Comelec confirms 3 SD cards found in Negros Occ dumpsite

MANILA, Philippines - If not for scavengers, votes cast in three clustered precincts in a city in Negros Occidental would have been wasted.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) confirmed on Monday that three Secure Digital (SD) cards used in the May 9 elections in Kabankalan City were accidentally thrown away and later found in a dumpsite after a member of the staff mistakenly threw away boxes that were supposed to be transported to the provincial Comelec office.

“Through inadvertence, hindi napansin na naisama ‘yung mga envelopes na mayroong laman na SD card,” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez explained.

He added that the SD cards were found two days after the election and before it was reported by several news organizations.

According to reports, the provincial office of Comelec in Negros Occidental looked for the the envelopes were the SD cards were placed. Election officers sought the help of  scavengers to look for the missing SD cards, which were later found in the area.

The SD cards contain data on 2,165 votes from each of the three clusters affected in a certain barangay with 712 from cluster 1, 734 from cluster 2 and 719 from cluster 3.

“Once the cards were found, naibalik kaagad ito sa provincial at naisama sa manual import,” Jimenez said. “The data has been validated and 100 percent [ang] transmission sa Kabankalan.” 

Election data had also already been transmitted before the SD cards were accidentally thrown away, but Jimenez said that the data needed to be manually uploaded at the provincial office as well.

Liberal Party tandem Manuel Roxas II and Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo topped the presidential and vice presidential race in Kabankalan with 579,810 and 614,440 votes from a total number of registered voters of 1,388,951.