UNA seeks probe on Smartmatic technician

MANILA, Philippines - The United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday to investigate the extent of human intervention that an information technology (IT) expert of Smartmatic had done when he “inadvertently deleted” files from the poll body’s transparency server during “routine maintenance” last May 14.

“So we can delete files. What else can you do with the system? That is the question there. If you just maintain it and no files were deleted, that will be OK. All of us are using computers. If a file can be deleted, it means that you can add files, put in the files, and you can also introduce programs,”  secretary-general and campaign manager Toby Tiangco  said in a press conference.

Tiangco said that the Comelec should have informed UNA and other political parties immediately as soon as they learned about the accidental deletion of files at the command center of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) at the Pope Pius Center by Smartmatic IT expert Daton Cerino.

He also reiterated his call for the Comelec to put on hold its planned partial proclamation of the six winning senatorial candidates, including UNA senatorial candidate Nancy Binay, until the poll body has explained the “suspiciously slow transmission of election results from the remaining 30 percent of the PCOS machines.”

“The integrity of the midterm elections is at stake here. We cannot compromise this in the interest of expediency when valid questions are being raised and an answer from the Comelec is being sought,” Tiangco said.

“How can we be certain that the results being used as basis for proclamation are accurate in light of these very disturbing developments that cast suspicion on the outcome of the polls?” Tiangco said.

He said that instead of making a partial proclamation of the top six winning senatorial candidates, the Comelec as National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) must instead finish the counting of the total votes cast during the May 13 elections.

“We don’t want to jump to a conclusion. We just want to be part of a credible and transparent election. About eight to nine million votes have not been transmitted yet to the transparency server of the Comelec,” he said.

Tiangco said he is also bothered by the slow transmission of certificates of canvass (COCs) from the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

He, however, junked the idea of returning to the old system of manual voting and counting of votes.

“What we want is an improvement of the automated system of elections. We have no problem with automated polls, but the safeguards must be strong every time we conduct this political exercise,” Tiangco said.