Comelec chairman George Garcia (File photo)
MANILA – Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman George Garcia on Wednesday said the Miru Systems is ready to deliver the 110,000 automated counting machines (ACMs) for the 2025 mid-term elections.
Garcia made the remark after he and other Comelec officials visited on Monday the facilities of Miru, a South Korean firm contracted to provide the automated technology for next year’s polls.
“Kuntento at satisfied ang Comelec sa nakikita namin so far. Hindi po tayo nagkamali nung nabigay natin ang award kay Miru (The Comelec is satisfied with what we see so far. We did not make a mistake when we gave the award to Miru),” Garcia said in a statement.
Last Feb. 22, the Comelec awarded the full automation system with transparency audit/count (FASTrAC) project to the joint venture of Miru Systems Co. Ltd., Integrated Computer Systems, St. Timothy Construction Corporation, and Centerpoint Solutions Technologies, Inc. (MIRU-ICS-STCC-CPSTI).
Garcia thanked the South Korean company for showing the Comelec team how the manufacturing will be done. Miru Systems was the lone bidder for the lease of FASTrAC project worth PHP17.9 billion.
“Napatunayan natin na ang Miru talaga ay isang manufacturing company ng mga automated counting machines dahil nakita natin lahat ng mga makina na ginawa nila at ginamit para sa ibang bansa (We have proven that Miru is actually a manufacturing company of automated counting machines because we have seen all the machines they made and use for other countries),” he said.
“Nakita din namin na handang-handa sila na talagang ideliver sa atin yung 110,000 machines na kakailanganin natin sapagkat on-time at yung timeline nila ay sadyang sinusunod. Nakita din natin kung gaano kagaling ang kanilang mga technicians at engineers habang ginagawa nila ang makina (We also saw that they are ready to actually deliver to us the 110,000 machines that we will need because they are on-time and their timeline is being followed. We also saw how good their technicians and engineers are while they are building the machine),” he added.
Miru officials headed by chief executive officer Jin-Bok Chung and vice president for Overseas Sales Ken Cho welcomed the Comelec officials and other stakeholders.
“We are honored to welcome Comelec Chair George Garcia, Commissioners Nelson Celis and Aimee Ferolino, and all other important stakeholders from the Philippines to oversee these early stages of production,” Cho said.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for us to show the status of the ongoing customization of the machines according to the needs of the Filipino people to all stakeholders, including the Philippine Computer Society, KBP (Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas), and other media friends,” he added.
Chung said they decided to open their plant to the media to prove that “we have nothing to hide.”
“That’s why we wanted to show and open our processes to everyone involved for this project,” Chung said. “We would like to minimize any suspicions that anyone might have regarding our productions. We want to be fair and transparent from the beginning.” (PNA)
