BAGUIO CITY – Some three thousand four hundred seventy-one members of the board of election inspectors in the different parts of the Cordillera were certified as competent by the regional office of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-CAR) to operate the automated counting machines (ACMs) for the upcoming May 12, 2025 mid-term elections.
DOST-Car regional director Dr. Nancy A. Bantog said that the aforesaid number represents 77.84 percent of the required 4,459 BEI members who will be tapped by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to manage the conduct of the elections in the different clustered polling precincts under the automated election system.
She pointed out that it is the poll body that conducts the training for prospective BEI members while it is the DOST that certifies as to their competence to operate the ACMs that will be assigned in the polling precincts.
The DOST-CAR official disclosed that BEI members from Abra and Benguet are still undergoing the certification process by the agency that is why there is still a gap between the number of assigned BEIs to those who had already been given the competency certification.
Bantog stipulated that the average rating of those that passed the certification process is around 93 percent as they have to pass both the theoretical and practical examinations to be certified as competent to operate the ACMs.
Earlier, the Comelec tapped the DOST to certify as competent the members of the BEI who will be operating the ACMs in the upcoming mid-term elections to ensure a clean, honest, orderly and peaceful conduct of the said political exercise.
Under existing Comelec rules, each clustered polling precinct must have at least one certified by the DOST as competent to handle the operation of the ACMs that will be deployed by the poll body for the upcoming polls.
The regional director explained that the BEI members must get a rating of 70 percent to be able to pass the theoretical examination but they must be able to pass the practical examination to be able to be certified as competent.
Under the practical examination, the BEI member must know how to fill out the forms and subsequently operate the ACMs to be qualified to be part of the board for the upcoming polls to avoid controversies that may transpire during the conduct of the elections.
According to her, those who failed the certification process can re-take the same until such time that they will pass both examinations to be able to be part of the BEI during the conduct of the elections.
However, for those who are not able to pass the examination despite several attempts, Bantog clarified that they can be re-assigned to other clustered precincts within the polling center, especially that the rules provide that for every clustered precinct, there must be at least one certified competent to handle the operation of the assigned ACM.
She expressed hope that all the BEI members in the region will be certified as competent soonest considering that the certification process is underway in the different provincial offices of the agency in close coordination with the Comelec. By Dexter A. See
