A cargo ship carrying 36 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines and other equipment for the automated elections is about to dock at the port of Basco, Batanes.
The ship MV Savers of the Batanes Multi-Purpose Cooperative sailed from Manila for two days, before it reached this island more than 800 kilometers away at past 11 am on Tuesday.
Local officials and representatives of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Smartmatic, the forwarding firm Ace Logistics, the Philippine Coast Guard, and the Philippine National Police are expected to supervise the unloading of the machines and then escort them from the port to a temporary warehouse.
The equipment will be stored at a room in a local school before they are taken to polling centers three days before May 10. The provincial election supervisor of Batanes said the warehouse will be secured all day and night.
Security is not a problem, he said, because the town is small and all vital installations like the provincial police office, the municipal hall, and the provincial capitol are near the warehouse.
Out of the 36 machines, only 30 will actually be deployed. Six of them are emergency or spare machines which will be used if any of those deployed breaks down or malfunctions.
As of posting, the MV Savers was still queuing a couple of kilometers from the sea port, waiting for a ship ahead of it to unload its stuff before it unloads the machines and other cargo.
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