Party-list group Buhay on Friday joined the call of the Confederation of Non-Stock Savings and Loan Associations, Inc. (CONSLA) on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to investigate alleged vote manipulation during the May national elections.
Buhay executed a sworn affidavit backing CONSLA’s complaint filed with the Comelec and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) questioning the discrepancy in the number of votes it garnered in the party-list race last May 9.
CONSLA through counsel Atty. Rodolfo San Diego said the group’s votes reached 555,896 by 12 p.m. on May 10 based on the PPCRV’s Quick Count posted on its Twitter account.
But they were surprised when the official result showed that it received only a total of 213,814 votes.
Arnold Arriola, who works for Buhay party-list, attested that CONSLA’s number of votes had reached 342, 513 as of 10:40 p.m. of May 9 with 66,2626 clustered precincts counted, or roughly 74.18 percent of all clustered precincts, and was ranked number 17 among contending party-list groups.
In his affidavit, he said that around 8 p.m. last May 9, he arrived at the PPCRV headquarters to inquire about and monitor the results of voting for party-list groups.
After waiting for approximately three hours with no information, Arriola said he decided to go in and talk to the first available person he met just to ask for the status of the voting for the party-list.
Around 10:30 p.m., Arriola said he was able to talk to a certain Rommel Bernardo who agreed to show the quick count results for the party-list elections, which he said he took photos of and submitted them to the Comelec and PPCRV.
“The attached pictures are faithful reproduction of the photographs in my Xperia [cellular phone]. The photographs have not been altered, whether digitally or otherwise,” Arriola assured.
Arriola also said he was willing to submit his cellular phone for examination by Comelec and PPCRV.
Last Thursday, CONSLA formally asked the Comelec to conduct an investigation into the discrepancy in the number of votes it garnered.
San Diego said the group relied on the accuracy of the results being published by the PPCRV and other media entities since they were given direct access to the Transparency Server, to which election results from all precincts were being transmitted, by virtue of Comelec Resolution No. 10105A.
“How can votes canvassed by PPCRV from the Transparency Server, which essentially are the same votes canvassed by the Comelec, turn out completely different results? The Comelec needs to investigate this matter to avoid further allegations of irregularities during the May 2016 elections,” San Diego asked.
The group also asked PPCRV to explain the discrepancy “in the spirit of transparency.”
The group noted that during the early hours of the transmission of the election results last May 9, the PPCRV Quick Count had already tallied a total of 342,513 votes for CONSLA.
The following day, PPCRV’s Twitter account (@PPCRV_2016), showed that CONSLA was 14th overall with 523,753 votes.
By 12 p.m. of May 10, CONSLA remained on 14th place with 555,896 votes. But the official result showed only that it received 213,814 votes. RAM/rga