PPCRV, KBP seek access to Comelec’s manually uploaded data

MANILA, Philippines — The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) and the Kapisanan ng mga Broadkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) on Thursday pleaded the Commission on Elections to make the manually uploaded data available for the poll watchdog.

“We are begging Comelec to make this data available,” Anna de Villa-Singson, PPCRV media and communication director said in a joint press conference.

In comparison, she said that back in the 2010 elections the PPCRV-KBP server still received the manually-uploaded data from Comelec.

This time, it’s alarming that “this is no longer a requirement,” poll watchdog’s chairperson Henrietta “Tita” de Villa said.

As of past 2 p.m. the poll watchdog has so far received 76.14 percent of the election returns transmitted to the transparency server.

The KBP said that 23.86 percent that has yet to be provided was too large a number to be lacking in their unofficial vote count. They estimated this percentage to make up roughly 11 million votes.

“We are asking for all tabulated votes… It is not because we are casting doubt on the Comelec but this is for transparency. We want the data we give to the public to be fool-proof” said De Villa.

The Comelec might proclaim around six senators Thursday night if it denies the motion filed by the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) to defer proclamation in the wake of alleged tampering of data.

De Villa said that they were asking for the data log from Smartmatic which was the basis of the poll body’s statement that there had been no such tampering of the elections data they received from the transparency server.

Transmission to the transparency server, where both the poll watchdog and the Comelec are drawing data, will continue but the PPCRV will not be allowed to make its unofficial vote count public while proclamation is taking place.

“After the proclamation of senators, they will resume feeding us with the transmitted data from the transparency server,” said the PPCRV chief.

“But 70 plus percent [is unacceptable]. Why keep the public in the dark? I personally feel that 90 percent would be more acceptable,” said KBP president Herman Basbano.

He maintained that the KBP should be allowed to provide the public with information on their votes.

By not allowing the PPCRV-KBP to release information to the public, Basbano said this is worrisome.

“You don’t solve the problem if you create more anxieties. The Comelec should explain further this move,” he said.

The poll watchdog also appealed to the Comelec to explain why transmission has been sluggish.

“We are not happy with the rate of transmission. We are blind to the 23 percent and we appeal, on behalf of the public, that they make that known to the people. It is after all our vote,” said De Villa-Singson.

“We are asking the Comelec to proclaim [the senators] after fast tracking the retrieval of data,” Basbanos said.