Duterte ‘robbed’ of 200,000 votes in Quezon, claims witness

President-elect Rodrigo Duterte. KARLOS MANLUPIG/INQUIRER MINDANAO FILE PHOTO

A civic leader claimed on Tuesday he had ”witnesses” who took part in the manipulation of the elections in vote-rich Quezon province and told him of shaving or deducting thousands of votes from newly proclaimed President-elect Rodrigo Duterte.

In an interview with Radyo Inquirer on Tuesday, Council for Philippine Affairs (Copa) Secretary General Pastor “Boy” Saycon Jr. said that one of the witnesses told him they got 200,000 votes from Duterte in the said province.

READ: Admin official ordered us to manipulate votes—alleged witnesses

“Yung kay Duterte nga, napakalaki ng mandatong ibinigay sa kaniya. Sinubukan nilang galawin. Sa Quezon, tinanong ko yung tao. [Ang sabi], ‘Ginalaw rin. Nabawasan po ng 200,000 votes kay Digong (Duterte’s nickname).’ Sabi ko, sinubukan pala talaga. Isipin mo nabawasan na, ganon pa rin ang lamang,” Saycon said.

(Duterte was given a huge mandate. They tried to shave votes for him. In Quezon, I asked the witness. I was informed that it was manipulated. I was told that Duterte lost 200,000 votes … Just think of it, he lost votes but he still has a wide lead [over his political opponents].)

Duterte won a landslide victory with 16,601,997 votes. He beat his closest rival Liberal Party standard-bearer Manuel “Mar” Roxas II with more than 6,623,822 votes.

Aside from Duterte, Saycon claimed that the manipulation in the balloting also affected the votes of some senatorial candidates and even party-list groups.

“Sa senador, lahat po nagalaw [ang boto]. At ang mga naapektuhan po ay yung mga non-Liberal [Party]. Lahat ginalaw, pati nga party-list” he said.

(In senatorial candidates, the votes were manipulated. Those affected were non-Liberal [Party] (members). They manipulated everything, even the party-list groups.)

He said that more “witnesses” want to come forward and prove the existence of the operation aimed at rigging the votes in favor of Roxas and newly proclaimed Vice President-elect Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo.

“Meron nang nagpahiwatig sa akin na pupunta din sila sa akin, same operation ang ginawa nila. ‘Yung isang nagsabi sa akin sa Tarlac sila, parehong operasyon,” Saycon said.

(There are more witnesses who sent feelers that they will come to me and they did the same operation. One told me they were from Tarlac, same operation)

Saycon also distanced himself from the camp of losing vice presidential candidate Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., saying that he only wants to seek the truth on the allegations.

READ: ‘3 whistle-blowers’ fail to derail proclamation

“Hindi po kami nakikialam kung kanino napupunta yung boto. Ang gusto lang po namin ay katotohanan… Wala na akong pakialam kung sino ang nakinabang. Lalabas naman kasi ang katotohanan doon eh,” he said.

(We don’t meddle with whoever receives the votes. We only want the truth… I don’t care who received it. The truth will come out.)

Marcos’ camp has insinuated fraud in the May 9 national polls. They even asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to allow a systems audit on the automated election system to determine the extent of the script change effected by a Smartmatic personnel on the transparency server.

On Monday, Saycon presented three witnesses in the Senate to expose the alleged vote-rigging operation in Quezon which was said to be conducted in a four-story building in Lucena City.

He said that the witnesses, who claimed to be government workers, were involved in accepting the votes from clustered precincts in the municipalities and reconfiguring the results with secure digital (SD) cards with preloaded data for the favored candidates. The said SD cards will then be used by Smartmatic operators to transmit votes to the Comelec servers.

One of the witnesses claimed that Roxas got more than 400,000 votes while Robredo supposedly gained 300,000 votes.

Saycon said that they will file a case in court against Comelec and Smartmatic officials.

The Comelec handles all election offenses, which include tampering of the automated election system, while electoral protests on the presidential and vice presidential elections should be raised to the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.

Bautista doubtful on poll fraud claim

Comelec chairman Andres Bautista, meanwhile, questioned the timing of the witnesses who cried election fraud.

In an interview over radio dzMM on Tuesday, Bautista asked: “Bakit ngayon lang? Kung meron talagang ebidensya at may pruweba ng dayaan, bakit ngayon lang lalantad?”

(Why only now? If there are really pieces of evidence and proofs, why would they come forward only now?)

He said that he cannot believe the claims raised by the witnesses, as the poll body placed many safeguards to deter poll fraud.

“Marami pong checks and balances. Marami pong safeguards e. Kaya hindi po ako talaga makapaniwala sa mga ganitong klaseng paratang,” the Comelec chair said.

(There are many checks and balances as well as safeguards. That’s why I can’t believe in these accusations.)

While they are willing to investigate claims of electoral fraud, Bautista asked the accusers to present substantial evidence to prove their allegations.

“Napakadaling magtapon ng putik. Palaging nangyayari yan eh. Ang problema, wala yung pruweba. Sana naman, yung mga tao sana ay responsable. Kapag nagsasabi sila ng accusations, dapat susuportahan po yan ng tamang ebidensiya,” he said. RAM/rga

(It’s so easy to engage in mudslinging. It always happens. The problem is there is a lack of proof. I hope the people will be responsible. When they make accusations, it should be supported by appropriate evidence.)