Ballot boxes containing COC’s from the board of canvassers of the different provinces arrive at the COMELEC National Board of Canvassers, PICC, Pasay.PHOTO BY RAFFY LERMA
An official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said on Tuesday that the poll body does not see any basis to believe the allegations of vote shaving in Quezon province. The manipulation in the balloting was supposed to benefit administration standard-bearer Manuel “Mar” Roxas II and newly-proclaimed Vice President-elect Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo.
In a television interview on GMA News TV, Commissioner Luie Guia said that the “whistleblowers” should file a formal complaint in the proper venue in order for their claims to be addressed.
“Hindi po namin alam kung paano mangyayari ‘yan, pero mas maganda siguro kung magfile sila ng tamang complaint o kaya i-specify nila akung paano nangyari at saan nangyari para maaksyunan ng Comelec or kung sino man ‘yung proper body na puwedeng tumugon sa ganitong complaint,” Guia said.
(We don’t know how that happened, but it’s better if they file a formal complaint or specify how this happened and where, so that Comelec or a proper body that could respond accordingly to this complaint can take action.)
READ: Admin official ordered us to manipulate votes—alleged witnesses
He said that the automated election system in place is different from what the witnesses claim, adding that the burden of proof lies with the accusers.
“Hindi ganyan yung naka-design sa automated elections system kaya nasa kanila yung burden na i-prove na nangyari nga ‘yung ganon. Sa ngayon, wala kaming basehan para maniwala sa ganong klaseng akusasyon,” the Comelec commissioner said.
(The design of the automated elections system isn’t like that, so it’s up to them to prove what they claim happened. For now, we don’t have any basis to believe that kind of accusation.)
With watchers in every step of the canvassing, political parties as well as election watchdogs should have raised alarm if they saw any evidence of vote switching, Guia added.
“Dapat ipakita na doon sa pinaggalingan o yung mga source document ay hindi tumutugma sa kina-canvass sa higher level ng canvassing. ‘Yun lang siguro ‘yung katanggap-tanggap na paraan sa canvassing framework na mag-establish ka na hindi totoo ‘yung binibilang na boto,” he said.
(The source document should reflect that what was canvassed doesn’t match the higher level of canvassing. That’s probably the only acceptable way in the canvassing framework to establish that the number of votes counted isn’t right.)
On Monday, three witnesses surfaced to claim that the vote rigging took place in a four-story building in Lucena City. They claim that they accepted the votes from clustered precincts in the municipalities and reconfigured the results with secured 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.
In a Radyo Inquirer interview, Council for Philippine Affairs Secretary General Pastor “Boy” Saycon Jr. quoted one of the witnesses who said that President-elect Rodrigo Duterte lost 200,000 votes in Quezon.
READ: ‘Duterte lost 200,000 votes in Quezon’
Comelec chairman Andres Bautista echoed Guia’s sentiments, adding that the timing of the whistleblowers is suspect.
The witnesses surfaced hours before Congress is set to proclaim Duterte and Robredo.
“Bakit ngayon lang? Kung meron talagang ebidensya at may pruweba ng dayaan, bakit ngayon lang lalantad?” Bautista said in a radio dzMM interview.
(Why just now? If they really have evidence that there was cheating, why would they just come out now?)
“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 added.
(Mudslinging is easy. It always happens. The problem is there is no proof. People should be more responsible. When they throw accusations, they should support it with proper evidence.) JE/rga
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