Poll exec: Video of ‘Smartmatic engr. fiddling with vote count machines’ fake news

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO)

MANILA — A poll official denied posting a video which supposedly showed a Smartmatic engineer meddling with a CSS kit during the stripping of vote counting machines last year in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

Commission on Elections spokesperson James Jimenez called out an article on the Pinoy Trending News, which claimed that he posted a video of an engineer meddling with the stripping process.

“The Facebook page being referenced is a fake. (I) deny setting up, managing, or directing a representative to set up and manage any official or unofficial page,” he said in a statement.

He added that the video being attributed to him was not his, and neither did he capture the alleged video showing Smartmatic systems engineer Juan Padron interfering in the stripping of vote counting machines.

The Pinoy Trending News posted an article last week in which it claimed that Padron meddled in the stripping of the VCMs, which were used in the May 2016 polls, in late 2016.

The post alleged that Padron “took over the laptop of a Comelec employee and did something to the CSS kit of Basilan during the stripping in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.”

However, the video of Padron being attributed to Jimenez was no longer available as of Tuesday.

“This is fake news claiming that I posted a video which I did not take, much less put up online,” Jimenez said on his Twitter account, @jabjimenez.

In a separate post on his newly created Facebook page, Comelec spokesman Jimenez said he learned of the fake news and the fake Facebook page in his name on Monday afternoon.

After calling out the news article and the Facebook page as bogus, the fake Facebook page was taken down two hours later.

Jimenez urged netizens to be vigilant against fake news and “to be more discerning of news articles and blog posts being peddled by unscrupulous individuals.” SFM/rga