PAGADIAN CITY – Public school teachers in Zamboanga del Sur and Pagadian City who will
serve as members of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) have already been equipped
with the knowledge and capacities in operating the Precinct Count Optical Scan
(PCOS) machines and are now ready to serve in the May 13, 2013 automated
elections.
This was declared by city election
supervisor Atty. Dinah C. Sapong in an exclusive interview with the Philippine
Information Agency (PIA) during the training for the last batch of more than
3,000 public school teachers on April 3-4 at Chandler Suites here.
“The participants were also given
lectures on the guidelines and general instructions governing the conduct of
the midterm elections, and basic PCOS operations like the switching on and off of
the machine,” she explained.
Sapong said a training for PCOS
technicians was also conducted to give support and technical assistance to the
BEIs during the elections.
The city election supervisor also
disclosed that after the training, the participants underwent both written and
practical exams administered by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)
for them to qualify not only as certified BEIs but certified PCOs operators as
well.
“Those who failed the exam would be
immediately replaced. That’s how strict the training was,” Sapong declared.
Unlike in the previous automated
elections, the training for PCOs technicians is now being conducted by COMELEC
after it was given authority by the national government to handle the technical
aspect.
The trainers were composed mostly of
municipal elections officers and some election assistants in the province who
were trained by the COMELEC personnel department during the regional pool of trainers’
training held on Feb. 26-March 5 in Zamboanga City.
“I am optimistic that the BEIs can
perform their roles effectively and help ensure the smooth conduct of the
elections,” Sapong concluded. (PIA9)