Delay in transmittal of votes raises doubts, says Pangilinan

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Francis Pangilinan has slammed the delay in the transmittal of votes to the Commission on Election (Comelec) transparency servers, saying it raises doubts on the election results.

Pangilinan, campaign manager of the Otso Diretso slate, explained Monday night that the long silence from Comelec officials only adds speculations about a possible cover-up.

“Lumabas kayo, ipakita ninyo mga mukha ninyo at magpaliwanag sa malaking kapalpakan na ito. Bakit wala pang resulta sa Senate race? Bakit hindi kayo humaharap sa publiko? Hindi ba ninyo maipapaliwanag ang mga pangyayari kaya nagtatago kayo matapos ang limang oras?” the senator said in a statement.

(Go out, show your face and explain this glitch. Why is there no result yet for the Senate race? Why don’t you face the public? Can’t you explain what happened, so you chose to hide after five hours?)

“Lalo lang lumalaki ang agam agam at pagdududa ng publiko sa tunay na resulta ng halalalan dahil sa katahimikan ninyo. May niluluto ba na hindi dapat malaman ng publiko? Hindi pa tapos ang script?” he asked.

(Your silence only fans the doubts in the public’s mind over the result of the election. Are you cooking something that the public should not now and the script is not yet done?)

As of 6:25 p.m. on Monday, only 330 out of 87,851 vote counting machines have transmitted results to the transparency server, or a measly 0.38 percent.

The initial result showed that reelectionist Senator Cynthia Villar leads the race, followed by Senator Grace Poe, Bong Go, Pia Cayetano, Ronald dela Rosa, Senator Sonny Angara, Imee Marcos, Lito Lapid, Francis Tolentino, Nancy Binay, Bong Revilla, and Senator JV Ejercito.

Earlier, the Comelec explained to the media that the glitch was caused by the creation of data packets in the transparency server. A data packet is an information carried through a package transmitted through the internet.

Comelec Commissioner Marlon Casquejo said that transmitting results from polling precincts all over the country is continuous, but the problem prevents their servers from handing out real-time, partial and unofficial copies to the transparency server, including media partners.

READ: Comelec transparency server glitch delays release of partial poll results

Still, Pangilinan lamented that five hours have passed before the poll body offered an explanation.

“Nasaan ang Comelec? Nasaan ang spokesperon? Nasaan ang paliwanag (Where is the Comelec?Where is the spokesperson? Where is the explanation)?” Pangilinan asked.

The Senator also urged the Comelec to work better so that the results would not be stalled.

“If you can’t release the results, we demand an immediate explanation as to the reasons behind this delay in the release. Nearly zero results. Zero explanation,” Pangilinan reiterated.

“[This is] completely and totally unacceptable. Surely you can do better than this,” he said. (Editor: Eden Estopace)