Three bets recall 2010 PCOS ‘flaws’

At least three Cebu candidates are having doubts on the Precinct Count Optical Scan machine which will be utilized for the second time in the country’s political history.

And these candidates — Ritchie Wagas, former Compostela mayor; Neneth Reluya, former San Fernando mayor; and vice gubernatorial candidate Glenn Soco — blamed their defeats in the 2010 election on the PCOS machines.

Soco renewed his concerns over the reliability of the automated election machines during his visit in the SM Cebu PCOS demo yesterday.

“I really do not have confidence with the PCOS. The PCOS does not provide verification whether what it reads are the candidates a voter has choosen in the ballot,” Soco said.

“I am into automation. But we can still see many concerns which needs to be addressed,” he added.

Soco has protested his loss in the 2010 vice gubernatorial race to the late Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez Jr.

Wagas on the other hand said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has not assured voters that the flaws of the PCOS machine has been corrected.

He claims that the manual revision of votes that the Regional Trial Court Branch 25 of Mandaue started last March 21 revealed different results to the what the PCOS counted in 2010 and that he now lead Mayor Joel Quiño.

The proclamation of 2010 election winners of Compostela was delayed for almost two years because of Wagas’s protest with the Comelec.

It was only in March last year, that the Comelec proclaimed Mayor Quiño as winner.

Reluya meanwhile shares Wagas’s concerns.

“So naa gyuy question mark after the revelation of the PCOS controversy,” Reluya said who is having a rematch with San Fernando Mayor Antonio Canoy..

Reluya said if that is the case they should train their watchers and undergo seminar for the possible scenarios on the election day. “We should train them to know what they are going to do, Reluya said. /Peter L. Romanillos and Gabriel Bonjoc, Correspondents with reports from Correspondent Joy Cherry Quito