PMO FOR THE 2025 NLE

◤
CONTINGENCY
PROCEDURES
DIRECTOR ESTER L. VILLAFLOR-ROXAS
Director IV/Head Executive Assistant
◤ ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
◤

GENERAL PROCEDURES (Sec. 4)

✔ Announcement by the Electoral Board (EB) or the Board of
Canvassers (BOC) – to promote transparency and avoid
suspicion by voters and watchers in the polling place/canvassing
venue, the EB/BOC Chairperson shall first announce the
problem, and the contingency procedures to be undertaken,
BEFORE performing the procedures.

✔ In all cases, contingency measures and procedures shall be

undertaken by the EBs/BOCs, in the presence of watchers, if
any, and shall be noted in the MINUTES
 CONTINGENCY
◤ PROCEDURES –
ELECTORAL BOARD
◤
FINAL TESTING
AND SEALING
 ◤
CHANGE OF DATE AND VENUE
Prior to Scheduled FTS – due to security and/or
practical reasons
▪ The Election Officer (EO) may transfer the venue
of the FTS
▪ in the nearest voting center

▪ subject to the approval of the Provincial

Election Supervisor (PES) or Regional Election
Director (RED) of NCR, Davao City and
Zamboanga City

FINAL TESTING AND SEALING

◤
CHANGE OF DATE AND VENUE
EO Notify the

▪ EB in writing of the date, time and place of the FTS

▪ not later than 3 days before the scheduled FTS
▪ Candidates, registered political parties, coalition or political
parties, associations or organizations participating in the
party-list system representation in the city or municipality, or
accredited citizens’ arm,
▪ by POSTING a notice of the date, time and place of FTS for
each clustered precinct
▪ in the bulletin boards of the OEO and of the city/municipal
hall
▪ at least 3 days before the schedule of the FTS
 ◤
CHANGE OF DATE AND VENUE
▪ On FTS Day – emergency change of venue for security and other
reasons
▪ The Electoral Board (EB) shall immediately INFORM the EO

▪ The EO shall RESET the date of the FTS the following day, or if not
possible, not later than the day before election day with notice to the PES or
the RED of NCR, Davao City and Zamboanga City

▪ The EO shall REPORT the change of date and venue to NTSC, as well as
the reasons for the rescheduling of the FTS

▪ The rescheduling shall be subject to proper NOTICE and POSTING of

announcements of the resetting of FTS within 24 hours prior to its conduct

▪ The EB shall RECORD in the MINUTES

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 ◤ ABSENT OR INCOMPLETE EB
▪ If only ONE (1) member of the EB fails to appear during FTS
▪ The other 2 members will CONTINUE with the conduct of FTS
▪ HOWEVER, if the absent member is the CHAIRMAN, one of the present members
shall be designated as the ACTING CHAIRMAN for purposes of the FTS

▪ If TWO (2) or ALL of the members of the EB fail to appear during FTS
▪ The DESO will INFORM the EO
▪ The EO will DETERMINE the reason/s for their absence
▪ If the EB has a VALID reason for their failure to appear, the FTS will be
RESCHEDULED to another day by the EO, subject to the rule on NOTICE within 24
hours if FTS will be conducted within 3 days before election day
▪ If the EB CANNOT be located or has NO VALID reason for their absence, EO shall
proceed with the SUBSTITUTION of EBs in accordance with Reso. 11076

FINAL TESTING AND SEALING

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ABSENT OR INCOMPLETE EB
▪ If TWO or MORE members of the EB manifests their LATE
ARRIVAL at their precinct
▪ This will be ANNOUNCED by the DESO at the precinct

▪ The EB shall PROCEED to conduct the FTS immediately upon their

arrival

FINAL TESTING AND SEALING

 ◤
DELAY OR NON-DELIVERY OF ACM

EB shall REPORT this matter to the EO through the fastest means available
▪ The EO shall verify in the list the ACM intended for the EB
▪ If NOT found – EO shall immediately CALL the Command Center to verify
the shipment and status of delivery
▪ If FOUND – EO shall DEPLOY the ACM to the EB
▪ In case the Command Center confirms that there is just a DELAY in the
delivery, EO shall determine if there is enough time to conduct FTS within the
day
▪ If YES – EB shall PROCEED with the activity upon arrival of the ACM and
complete the same
▪ If NOT – reset the date of the FTS

FINAL TESTING AND SEALING

 ◤
DELAY OR NON-DELIVERY OF ACM

▪ The resetting of the FTS by the EO to a date not later than election
day shall be subject to proper NOTICE to all parties mentioned in
Art. IV, Sec. 17 of Reso. 11076, and POSTING of announcements of
the new date of the FTS within 24 hours prior to its conduct
▪ In either of the above scenarios, the EB, EO and the DESO shall be
in coordination with each other towards the proper reporting to the
Command Center, the speedy delivery of the ACM needed or the
rescheduling of the FTS
▪ The EB shall record in the Minutes

