Comelec dares fraud whistle-blowers to show proof

MANILA, Philippines - Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Jose Melo called yesterday on the masked witness who claimed there was large-scale poll fraud to identify himself and specify his allegations before the public.

Speaking before a hearing of the House of Representatives committee on suffrage and electoral reforms, Melo said the Comelec could not answer ambiguous accusations made on television by the alleged whistle-blower.

“I’m surprised that such baseless allegations make everybody jump,” he said. “He (witness) does not even give specifics. He must come out and identify himself.”

Melo said reports of poll fraud aim to derail the elections, create doubt and prolong the process of canvassing.

“We are here ready to answer,” he said.

Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal dared the alleged whistle-blowers to produce evidence of cheating in the May 10 elections.

“If you have allegations or complaints that something happened (in the elections), you have to back it up with evidence. Provide proof, we will be the first to investigate it. I think it should be investigated, but you can’t make allegations or statements without basis,” he said.

Larrazabal said the Comelec will answer point by point all allegations of electoral fraud.

“The public has accepted the result of the elections, this is the first time in history that four of the top presidential candidates with nationwide network and organization conceded even before the start of the official count, that never happened in the history (of our elections),” he said.

“There’s accusation left and right, but there’s no proof, we are a country of law and not of men, there are procedures.

“Anyone can claim that they know the system, but whether they really know it is another story altogether.”

Larrazabal said the Comelec conducted random manual audit nationwide, including in Antipolo, Mati in Davao, Palawan, and Cebu.

“The results are very good, we’ll be giving it (results) to the House of Representatives for their information,” he said.

Melo and Larrazabal were accompanied by five other Comelec commissioners: Rene Sarmiento, Elias Yusoph, Nicodemo Ferrer, Lucenito Tagle and Armando Velasco.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez, executive director Jose Tolentino and chief legal counsel Ferdinand Rafanan also attended the hearing.

Lawmakers present at the hearing were Reps. Roque Ablan, Matias Defensor, Ana Marie Susano, Teodulo Coquilla, Thomas Dumpit, Monico Puentevella, Leonardo Montemayor, Victor Agbayani, Eileen Ermita-Buhain, Candido Pancrudo, Jose Solis, Raul Gonzalez Jr.

Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr., committee on suffrage and electoral reforms chairman, called the masked witness a “koala,” a term he used in light of the hazy account he gave for the purported “player PCOS” that duplicates, and supposedly transmits, data to the main Comelec server in Manila three minutes ahead of the Board of Election Inspectors.

“I’m not hearing any specifics,” he said.

“I already heard that six months ago. This is part of our oversight functions. I have received a lot of reports about misuse (of machines) by human beings.

“These anomalies will impact on the next administration. These personnel might institutionalize these practices.”

The purported witness claimed that cheating in the national level can be done by way of intercepting the “direct transmission” of BEIs to the main Comelec server in Manila.

However, he failed to explain how, considering that such equipment have their own security features.

Abakada-Guro Rep. Jonathan de la Cruz raised the time-setting complaint of defeated Manila mayoralty candidate Lito Atienza.

Dates in the election returns of PCOS machines were way ahead of the May 10 polls, as it bore the April 28 date, he added.

Smartmatic-TIM executives Eduardo Correia and Heider Garcia took turns defending the integrity of the automated polls.

Glitches in date and time could account for the “minimal margin of error” that they expect from the whole election process, they added.

Melo and Larrazabal took up the cudgels for the foreigners who were the Comelec’s contractor.

“There are really some glitches sometimes,” Melo said.

“Sometimes the sync in your laptop is not the same, but that does not affect your work on the excel (program),” Larrazabal said.

Garcia said the time and date setting are “not the priority of the BEIs,” but the accuracy of the vote count.

Larrazabal said an inventory of the PCOS machines, as well as those of the compact flash cards, has already been made, and will be made available to the Locsin panel, which will be holding its hearings alongside next week’s canvassing of votes by Congress.

Comelec and Smartmatic-TIM assured the lawmakers that only the authentic certificates of canvass will be accepted in the Consolidation and Canvassing System, or the server in Congress, which does not need further verification, because it is encrypted.

