Bongbong to Smartmatic: Explain discrepancies in COCs

MANILA, Philippines - The camp of Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has called the attention of automation provider Smartmatic regarding the supposed discrepancies found in the electronically transmitted Certificates of Canvass (COCs) in several provinces.

Marcos’ lead counsel George Garcia cited the provinces of Nueva Ecija and Ilocos Sur where the provincial Canvassing and Consolidation System (CCS) transmitted the COCs where there was incomplete transmission of results in the municipal level.

“How can the provincial CCS transmit (the COC) to the Comelec (Commission on Elections) when the program says it should be 100 percent transmission of all municipalities in that province?” Garcia asked during the second day of canvassing on Thursday.

Garcia noted that in the case of the two provinces, the respective Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBOC) were unaware the municipal transmissions were incomplete until the Comelec ordered them to recheck and re-compute the results.

They later found out that the election results in one municipality were not included in the first provincial COC transmitted to the Comelec.

“How can this happen when Smartmatic assured us that their machines are accurate and reliable?” Garcia said.

“It’s their obligation to the Filipino people. They were the ones who supplied to us the machines, they were the ones who supplied to us the system, they were the ones who assured that it will be 99.9996 percent accurate, then an explanation is a must,” he added.

Unless clarified and addressed properly, Garcia said such issue would likely raise questions over the results of the elections.

“What if there was double transmission or no transmission at all, yet the results reflect there was one?” Garcia asked.

Because of the discrepancies and the unusually high percentage of undervotes uncovered during the official canvass for the position of president and vice president, Garcia said losing candidates in other positions are now probably re-checking the results in their own area to find out what really happened.

Marcos’ camp also raised concern on the unusually high number of undervotes in some areas.

Garcia said the public also has the right to know why there was such a high number of undervotes for the position of vice president, which totaled about 3.2 million for the first two days of the official canvass. 

He explained that they arrived at the figure by deducting the total number of votes for the position of vice president from the total number of votes cast.

“It’s true that some voters opted not to vote for a certain position and that’s normal. But take note of the percentage, that’s 3.2 million voters who did not vote for vice president,” he said.

With such a hotly contested election and the high voter turnout of over 80 percent, Garcia said the high number of undervotes should be explained.   – With Perseus Echeminada