MANILA, Philippines - Commission on Elections (Comelec) contractor Smartmatic-TIM on Sunday said that all of the 82,200 precinct-count optical scanner (PCOS) machines to be used for the May 10 polls are now in the country.

In a statement, Smartmatic-TIM said the last 13,580 PCOS machine units have arrived at the International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) on Saturday, completing the required number of machines for the polls.

"We are proud to announce that all the PCOS machines are already in the Philippines, and the implementation calender is being kept as planned," Smartmatic Asia Pacific president Cesar Flores said.

The shipment arrived in two batches: 7,200 units arrived aboard a Yan Ming vessel (YMLU4831562) at 7 a.m. Saturday, followed by 6,380 units in a Wan Hai vessel (WHLU4082939).

"This latest delivery means that all the 76,000 precincts all over the Philippines will each get a PCOS machine, with another 6,000 spare machines on standby,” Flores said, adding that “We reiterate our commitment to the Filipino people: the automation system will provide fast and accurate elections."

Original delivery schedule

In the original plan of the poll automation schedule, Smartmatic-TIM was supposed to deliver the poll counting machines in two batches: 12,000 machines in November 2009 followed by a second delivery of 30,000 machines in December.

However, the first delivery arrived in the last week of December, with just 7,200 machines.

Smartmatic-TIM has repeatedly blamed the delays on a Petition for Certiorari filed before the Supreme Court by automation critic Concerned Citizen's Movement which was decided by the high court in September.

Smartmatic President for Asia Pacific said that while the SC did not issue a Temporary Restraining Order, the Comelec became cautious as far as spending was concerned.

Both COMELEC and the automation vendor have also invoked Section 7.1 Article 7 of the automation contract which states that while the schedules and milestones stipulated are treated as strict guidelines and binding on both parties, it "may be modified by mutual agreement in accordance with the demands of the Project for the purpose of ensuring its timely and successful implementation."

The last reason Smartmatic-TIM gave for the delays was the heavy shipment traffic during the holiday season.

In December of last year, during an inspection conducted by the COMELEC of the PCOS production line at the Qisda warehouse in Suzhou, China, Smartmatic-TIM declared it will deliver all 82,200 by February 21, 2010 or 6 days ahead of the Febrjuary 28 deadline stipulated in the contract, but this was not met.

This time, the vendor said shipping schedule was the issue, not the production line in China which already completed all 82,200 machines by February 8. With reports from Ina Reformina, ABS-CBN News