FINAL TESTING AND SEALING

 ◤ LACKING SUPPLIES OR ITEMS
FTS ballots in the ACM case are less than 10 pieces but not less than 4
▪ EB shall NOTE in the Minutes
▪ PROCEED with FTS using the available ballots
Three (3) or less FTS ballots
▪ EB shall CALL the DESO TSS, who shall in turn, REPORT the same
to the NTSC
▪ EB shall likewise INFORM the EO of this incident
▪ EO shall MOVE the conduct of the FTS
▪ to election day before start of polls,
▪ with NOTICE to EB, political parties, candidates and accredited citizens’
arm

FINAL TESTING AND SEALING

 ◤ LACKING SUPPLIES OR ITEMS
Three (3) or less FTS ballots
▪ On election day before the start of the polls
▪ EB CONDUCT the FTS in accordance with the prescribed procedure and shall
UTILIZE the OFFICIAL BALLOTS in order to supplement the lacking ballots.
▪ Four ballots shall be used for conducting the FTS
▪ AFTER the conduct of FTS, EB shall -
▪ RETRIEVE all ballots from the ballot box
▪ MARK across the face of the ballots the phrase “FTS ballots”
▪ PLACE inside the Envelope for Counted Test Ballots, ERs and Other Reports
▪ The EB shall record this in the Minutes

FINAL TESTING AND SEALING

 ALL/MAJORITY OF EB
SMARTCARD SECURITY KEY
PINs/Re-ZERO PIN ARE
UNAVAILABLE/DENIED OR
MISSING AND/OR DEFECTIVE
◤
 ◤
▪ EB shall REPORT to the DESO-TSS

▪ DESO-TSS shall REPORT the matter to the NTSC and to

the EO
▪ NTSC will REFER the matter to the PMO Director

▪ PMO Director shall authorize the issuance of the Smartcard

Security Key/s to the EB
▪ NTSC will CONTACT Technical Hub to reconfigure the
complete set of the main peripherals of the Clustered
Precinct
▪ Technical Hub shall reconfigure smartcard security key/s

FINAL TESTING AND SEALING

 ◤

▪ Technical Hub will COORDINATE with the EO or any

authorized representative
▪ EO or authorized representative will RETRIEVE from the
technical hub the newly configured smartcard security key/s
as a replacement for the missing/defective ones
▪ Technical hub shall only release the specific replacement
smartcard security key/s and TURNOVER to the EO or to
the authorized representative
▪ EB shall now conduct the FTS

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 ▪ If◤ the new Smartcard Security Key
PINs/Re-zero PIN CANNOT BE ISSUED
WITHIN THE DAY, EO shall RESET the date
of the FTS with NOTICE to EB, political
parties, candidates and accredited citizens’
arms and to POST notice of the new
schedule of the FTS within 24 hours before
its conduct
▪ EB shall record this in the Minutes

FINAL TESTING AND SEALING

◤

ONE OR BOTH USB DEVICE/S (MAIN

OR BACKUP) IS/ARE
MISSING/DEFECTIVE
 ◤

▪ EB shall REPORT to the DESO-TSS

▪ DESO-TSS shall REPORT the matter to the NTSC and to the EO

▪ NTSC will DETERMINE if one/both USB device/s is/are missing

▪ IF ONE is missing/defective, NTSC shall -

▪ Determine the missing USB device and RECOMMEND to the PMO

Director the issuance of blank USB device

▪ INFORM the technical hub of the replacement of the missing USB

device

▪ CONFIRM with the EO and DESO-TSS on the availability of the USB

device for pick-up by the EO or authorized representative at the
technical hub

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• IF BOTH are missing/defective –

• NTSC shall determine the missing USB device and

RECOMMEND to the PMO Director the issuance of
blank USB devices

• EB shall BRING and TURNOVER the defective USB

device to the technical hub

• Upon receipt of the new blank USB devices, EB shall

CONNECT the same to the ACM and turn on the ACM

• ACM shall generate a request code which requires an

OTP
 ◤
BOTH USB DEVICES ARE CORRUPTED
OR DEFECTIVE
▪ EB shall INFORM NTSC of the request code

▪ NTSC shall provide the OTP

▪ Once the ACM validates the OTP, ACM shall sync

the data from the ACM memory into both of the
USB devices
▪ EB shall now conduct the FTS

▪ EB shall record this in the Minutes

FINAL TESTING AND SEALING

 ◤ BOTH USB DEVICE/S AND INTERNAL
MEMORY ARE DEFECTIVE
▪ EB shall report to the DESO TSS

▪ DESO-TSS shall report the problem to the NTSC

and EO
▪ NTSC shall determine if the USB devices and
internal memory are defective and recommend to
the PMO Director the issuance of new ACM

