The Department of Education (DepEd) Teachers Union insisted that the Smartmatic contract must be terminated due to the countless malfunction issues with their vote counting machines (VCMs).
Cynthia Villarin, president of the DepEd Teachers Union – NCR, emphasized that removing Smartmatic machines from the country's elections is essential to ease the hardships teachers face during every election.
“Natatakot ang mga guro na gumamit na naman ng mga makinang palyado na kami lang din naman ang mahihirapan," Villarin said during a press conference on Thursday.
According to the group, it would be better to use different machines and follow the Supreme Court's decision to use new VCMs.
Remis Mariñas, Regional President of the DTU in Visayas, supported Villarin's statement and said that teachers struggled with Smartmatic machines, and many have been complaining about them.
The group explained that during the 2022 elections, around 1,800 machines malfunctioned, affecting approximately 1.1 million voters.
Furtermore, the group doesn’t have specific preference on which company must be chosen for the election contract, as long as it is not Smartmatic, which has been a source of persistent problems and frustration.
