Leni camp calls cheating claims irresponsible

Leading VP candidate Leni Robredo during the thanksgiving mass in Ateneo Church of the Gesu. INQUIRER PHOTO / JILSON SECKLER TIU

The camp of Liberal Party vice presidential candidate Leni Robredo on Thursday decried as “irresponsible” the claims of cheating in the May 9 elections made by some individuals, saying that this would have an adverse effect on the transition process of the new administration.

Georgina Hernandez, Robredo’s spokesperson, said the decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to proceed with the proclamation of the 12 winning senatorial aspirants on Thursday proved the credibility of the elections.

“To those who want to cast doubt on the elections, we ask you to be more responsible with your statements,” Hernandez said in a press briefing at Ateneo de Manila University.

“[Such claims] would have an effect on the transition of the next administration. We want to rebuild the relationships destroyed [by the elections]. I hope you stop making this accusation of electoral sabotage because we want to unite our country,” Hernandez said in Filipino.

The Robredo camp was reacting to the electoral sabotage case filed in the Office of the Ombudsman by Mata sa Balota Movement against officials of the Comelec, the technology provider Smartmatic and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV).

Catholic priest Robert Reyes, who led the group, said the case stemmed from the unauthorized modification of the script, or computer command, on the Comelec’s transparency server, the source of the partial and unofficial count of the PPCRV.

Robredo’s rival, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., had claimed that the change of script in the data packet was used to pad the votes of the Camarines Sur representative, who erased his early lead in the PPCRV tally during the wee hours of May 10.

Reyes, an activist priest, said his group was not working for Marcos, but that candidates should not lose or win elections through cheating.

Hernandez said the Robredo camp was also interested in the Comelec’s and Smartmatic’s explanation about the issue, but urged those making “baseless allegations” to be more circumspect in spreading such insinuations.

“Congresswoman Robredo has repeatedly said that she won’t let herself be a beneficiary or recipient of cheating,  which she had vehemently denounced,” Hernandez said.

As of 8:30 a.m.  on Thursday, the lawyer said the latest partial and unofficial tally from the Comelec showed Robredo was leading Marcos by more than 262,000 votes.

Hernandez said only 11,615 votes from Rizal and Laguna had yet to be transmitted to the Comelec.

“We expect that this would also be the result of the official canvassing next week because the votes all came from the same certificates of canvass,” she said.