Comelec asks Marcos: Present proof of fraud

CANVASSING AT PICC Comelec Chair Andres Bautista enters his computer passcode for the canvassing of votes for the senatorial and party-list elections at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City. GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday challenged Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to show evidence of inaccurate unofficial count by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) in which his rival, administration vice presidential candidate Leni Robredo, kept her lead over him.

“As of now, I see no reason to suspend the (PPCRV) count, unless Senator Marcos or his lawyers could give us substantial evidence or proof of inaccuracy or bad faith,” Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said in a press conference. “They can file a petition before the en banc, anyway.”

The Marcos camp cried computer fraud and his supporters began massing at Rizal Park in Manila on Wednesday. (See story on this page.)

With less than 5 percent of the votes still uncounted, Robredo was ahead of Marcos by more than 230,000 votes at the PPCRV tally. As of 9:45 p.m. with 95.65 percent of precincts counted, Robredo had 13,968,884 votes and Marcos, 13,738,585.

Each hourly update of the PPCRV on Wednesday showed increases of less than 1 percent in the number of precincts counted.

PPCRV spokesperson Anna Singson said the transmission of votes from the Comelec server had slowed since Tuesday, prompting the Marcos camp to cast doubts on the integrity of the PPCRV independent vote count.

Computer command

Lawyers for Marcos alleged that they learned from an “accredited observer” at the PPCRV quick count headquarters that a new “script or computer command” was introduced into the transparency server of the Comelec at 7:30 p.m. on Monday.

The lawyers said the Comelec server was the source of the quick count conducted by PPCRV and media organizations.

“Apparently, the execution of this computer command was able to alter the hash codes of the packet data. The introduction of this new script is suspect because it was after this time that Senator Marcos’  lead from Representative Robredo started to erode at a rather distinctive pattern,” lawyer Francesca Huang said, reading a prepared statement.

She said Marcos’ early lead in the unofficial quick count began to erode around 9 p.m. on Monday and that Robredo maintained her lead since 3 a.m. on Tuesday.

Can’t explain script

Huang, however, could not explain how the supposed new computer “script” worked and admitted that the Marcos camp did not know how it affected the quick count not only for Vice President but also for all other positions.

She said the Marcos camp wrote the Comelec earlier that day asking about the new script.

In the meantime, she said, the Marcos camp would wait for the official canvassing results while it continued to call for a stop to the PPCRV quick count.

Citing the automated election law, Guanzon said the PPCRV was mandated to inform the public on the conduct of elections.

Quick count allowed

“Under the law, quick count is allowed. There is no prohibition,” she said. “We have to be transparent to the people about the status of the voting. If we will conceal it, then many would have doubts. They might say there’s ‘magic’ involved.”

In a separate interview, Comelec Chair Andres Bautista said the poll body had yet to receive a formal request from the Marcos camp.

“Maybe it’s better if they send it to Congress where the official canvassing of votes for President and Vice President will be held. Comelec only canvasses votes for senators and party-list groups,” Bautista said.

He challenged anyone with a complaint about the quick count to present evidence. “We are committed to being neutral. We are committing to count the votes as they come,” he said.

Conditioning public

At a press briefing, Robredo’s new spokesperson, Georgina Hernandez, lamented what she described as an attempt by the Marcos camp to condition the minds of the public about election rigging when the senator had no evidence to substantiate his claims.

“The rise of Congresswoman Leni’s rating is due to the sweat and hard work of her supporters and volunteers. To say this was just manipulation is a huge insult to their efforts,” she said.

Hernandez said the Marcos camp should file a complaint in the Comelec instead of airing their grievances on the media.

Fearless forecast

At the briefing, the Robredo camp presented Alyson Yap, an Ateneo de Manila University teacher, who projected that Robredo would win by 226,000 votes based on an analysis of partial and unofficial election returns trickling in.

“Based on my math, Congresswoman Leni would win by 226,000,” said Yap, a full-time faculty member of Ateneo’s Quantitative Methods and Information Technology Department.

Still uncounted

Election watchdogs said it was possible that the rankings in the vice presidential race could change when more ballots came in.

Some 1.6 million votes nationwide and abroad have not been transmitted and counted two days after the May 9 elections, according to the PPCRV.

Based on PPCRV’s independent tally, a large chunk of the votes yet to be transmitted will come from overseas voting, which registered a turnout of 425,402.

Singson noted that countries like United Arab Emirates with 24,137 votes and Saudi Arabia with 46,905 votes still had zero transmission.

She said Marcos’ request to set up an IT team to monitor the PPCRV independent count had been granted.

Conflict-affected

Singson said local votes that had yet to transmit mostly come from conflict-affected provinces of Mindanao.

Votes that have yet to be transmitted and counted are from Lanao del Sur with 138,884 votes; Surigao del Sur with 122,044 votes; and Maguindanao with 112,492 votes.

Singson said Sulu with 97,163 votes and Sultan Kudarat’s 68,776 votes had yet to be transmitted and counted.

Special elections

The Comelec will hold special elections on Saturday in conflict-affected areas in Mindanao and other provinces where the elections body  declared a failure of elections.

Singson said the Comelec declared a failure of elections in three barangays in Lanao de Sur, several barangays in Sulu and Northern Samar as well as in the municipalities of Tagum Espino, Matuguinao and Lopez de Vega in Western Samar.

Comelec declared failure of elections in 11 towns in in the Visayas and Mindanao on Wednesday.

Miriam statement

In a statement on Wednesday, losing presidential candidate Miriam Defensor Santiago accused the Aquino administration of manipulation to cheat her running mate, Marcos.

“I find it astounding that Marcos should have led in the vice presidential surveys for many months until the penultimate month, when suddenly the administration could jump up survey results to finally overtake him,” Santiago said.

Guanzon said there was no such thing as “Plan B” to favor any candidate, denying allegations of cheating during last Monday’s polls. With a report from Christine O.  Avendaño