CABARROGUIS, Quirino, March 8 (PIA) –The Commission on Elections (Comelec) here has started the training for teachers who will be serving in the May 13 automated polls to acquaint them with the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines.

The series of training which will run from March 8-21 will be conducted at Villa Diana Hotel, Cordon, Isabela and will be attended by the teachers comprising the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs).

The training will be led by Atty. Erwin Valeroso, former provincial election supervisor here along with Election officers George Urata and Teresa Flor Llopis who will serve as lecturers.

After the training, each of the teachers or BEIs will be certified by representatives from the Department of Science and Technology, as technologically capable to use the machines.

Earlier, Atty. Manuel Castillo, provincial election supervisor said they encountered some problems during the first automated elections in 2010 especially in transmitting of election results and he doesn’t want a repeat of those problems so they will see to it that all PCOS operators will be fully equipped with the necessary technical skills.

In the province there are around 356 teachers who will serve as BEIs in the 178 clustered polling precincts in the whole province.

Prior to the conduct of training here, the pool of trainers composed of provincial election supervisors and election officers as well as board of certifiers underwent intensive training at the Comelec regional office in Tuguegarao City last week.

Meanwhile, a municipal election officer said that some of them might be reassigned to other provinces. This is to avoid suspicion that these election officers have developed close relations with the politicians in their areas having been assigned there for a long time.