THREE barangays are set to host the pilot testing of the use of the automated election system during the October 30 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections (BSKE), the Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced yesterday.
In a statement, the Comelec said two barangays in Dasmariñas City, Cavite and one barangay in the sixth district of Quezon City have been selected as pilot areas for the automated BSKE.
“The Commission en banc (approved) the pilot testing of the automated elections system (AES) in two barangays (Barangays Zone II Poblacion and Paliparan III) of Dasmariñas City, Cavite, and in one barangay (Barangay Pasong Tamo) in the 6th district of Quezon City for the October 30, 2023 BSKE,” said Elections spokesman John Rex Laudiangco.
He said the choice of participating barangays in the pilot testing was the outcome of the hearing conducted by the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms last Tuesday.
“That was part of our commitments to (Cavite, 4th District) Cong. (Elpidio) Barzaga and (Quezon City, 6th District) Cong. (Ma. Victoria) Co-Pilar during the said hearing,” said Laudiangco.
Data provided by the Comelec showed that the three barangays have a total of 84,100 barangay voters and 27,817 youth voters.
The pilot testing will involve 227 clustered precincts located in seven voting centers.
Given that the AES is set for pilot testing, Laudiangco said they may need to adopt changes in the setting of the Calendar of Activities for the BSKE.
He said the filing of Certificates of Candidacy will have to be held earlier in view of the need to print the names of the candidates in the machine-readable official ballots.
The poll official said the election period may remain the same, with the exception of the pilot tested barangays.
Aside from the operational impact of the pilot testing, Laudiangco said they will also take note of its financial viability.
In a related development, the Comelec en banc has approved the use of the ballots printed with “December 5, 2022 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections” during the October 30 polls.
This means that 16,027,280 barangay ballots and 5,958,931 SK ballots bearing the old layout will be used in the forthcoming BSKE.
The said ballots are those for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Caraga, Soccsksargen, Davao Region, Northern Mindanao, Zamboanga Peninsula, and the province of Batanes.
To recall, the Comelec already started printing the official ballots before the December 5, 2022 was pushed back to October 30, 2023 via Republic Act No. 11935.