Re-elected Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte, a member of the Nationalist People’s Coalition, hinted that the National Board of Canvassers may delay the proclamation of the winners for president and vice president due to technicalities in the Constitution.

It is required under the Constitution that “authenticity and due execution” be fully complied with, which means the digital process may have to take longer, since the rules require a physical, not a digital, COC that needs verification, he added. 

Gordon: Conduct deeper probe

Sen. Richard Gordon, the author of the poll automation law, called yesterday on the Comelec to a conduct a deeper probe of alleged vote rigging in the May 10 elections.

“They (Comelec) cannot simply shrug this off,” he said.

“This is highly plausible. It should be looked into because it is a real possibility. I have heard that some votes in Zamboanga have been transmitted from Antipolo.”

Gordon also asked the poll body to investigate how a technician of Smartmatic came into custody of several PCOS machines in Antipolo City.

“He could just not protect the machines,” he said.

“Comelec should also look into this. It is also possible that these machines were used in the alleged cheating.”

Palace rejects allegations of cheating

Malacañang rejected yesterday allegations of cheating during the May 10 elections.

Presidential adviser on political affairs Prospero Pichay said the election was a success and that the people’s will must be respected.

He found the claims of cheating farfetched, particularly with the onset of the automated election system, he added.

Pichay said these claims would remain as such unless the alleged whistle-blower and the losing candidates can present concrete evidence of cheating.

“Unless proven otherwise, we believe that this automated election was a big success,” he said.

“The people have spoken, we have to respect that.

“Maybe in isolated cases there were some problems as far as transmission is concerned but by and large, I do not believe that there was fraud in these elections.”

Pichay said the results of the national elections were consistent with the surveys that came out before the polls.

“Our candidate has already conceded and that means that the party has conceded and we recognize that the people have spoken and they have chosen Sen. Noynoy Aquino as president.

“So we have to move on. It’s not the end of the world. This country has to move on, we have a democratic process, we exercised it and it was very successful.”

LP: Probe allegations vs Binay

The Liberal Party called yesterday on the House of Representatives to investigate allegations that Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay paid P1.4 billion to win the vice-presidential race against Sen. Manuel Roxas II.

In a statement, LP director general Chito Gascon said Congress and the Comelec must look into allegations that Binay’s camp had contracted a group to pad votes for Binay by as much as seven million.

“Allegations like this destroy the credibility of the May 10 elections, which our Asian neighbors and other big nations all over the world have lauded,” he said.

“We cannot leave a cloud of doubt on the success of our first automated elections.”

Gascon said a legislative inquiry will maintain the integrity of the elections and give justice to the rightful winners in last week’s elections.

“We have to make sure that the real winners are proclaimed, not those who may have employed fraud to win,” he said.

Namfrel: Make public inventory of flashcards

Poll watchdog National Citizens Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) urged yesterday the Comelec to make public its inventory of the compact flash cards, including those recalled, replaced and reconfigured.

In a statement, Namfrel said the poll body must not destroy any of the flash cards or delete records from the canvassing process so all files can be properly analyzed.

“Comelec and Smartmatic must make a report to the public on the use of the spare PCOS machines as well as inventory of all flash cards, including those recalled, replaced and reconfigured,” Namfrel said.

A Catholic bishop who heard the masked alleged whistle-blower speak at a forum on Tuesday is not convinced of his allegations of massive rigging of votes during the May 10 elections.

Monsignor Pedro Quitorio III, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines Media Office director, said the allegations must be substantiated to become credible.

“The best defense is the truth,” he said.

“Whoever carries the truth should be prepared for the consequences of the truth.”

Quitorio said the first requirement in building up the credibility of the allegations is the identity of the person making them.

“So if you will hide behind the mask, I don’t think that is going to be credible,” he said.

After hearing the early part of the alleged whistleblower’s testimony, he left the Ilustrado Restaurant in the middle of the videotape presentation, Quitorio said. — With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Mike Frialde, Marvin Sy, Helen Flores, Evelyn Macairan