Starlink units used in May polls to be donated to DepEd schools – Comelec
Commission on Elections chairman George Erwin Garcia answers questions during a press conference at Manila Hotel’s Tent City on Friday, May 16, 2025. (NOY MORCOSO / INQUIRER.net)
MANILA, Philippines — The Starlink communications equipment used in the midterm elections will be donated to schools under the Department of Education (DepEd), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said on Wednesday.
Comelec chairman George Erwin Garcia gave the information as he guested at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay media forum in Manila.
Garcia said some 8,000 units of Starlink were procured by iOne Resources through its joint venture with Ardent Networks, Inc.
The devices were brought to select areas nationwide during May 12 polls.
“It is now being collected lest they become missing because it has been installed on the roof of classrooms,” Garcia said in Filipino.
“And yesterday, we talked about it. [They say] it will push through – their donation,” he noted.
READ: Mock polls: Sulu fastest transmitter of results, Starlink plays role
Aside from this plan, Garcia told the company that the municipal Comelec offices can also use some of the Starlink equipment.
“We are still talking about the process because, we told them, it’s okay to donate it to DepEd. We are very supportive,” Garcia said.
“But we ask them, since Comelec only needs a few [Starlink units] because we have areas where there is no signal, if they could donate some to us, especially those in the municipal board of canvassers,” he recalled the poll body’s suggestion.
The Starlink devices were installed in polling precincts or classrooms where internet connectivity was weak, so that the transmission of results from the automated counting machines would remain stable.
Before these units became available, election facilitators in the past had no choice but to manually upload the election returns from the old precinct count optical scan machines when internet connection was problematic./apl/abc
