MANILA, Philippines?The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will hold a second field testing of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines on Friday, an official said Wednesday.

The second field testing of the poll machines will be done to allow members of the joint congressional oversight committee on poll automation and several organizations to observe the conduct of the field test, said Comelec commissioner and steering committee head for automation Gregorio Larrazabal.

The second field testing of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines will be held in at least four polling precincts in Taguig and Pateros, which is accessible for the observers and the media, the executive added.

?We will conduct the second field test to allow interested parties to observe the process in which we test the automated counting of the votes and especially the transmission of the results from the polling precincts to the municipal or city, provincial and national board of canvassers and the canvassing servers for political parties, poll watchdogs and the media,? said Larrazabal.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the field test aims to simulate the automation stages on Election Day and to allow the poll body to improve the system by identifying the public cellular network or mobile satellite technology that would ?best fit? the polling precincts.

?Based on the field test we held Wednesday, the overall system works and we had the electronic transmission done. However, it is still crucial that we test the satellite coverage in some areas like in some parts of the South where cellular network infrastructure are not available,? said Jimenez.

On Wednesday, Comelec and automation partner Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) held the first field test in ten polling precincts and nine canvassing centers in Benguet, Cebu, South Cotabato, Pateros, Taguig and Naga City.