The Commission on Elections Monday said it is worried over the possibility of Smartmatic-TIM Corporation not being able to deliver the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines on time for the May 2010 elections.

“Dahil nga na-delay tayo dun sa kaso… hindi ba sinabi natin (to Smartmatic-TIM) na huwag muna kayo mag-deliver, baka talo tayo… one month din yun. Ang sabi naman ng Smartmatic-TIM, they can do it. But until I see it, I’m worried,” said Comelec Chairman Jose Melo.

“… Iyan yung isa sa mga nakakagising ng hating-gabi,” added Melo.

The poll chief was referring to the case filed by the Concerned Citizens Movement (CCM) in the Supreme Court seeking to nullify the P7.2 billion poll automation contract between the Comelec and Smartmatic-TIM last August.

Aside from the 82,000 PCOS machines needing to be delivered on time, Melo said, the machines still need to be tested also.

“They have to be tested pa. E kung kunyari dumating yung 82,000 tapos hindi naman talaga na-test, all of those have to be tested… do we go partial manual, partial automated?” he said.

This, Melo said, is also one of the reasons why they have decided to send a two-man team to Shanghai to personally observe the manufacturing of the PCOS machines next month.

“The devil is in the detail. Yung mga machines kaya nagpapapunta tayo sa Shanghai because I want to be sure that the machines will come on time,” he said.

Based on the Comelec timeline, some 42,000 machines are set to be delivered next month while the remaining 40,000 are expected on February.