With only 100 days left before the May 10, 2010 elections, the militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) expressed concern Saturday that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and Smartmatic may not be able to efficiently run the first automated elections in the country after “lapses” were observed during the field test in Pateros last Friday.

Bayan observed the field test of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines at the Aguho Elementary School in Pateros, which include the scanning of ballots by the PCOS machines and the transmission of election results to the municipal canvassers and the Comelec’s central server.

“There were many defects in the machines and there were lapses in the system. The Comelec and Smartmatic people seemed ill-prepared to cope with the problems,” Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes Jr. said.

The group observed that the PCOS machine failed to read four out of 10 valid ballots, resulting in a 40 percent failure rate.

“No satisfactory and definitive explanation was available from both the Comelec and Smartmatic personnel present at the test,” Reyes said.

“The ballots were not crumpled and appeared to be in good condition. The Comelec official present could not give an answer as to what will happen to a voter if his/her valid ballot is not read by the machine. Under the new rules, a voter cannot be given a new ballot since the number of ballots per precinct corresponds to the exact number of voters,” he added.

It was also observed that there were difficulties in Internet connection both from the precinct and the municipal board of canvassers (MBOC).

The MBOC relied on GPRS and had to change SIM cards when it could not get a stable connection.

“Why did it not use the existing stable Internet connection at the municipal hall?” Reyes asked.

“The precinct meanwhile had to try three different SIM cards and two modems in several attempts to transmit results. Only the transmission to the MBOC proved successful. This was after almost two hours of trying. It appears that the Smartmatic survey on signal strength was either not thorough or was not considered by the technicians who were setting up the system. The two-hour delay could have been avoided had they known which telco, if any, had the best signal at that area,” he said.

The group said that failing to transmit data after using the three SIM cards, a shift to satellite technology was authorized.

“The Smartmatic technician seemed ill-prepared to set up the Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN) satellite device. The transition from GPRS to BGAN did not run smoothly as the technician, not prepared to set up the BGAN, had to get instructions over the phone. The worst scene was when he was trying to get a random signal around the school grounds by holding the device above his head,” Reyes said.

He said it took three hours to transmit data using different systems.

He said the BGAN device was the second to the last option.

“The Smartmatic technician said the satellite device will only be deployed in areas where signal is weak, such as far-flung provinces. He was not sure if such a device will also be deployed in highly urbanized areas where cell site signals are strongest. The failed transmission was in Pateros, a part of Metro Manila,” Reyes pointed out.

“Problems during field tests are understandable. What is alarming is that there seems to be very little time to fix these problems. Even more alarming is the attitude displayed by Comelec and Smartmatic that everything is on track. No real contingencies have been put in place,” he said.

Bayan also reiterated the call by election watchdogs to properly test and certify the machines to avoid the problems encountered in Aguho Elementary School where four valid ballots were not read.