Guanzon seeks hold departure memo vs Smartmatic personnel

SMARTING An angry Election Commissioner Rowena Guanzon slams Smartmatic for its decision to change a computer script without Comelec clearance, a break in protocol for which Smartmatic project director and general manager Ellie Moreno looks properly chastened. PHOTOS BY RICHARD A. REYES

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Ma. Rowena Amelia Guanzon on Monday wrote a memorandum asking the Comelec en banc to direct Smartmatic to issue an order to prevent its officers from leaving the country pending an investigation on the tweak in the script of the Comelec’s transparency server.

The memorandum, which was received by her fellow commissioners on Monday, read: “I urge the En Banc, specifically through Commissioner Christian Robert Lim, to write and direct Smartmatic Philippines to issue a memorandum and/or an order prohibiting their officers and employees from leaving the country until the investigation is terminated and concluded.”

READ: Smartmatic faces probe

Guanzon urged the full commission to to act on the matter with “haste and dispatch” due to the “public interest involved.”

The lone female commissioner in the seven-member en banc first expressed her intention to write the memorandum in a radio interview on Sunday.

“Hindi dapat nila paalisin yung tao nila hanggang hindi pa tapos ang imbestigasyon (They can’t leave until the investigation is done)… Flight is an indication of guilt sa principles ng ebidensiya (in the principles of evidence),” she said in a radio dzBB interview.

When asked his opinion about Guanzon’s memorandum, Comelec chair Andres Bautista said that no member of the Smartmatic Philippines team has signified his or her intention to leave the country.

“I think we should follow the rule. What does the law provide? There is just an investigation. I don’t think anyone is thinking about leaving,” Bautista said.

The script tweak in the Comelec’s transparency server became a hot issue after the camp of Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. alleged that the change was intended to cut his lead over his closest rival, administration candidate Camarines Sur Rep. Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo, in the vice presidential race.

READ: Marcos camp: New script installed in Comelec server

The Comelec has slammed Smartmatic for effecting the “cosmetic change” in the transparency server script without the authorization from the en banc.

The poll body has since restricted Smartmatic’s access to the consolidation and canvassing system following an uproar about the unauthorized script tweak. RAM/rga

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Ma. Rowena Amelia Guanzon on Monday wrote a memorandum asking the Comelec en banc to direct Smartmatic to issue an order to prevent its officers from leaving the country pending the investigation on the tweak in the script of the Comelec’s transparency server. ARIES JOSEPH HEGINA/INQUIRER.net