BUTUAN CITY – The Caraga Region needs some 2,145 Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines for its five provinces, and six cities for the May 2010 national and local elections, it was learned Saturday.

Caraga Region is comprised of the provinces of Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, and Dinagat Islands, and the cities of Butuan, Bislig, Surigao, Tandag, Bayugan, and Cabadbaran.

The PCOS machines will be needed at the 2,135 total clustered precincts for a total of 1,310 barangays (villages) throughout the region.

Meanwhile, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said the exact date for the distribution of the PICOS machines are yet to be known. ”We are not yet certain on the exact date,” said a Comelec official who requested anonymity.

In a related development, the Caraga Region office of Comelec said the number of registered voters for the 2010 elections in Northeastern Mindanao reached 1,378,132.

The Comelec said the number of registered voters up to the present went up by 11.29 percent from the 1,238,327 registered voters in the 2007 local and national elections.

Agusan del Sur topped the five other provinces with 325,642 registered voters, up 17.20 percent from 277,840 in 2007.
This is followed by Surigao del Sur with 335,492 voters, up by 10.97 percent from 302,323.

Surigao del Norte with 288,653 or 10.28 percent higher than 261,736 in 2007 elections; Agusan del Norte with 357,992 or 8.12 percent from 330,996; and Dinagat Islands Province with 70,353 or 7.42 percent higher.

Meanwhile, the Comelec said there are at least four gun ban violators apprehended by combined police and military forces in Region 10, adding up to the 22 arrests as of last January 25.

The latest statistics from Police Regional Office 10 (PRO 10) also showed a total of 19 firearms, four bladed weapons, and two grenades confiscated at various checkpoints which are strategically conducted all over the region as the 150-day gun ban entered its fifteenth day this year.

Consolidated reports covering the period January 10 to 24, 2010 showed that the total number of checkpoints has reached 724 in various locations.