Marcos camp: Grant request for systems audit before canvassing

Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. NINO JESUS ORBETA/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The camp of vice presidential candidate and Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. expressed confidence that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) would rule favorably on their request for an audit of the transparency and central servers of the Automated Elections System (AES) used in the May 9 national and local polls.

Atty. Jose Amor Amorado, who also acts as the Quick Count Center chief of the Marcos camp, said that they hope that the poll body would act on their request before Congress convenes as a canvassing board for the posts of President and Vice President on May 25.

“We remain hopeful that Comelec will grant our demand to open the AES for audit because I am sure the Comelec would want to uncover the truth in the unauthorized change in the script of the transparency server,” Amorado said on Sunday.

Marcos’ camp wanted to conduct the systems audit to  gauge the extent of the effect of the supposedly unauthorized tweak made by a Smartmatic team member in the script of the transparency server last May 9.

READ: Marcos camp to seek poll systems audit

Smartmatic’s Marlon Garcia changed the script to change the character ‘?’ in the names of candidates that have ‘ñ’ in them.

Both Smartmatic and Comelec denied that the script tweak has affected the results of the elections.

Marcos’ campaign adviser Jonathan dela Cruz said that the systems audit seeks to “find out the truth” and asked rival administration candidate Rep. Leni Robredo to support their request.

“Viewed in this light, our demand for the conduct of a system audit is not only very reasonable but also absolutely necessary. If Rep. (Leni) Robredo is really interested in finding out the truth and ensuring the credibility of the election results, she should join us in our call for a system audit,” dela Cruz said.

Robredo has  expressed her support for the systems audit, saying that the said move will dispel any doubts about the results of the elections.

READ: Robredo welcomes Marcos request for poll systems audit

Aside from seeking a systems audit, the Marcos camp also filed a criminal complaint against Marlon Garcia and three other persons for the unauthorized script change.

READ: Marcos camp files criminal case vs Smartmatic, Comelec officials

Meanwhile, Atty. George Garcia, head of Marcos’ legal team for the canvassing, vowed that they will scrutinize every certificate of canvass (COC).

“We vow to scrutinize each and every COC for vice president and highlight the impossibility of the partial unofficial result. This is an exercise of a right and our solemn obligation to the millions who supported Senator Marcos and those whose votes were not counted and were disenfranchised,” he said in a separate statement.

Robredo leads Marcos by more than 200,000 votes, according to the partial, unofficial tally from the Comelec’s transparency server. JE/rga