Comelec weighs two options on 2016 polls

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) is looking at two options as it prepares for the 2016 elections—to renew its contract with Smartmatic or to look for a different service provider that will repair some 80,000 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines that were utilized in two previous national polls.

In an interview, Commissioner Lucenito Tagle on Monday said the Comelec’s steering committee is exploring these two options after its proposed budget of P25 billion for the 2016 elections was slashed to P10 billion.