PPCRV on party-list fraud claim: Connectivity was issue, not data
There have been “issues” during the conduct of quick count during the recently concluded May 9 general polls specifically in the party-list race, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) said on Monday.
“Our screens are networked. There was a networking connectivity issue rather than the data. The data [were] always correct. It’s just the connectivity issue that is why the ones projected on the screen were wrong,” PPCRV Communications and Media Director Ana de Villa Singson said.
Earlier, the Confederation of Non-Stock Savings and Loan Associations, Inc. (CONSLA) party-list asked PPCRV to explain the discrepancy in the votes it received.
READ: Party-list group says vote fraud clear
In its letter-complaint, CONSLA noted how the PPCRV quick count, which was sourced from the transparency server, showed on May 9 that they already have 342,513 votes.
The next day, the party-list group noted that the PPCRV tally showed they already have 523,753 votes at 11 a.m. and 555,896 votes by 12 p.m. to occupy rank 14 in the tally.
The said results were posted on the Twitter feed of the PCCRV which became the basis of the complaint by CONSLA.
Buhay party-list supported CONSLA. Its member Arnold Arriola issued a sworn affidavit confirming that at or around 10:40 p.m. last May 9, he was able to take photographs of the partial and unofficial votes for party-list groups generated by the PPCRV quick count.
READ: Buhay backs party-list call on Comelec to probe vote manipulation
Arriola’s photos show CONSLA garnered 342,513 votes from 68,626 clustered precincts.
The same photo also shows that CONSLA ranked 17th among 115 contending party-list organizations with the stage of completion of transmissions stated to be at 74.18 percent.
From thereon, CONSLA party-list garnered more votes as the quick count progressed.
However, CONSLA questioned how Comelec’s own canvassing results showed that they only garnered a total of 213,814 votes.
Singson said after learning about the issues, they already worked on correcting the figures being projected on their screen.
“That only happened for a short period of time. And when we found out, we fixed it right away… we had to do adjustments to the script of the party-list,” Singson said.
PPCRV Chairperson Henrietta de Villa expressed their readiness to explain before the Comelec or any other body that will probe the issues raised by CONSLA.
“I will let the IT explain… if they want some certification and we will give it,” de Villa said.
In any case, Singson and de Villa both stressed that their quick count is only partial and unofficial as compared to the Comelec’s officially canvassed results. RAM
