Robredo camp to critics: Stop mind conditioning on poll fraud

In this file photo, Georgina Hernandez-Yang, spokeperson of vice presidential candidate Leni Robredo, speaks during a news conference at Ateneo University, Quezon City, May 16, 2016. NINO JESUS ORBETA

The camp of vice presidential candidate Camarines Sur Rep. Ma. Leonor “Leni” Robredo urged her detractors to stop conditioning the minds of the public that a sabotage happened in the recently concluded elections.

“Ang mga malisyosong mga pananalitang ‘yan, tingin namin isa lang sa mind conditioning na ginagawa nila para patuloy na magkaroon ng duda ang mga tao sa eleksyon,” Robredo’s spokesperson Georgina Hernandez said in a press briefing at the Ateneo de Manila University on Thursday.

(We think that those malicious statements aim to condition the minds [of the public] so they would have doubts on the elections.)

Mata sa Balota Movement, an election watchdog movement, on Wednesday filed electoral sabotage charges against Smartmatic and the head of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) over the changing of hash code in the transparency server after the May 9 national polls.

READ: Smartmatic exec, PPCRV head charged for electoral sabotage

The group, however, failed to present any evidence that the votes have been tampered.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Smartmatic have repeatedly assured the public that although changing the “?” in the names of candidates with “ñ” in the script was merely a cosmetic change, it did not affect the results of the unofficial tally of votes, especially that of the vice presidential candidates.

Echoing the statements of former senior government officials she did not name, Hernandez said allegations of electoral sabotage “opens the door for using candidates to protest closely-contested elections.”

Hernandez reiterated that even local and international observers have concluded that no cheating happened and that the election process went smoothly.

Asked if Robredo’s camp thinks it was her closest rival Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. who was behind the move, Hernandez said they would rather not blame it on anyone but she called on Robredo’s critics to be responsible of their actions as these would eventually cause divide in the next administration.

READ: Robredo says Marcos’ server anomaly claim ‘mind conditioning’

“Ang nais natin ang pagbubuo ng mga nasirang pagsasama at sa pagbuo ng bansa. So sana itigil na ‘yung ganitong paninira, itong mga electoral sabotage dahil ang gusto natin ay magkaroon ng pagkakaisa ang ating bayan,” Hernandez said.

(We want to unite the severed ties and the entire country. So I hope that people would stop the allegations of electoral sabotage because we want to have unity in our country.)

As of latest, the partial and unofficial vote count showed that Robredo is still leading by 262,429 votes over Marcos. RAM