PR-020-2022
(6 April 2022, Singapore) The Philippine Embassy in Singapore conducted the Final Testing and Sealing (FTS) of the Vote Counting Machines (VCMs) that will be used for the 2022 Philippine National Elections, which will run from 10 April 2022 to 9 May 2022. The FTS was held on 5 April 2022 at the Philippine Embassy grounds.
Before Embassy personnel, poll watchers and observers, Philippine Ambassador to Singapore H.E. Joseph del Mar Yap stated that the FTS is an essential part of the election preparation because it is a transparent process that eliminates the chances for impropriety and limits the possibility of electoral fraud. He added that, “Transparent procedures promote public confidence and trust in the electoral system. And trust in the electoral process is the solid foundation of a real democracy.”
The FTS aims to ensure that all Secure Digital (SD) cards that will be used in the VCMs, have been zeroed or cleared of all data. During the FTS, members of the Embassy’s Special Board of Election Inspectors (SBEI) conducted an end-to-end test of the process – from the initialization of the machines to the voting, feeding of the accomplished ballots to the VCMs, and until the printing of election returns. At the conclusion of every test, the VCMs were “re-zeroed”, i.e., reset to its initial state, voiding any entry previously inputted. After the final FTS process, the VCMs were sealed, stored and secured, and will not be opened again until the start of the elections on 10 April 2022.
There are 83,229 Filipino registered voters in Singapore. Further information on the Philippine overseas voting is available in the Embassy’s official website https://www.philippine-embassy.org.sg/ and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/PHinSingapore.
Thank you.