MANILA, Philippines (1st UPDATE) - Poll automation supplier Smartmatic-TIM and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) expects to complete the configuration of all 76,347 compact flash cards on Friday afternoon.

In a joint press conference, Smartmatic and Comelec officials announced that the configuration of flash cards for Visayas and Mindanao have all been completed.

Smartmatic said they have configured a total of 18,202 cards for Mindanao, and 17,077 cards for Visayas.

As of 7 a.m., only 1,100 cards for Metro Manila have been configured; 13,327 for North Luzon; 11,485 for South Luzon.

The total number of flash cards configured as of Friday noon has reached 67,000.

Smartmatic-TIM said it will be able to complete the configuration of the remaining 9,347 flash cards by 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Friday.

With this assurance, the Comelec said that there is no need to print additional forms for manual counting.

As part of the Comelec's contingency plan, it printed election returns, statement of votes and certificates of canvass for a 30% manual counting of votes.

The Comelec also announced that since nearly all Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines have been deployed, even those alloted for far-flung areas, the country's first ever nationwide automated elections will push through.

Voting will start nationwide at 7 a.m. on May 10.

Cesar Flores, president of Smartmatic southeast Asia, earlier said that around 90% of all the configured compact flash cards will be arriving in various municipalities by Saturday.

Comelec ordered a nationwide recall of all flash cards of the PCOS machines after the machines failed to read votes cast for local candidates during field testing on Monday.

Smartmatic-TIM started the configuration of new flash cards on Wednesday morning.

Smartmatic spokesman Gene Gregorio, meanwhile, announced over ABS-CBN's Umagang Kay Ganda that the nationwide distribution of more than 80,000 PCOS machines is almost complete.

More than 76,000 PCOS machines will be used during the May 10 automated elections.

Gregorio said they have deployed an additional of 6,000 units in strategic areas around the country in case some of the PCOS machines fail.

He said that as soon as all new flash cards have been configured and deployed to all the polling centers, Comelec and Smartmatic-TIM will conduct the final testing and sealing of the PCOS machines.

Successful tests

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez also announced over ANC's Headstart that all field tests conducted in Metro Manila were successful.

"Everyone was expecting that there would be some problems and there were none. Everything went well," Jimenez said.

He added: "Basically what happened was that we found the problem, we solved the problem. All what's left is to spread the solution throughout the country."

Comelec Commissioner Armando Velasco admitted in an interview on ABS-CBN's Umagang Kay Ganda that they are working within a very tight timetable.

Velasco admitted that some compact flash cards may not be delivered on time, but the Comelec remains confident that the May 10 elections will be successful.

He said they are confident they will be able to implement 100% automated voting since almost all the PCOS machines have been deployed in polling precincts.

However, he said some places may revert to manual counting because of some problems with transmission.

"The possible problem that we may encounter is the transmission," Velasco said.