Poll discrepancies found

The initial findings of the random manual audit (RMA) of the May 13 elections showed “discrepancies” in some precincts compared with the computer-generated tallies, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said on Tuesday.

Brillantes said the Comelec had received the reports from 167 out of the 234 randomly chosen precincts across the country but could not immediately state the extent of the problem.

“There were discrepancies,” Brillantes said in an interview, adding that the questionable results were being segregated for review.

He said the discrepancies may have been due to the shading of the ballots. The Comelec has decided to have the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines count as votes even the ovals in the ballot paper that were only “20 percent” shaded.

“They know that we had lowered our threshold to 20 percent from 50 percent (in 2010),” Brillantes said.

He said those with 10 discrepancies and below were disregarded while PCOS machines that had more than 10 discrepancies were brought to the Comelec central office in Intramuros, Manila, together with their ballot boxes.

Brillantes could not say how many precincts had registered more than 10 discrepancies, adding that Commissioner Christian Robert Lim, who is handling the RMA, had yet to make an initial report.

Former Ambassador to the Vatican Henrietta de Villa, head of the Comelec random manual audit committee, said many “clerical errors” were uncovered that could not be considered discrepancies.

When asked if these could be considered “discrepancies,” De Villa said: “Not yet. In the sense of the word that there’s a difference between the electronic and the manual count.”

“We cannot say that at this point because these are mostly clerical errors. There are many like that which we have to clean up. That is why we are forwarding this to the NSO (National Statistics Office),” De Villa said.

She said the NSO had reviewed cases of precincts that had “10 or more variances.”

When asked how many of the 234 randomly chosen precincts had “variances,” De Villa said: “There were many. Many.”

But she declined to give an exact figure, saying the committee was still waiting for reports from the field.

“It’s not good to do that since we don’t have all the reports. That could lead to speculation. It won’t be helpful,” De Villa said.