Comelec en banc to rule on Marcos’ audit request after canvassing

COMELEC Chairman Andres Bautista at the National Board of Canvassers in PICC, Pasay City.
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/LYN RILLON

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc has unanimously decided to defer its ruling on a system audit being requested by Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. after the canvassing of votes for president and vice president by Congress, Comelec chairman Andres Bautista said on Wednesday.

Bautista said the decision was reached after the en banc met and deliberated on Tuesday on the request of Marcos, who is questioning the results of the unofficial and partial quick count of the Comelec’s central and transparency servers for vice president.

READ: Marcos insists on system audit

Marcos, who ran for vice president during the May 9 elections, was neck and neck with administration bet Leni Robredo based on the unofficial tally.

“Kahapon nag deliberate ang Comelec en banc at naglabas kami ng resolution kahapon na sa aming palagay na at this point, we need to defer our ruling on his request,” Bautista told reporters at the Senate.

(Yesterday, the Comelec en banc deliberated and we released a resolution that we have decided that at this point, we need to defer our ruling on his request.)

The Comelec chief cited at least three reasons why they decided to defer its decision on the request.

First, he said, all parties were given enough time to scrutinize the automated election system.

Second, only Congress has the power to proclaim the winners in the presidential and vice presidential races.

“In deference, bilang paggalang kapag kami po ay magsasagawa ng audit baka ito nga ay makaapekto sa trabaho ng Kongreso (as a sign of respect, when we do the audit it might affect the work of the Congress),” Bautista said.

And third, the chairman cited the criminal cases filed against some Comelec and Smartmatic IT officials in connection with a new script entered into the system during election day.

“Again, ano ang magiging epekto ng isang audit habang may mga kaso? Kaya sa aming palagay at ang boto po ng Comelec ay unanimous, mas maganda na i-defer muna yung magiging decision dun sa kanyang (Marcos) kahilingan until after the canvass is finished and the criminal proceedings…” Bautista said.

(Again, what would be the effect of an audit while there are pending cases? So, in our opinion, and with the Comelec voting unanimously, it would be better to defer making a decision on his request, until after the canvass is finished and the criminal proceedings…)

He said the Comelec is open, however, to conduct a system audit but said it should be done by a “non-partisan” and “disinterested” group of IT professionals like the Department of Science and Technology and the Comelec’s advisory council.

Bautista could not say when the system audit would start and end, saying the scope and methodology of the audit were not yet clear. CDG