FINAL TESTING AND SEALING

 ◤ BOTH USB DEVICE/S AND INTERNAL
MEMORY ARE DEFECTIVE
▪ EO or authorized representative shall BRING the
ACM and its peripherals (ACM primary, 4 smartcard
security keys, 2 USB devices) to the technical hub
for reconfiguration
▪ Technical hub shall issue a new (contingency) ACM
and PERFORM the wipe-out process of the ACM
and the reconfiguration of the USB device/s and
smartcard security keys

FINAL TESTING AND SEALING

 ◤

BOTH USB DEVICE/S AND INTERNAL

MEMORY ARE DEFECTIVE

▪ EB shall now CONDUCT the FTS

▪ EB shall record this matter in the Minutes

FINAL TESTING AND SEALING

 ◤
OTHER ITEMS ARE LACKING INSIDE THE
ACM CASE
(Plug Adapter, ACM power cord, battery cable, rolls of thermal paper, checklist of the
contents of the ACM case, USB modem with sim cards, cleaning cloth, or marking pens)

▪ EB shall INFORM the EO of the lacking item/s

▪ PES or EO shall -
▪ OPEN one of the contingency ACM cases in the presence of
watchers, if any
▪ GET the items therein that are needed by the EB

▪ DELIVER the same to the EB within the day for the immediate
conduct of the FTS
▪ REPORT the same to the Command Center

▪ EB shall record this in the Minutes

FINAL TESTING AND SEALING

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DISCREPANCY IN ELECTION RETURN
(ER) AND MANUAL AUDIT
▪ EB shall SIGN the certification portion of both ERs and
COMPARE the results of the manually-prepared ER with that of
the machine-generated ER
▪ If results of both ERs are NOT the same, the EB shall –

▪ Perform BALLOT REVIEW to re-appreciate the marks of the

scanned ballots
▪ MANUALLY EXAMINE the physical ballots to re-appreciate the
shaded marks, if necessary

▪ If there is still discrepancy, EB shall CALL the DESO-TSS

FINAL TESTING AND SEALING

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DISCREPANCY IN ELECTION RETURN
(ER) AND MANUAL AUDIT
▪ DESO-TSS shall REPORT the discrepancy to the NTSC

▪ NTSC shall determine the cause of discrepancy based on the report of

the EB through the DESO-TSS
▪ If discrepancy is caused by defective ACM, NTSC shall RECOMMEND
to the PMO Director for the replacement of the defective ACM
▪ NTSC shall authorize the PES or EO to DEPLOY a contingency ACM in
their custody for immediate replacement
▪ PES or EO or authorized representative shall RETRIEVE the defective
ACM from the EB and bring it to the technical hub for repair

FINAL TESTING AND SEALING

 ◤
DISCREPANCY IN ELECTION RETURN
(ER) AND MANUAL AUDIT
▪ If contingency ACM CANNOT be delivered to the EB on the same
day, the EO shall RESET the date of the FTS on the following day;
or if not possible, the FTS shall be reset not later than the day
before election day with notice to the PES or RED of NCR, Davao
City and Zamboanga City
▪ EO shall notify the candidates, parties, coalition of political parties,
associations or organizations, participating in the party-list system
of representation in the city/municipality, or accredited citizens’
arms of the date of resetting
▪ EB shall record this in the Minutes

FINAL TESTING AND SEALING

 ◤

DEFECTIVE ACMS FOR REVERSE

LOGISTICS
▪ All ACMs that are declared defective
during the FTS shall be transported to their
designated technical hubs for repair

FINAL TESTING AND SEALING

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DEFECTS OR MALFUNCTION
DETECTED DURING DIAGNOSTICS
▪ EB shall CALL the DESO-TSS who shall take note of the
defect/malfunction
▪ DESO-TSS shall CALL the NTSC to report

▪ NTSC shall DETERMINE the cause of the malfunction and

the appropriate procedures to be undertaken
▪ If the defect/malfunction persists, NTSC shall RECOMMEND
to the PMO Director the replacement of the ACM or
reconfiguration of the USB device, as the case may be

FINAL TESTING AND SEALING

 DEFECTS OR MALFUNCTION DETECTED
◤
DURING DIAGNOSTICS
▪ If contingency ACM or reconfigured USB device CANNOT
be delivered to the EB on the same day, the EO shall
RESET the date of the FTS on the following day; or if not
possible, the FTS shall be reset not later than the day before
election day with notice to the PES or RED of NCR, Davao
City and Zamboanga City
▪ EO shall notify the candidates, parties, coalition of political
parties, associations or organizations, participating in the
party-list system of representation in the city/municipality, or
accredited citizens’ arms of the date of resetting
▪ EB shall record this in the Minutes
FINAL TESTING AND SEALING