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CONTINGENCY
PROCEDURES
TRAINING OF ELECTORAL BOARDS 2025
DANTE B. SARMIENTO
CMT 1
z ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
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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
z PROCEDURES –
ELECTORAL BOARD
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AND SEALING
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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)
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CHANGE OF DATE AND VENUE
EO will 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
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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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z 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
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proceed with the SUBSTITUTION of EBs in accordance with Reso. 11076
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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
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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
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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
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z 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
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z 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
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ALL/MAJORITY OF EB
SMARTCARD SECURITY KEY
PINs/Re-ZERO PIN ARE
UNAVAILABLE/DENIED OR
MISSING AND/OR DEFECTIVE
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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
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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
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ONE OR BOTH USB DEVICE/S (MAIN
OR BACKUP) IS/ARE
MISSING/DEFECTIVE
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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
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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
z 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
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z 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
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BOTH USB DEVICE/S AND INTERNAL
MEMORY ARE DEFECTIVE
EB shall now CONDUCT the FTS
EB shall record this matter in the Minutes
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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
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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
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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
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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
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DEFECTIVE ACMS FOR REVERSE
LOGISTICS
All ACMs that are declared defective
during the FTS shall be transported to their
designated technical hubs for repair
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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
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DEFECTS OR MALFUNCTION DETECTED
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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
