devices and solar panels being kept by the Comelec service provider iOne Resources Joint Venture with Ardent Networks (iOneJV) were merely for power and transmission of the election results and did not have anything to do with the counting of votes.

As early as 5 a.m. on Sunday, April 6, the election devices were already loaded on several wing vans secured by the police as these were ordered transported to the different election offices in the region.

Of the 340 Starlink kits dispatched to different parts of the region, 88 went to Davao Occidental; 77 went to Davao del Sur, including the 35 in Digos City; 64 to Davao Oriental; 56 to Davao del Norte; 38 to Davao de Oro and 37 to Davao City. — With a report from Germelina Lacorte