Palace hands off on manual recount dare by Smartmatic

ANGELES CITY, Pampanga, Philippines – Malacañang yesterday turned down calls of some groups to conduct a manual counting of votes in areas where there were reports and complaints of alleged fraud and irregularity in the May 10 automated elections.

“The Palace can only support what is provided by the Constitution and we will still defer everything to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that will be the final judge of all the stories, the complaints and the protests that we’ve been hearing. So this issue is out of the hands of the Palace,” deputy presidential spokesman Rogelio Peyuan said.

Peyuan made the comment before a news briefing here over the challenge aired by Smartmatic, the consortium that bagged the contract to supply and run the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines, against critics to conduct their own manual counting of votes to prove thae reported irregularities.

Cesar Flores, president of Smartmatic-TIM for Southeast Asia, challenged critics to personally check the ballots inside the PCOS machines and count them manually.

Flores made the challenge during the congressional inquiry looking into the complaints of irregularities and fraud in the May 10 elections.

Complaints over the automated system are mounting, prompting the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms chaired by Makati City Rep. Teodoro “Teddyboy” Locsin to investigate the complaints.

Critics called for a manual counting of the votes, following complaints by several losing congressmen, governors and mayors that the compact flash cards that were inserted in the PCOS machines transmitted rigged results to the main Comelec server.

Peyuan, however, warned critics that June 30, the constitutionally mandated date for the turnover of power, is fast-approaching and all concerned should help ensure that the country meets the deadline smoothly.