BOARD OF ELECTION INSPECTORs TRAINING

In preparation of the 2016 elections the Commission on Elections in the Province of Romblon conducted a series of trainings for the public school teachers who will serve as members of the Board of Election Inspectors.

The series of training comprising two (2) days per batch started February 29 until it ended last March 22, 2016. 100% of the teachers gained complete training.

The highlight of the training include lectures on the role of the BEI before, during and after elections and the overview and actual operation of the new Vote Counting Machine (VCM). The new features of the VCM compared to the Precinct Count Optical Scan Machine (PCOS) used in the 2010 and 2013 elections.

Section 3 of Republic Act No. 9369 provides, that: "where AES shall be adopted, at least one member of the Board of Election Inspector shall be an information technology-capable person, who is trained or certified by the DOST to use AES. Such certification shall be issued by the DOST. 

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) conducted the written and practical examination for each participants pertaining to the operation, features/functions of the Vote Counting Machine (VCM). Each public school teachers who completed the training undergoes certification process by the DOST. A certification means that the members of the Board of Election Inspectors are ready to operate the VCM on May 09, 2016 National and Local Elections.

After the training the teacher was equipped with more knowledge to efficiently man their polling precinct on election day. Some of their comments is that "VCM is more users-friendly", "easier than PCOS" and "VCM runs smoothly."

The training for the public school teacher as member of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) is supervised by the Comelec and DOST.

The two (2) day training provided free accomodation and travel allowances.

However, in view of the Supreme Court ruling for voter's receipt issuance which was not part of their training, the Commission on Election En Banc and the Project Management Office authorizes the conduct of refresher training of the members of the BEI in city/municipal level before the conduct of the Final Testing and Sealing of the machine.

New instructional materials concerning the voter's receipt  and its associated process as applied to the voting exercise will be issued.
   
The trained Board of Election Inspectors will undergo refresher course to make sure that they will receive the proper training, Comelec said.