MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is aiming to award contracts for the Online Voting and Counting System (OVCS) and Secure Electronic Transmission Services (SETS) before the end of the year as part of preparations for the 2028 national elections, Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said.

In a report, Garcia disclosed the plan during the Stakeholders Forum and Presentation of OVCS and SETS in Manila.

“Makapag-award tayo nang hindi ilalampas ang July at pinaka-latest first week ng August. O kaya naman, depende pa kasi minsan nakikaran ng failure of bidding. Kapag failure of bidding, tatlong buwan ulit,” Garcia said.

“So sinasabi natin at least man lang makapag-award tayo bago matapos ang taon na ito para sa OVCS at transmission so that ang counting machines masimula natin sa pagdating ng August at magco-procure na rin kami,” he added.

He said Comelec is exploring procurement strategies that would allow early procurement activities even before budget approval, a process he noted has not been done previously.

“Ang plano naming strategy ngayon, which is hindi pa ginawa before, kung ang kailangan nating machines ay 130,000, magpapadeliver muna kami sa middle of 2027 next year ng mga 10,000,” Garcia said.

This approach, he said, would allow the poll body to test voting machines under stress and temperature conditions before full deployment.

Comelec said the testing phase would help assess machine performance and reliability ahead of nationwide use.

The poll body also confirmed that overseas internet voting will continue despite a petition challenging the system.

“As far as we’re concerned, as of this time, tuloy na tuloy ang internet voting para sa mga kababayan natin abroad,” Garcia said.

He added that Comelec had received a Supreme Court resolution directing the poll body and the Department of Foreign Affairs to submit comments on a motion to intervene in a pending case questioning online overseas voting.

“Willing naman kaming i-defend ang ating naging posisyon na sinasabi ng Comelec na mismo ang batas ay nag-authorize kay Comelec na pumunta sa ibang modes of voting,” he said.

“At the same time, gusto naming i-presenta rin sa Supreme Court na naging magandang outcome ng internet voting natin at lalong-lalong ang pinagmamalaki naming 100% na nag-tally ang result ng internet at ang manually counted results ng boto ng ating mga kababayan,” he added.

The motion to intervene was filed by the National People’s Initiative Council Committee and God’s People’s Initiative in connection with a petition lodged by PDP-Laban in June 2025.

The intervenors are asking the Supreme Court to compel the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee (JCOC) to act on the use of the Miru system for elections and to investigate firms involved in overseas voting technology over alleged non-compliance with voter-verifiable paper audit trail requirements.