Comelec convenes as National Board of Canvassers for 2025 elections

Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc has formally convened its session as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) for the 2025 midterm elections.

Comelec Chairperson George Garcia presided over the en banc session at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, which was followed by the appearance of lawyers representing national candidates.

The NBOC is tasked with counting the votes for candidates in national elections.

Voting hours started at 7:00 a.m. and are scheduled to end at 7:00 p.m. Despite the extended hours, more voters are still flocking to polling precincts as of posting time, especially after several automated counting machines (ACMs) supplied by the Miru Systems joint venture broke down.

In March 2024, the Comelec and the South Korean firm Miru Systems Co. Ltd. inked an almost P18-billion contract to lease an automated election system for the 2025 midterm elections.

The contract, however, was scrutinized as Comelec was questioned about spending more funds when the Philippine government had already purchased vote-counting machines (VCMs).

READ: Rep Rodriguez backs Smartmatic’s advice on reuse of VCMs for 2025 polls

Comelec has opted not to reuse Smartmatic’s VCMs due to several issues in past elections, like the 2,000 VCMs bogged down during the 2022 presidential poll./mcm