'Nothing irregular in vote machines stored in Smartmatic man's house'

MANILA, Philippines - Officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and Smartmatic-Total Information Management (TIM) Corp. saw nothing irregular or suspicious in the storage of over 60 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines outside precinct premises in Antipolo City.

“This is a technician who is just doing his job,” Smartmatic-TIM president Cesar Flores told a media briefing.

Residents in Antipolo City yesterday discovered 67 PCOS machines outside the house of Felipe de Leon Jr., a Smartmatic-TIM technician, causing political tension after supporters of losing mayoral candidate Angelito Gatlabayan raised fears that the machines could have been used to cheat in Monday’s elections.

Flores, however, said the technician could not leave the machines at the school so he took them home.

“Leaving the machines at the school was not possible. He looked for a safer place to leave the machines until the logistics company picks up them today,” he said.

“However, they (forwarders) don’t want to approach the place because of the security situation caused by the frenzy and media covering and the politician trying to speculate on wrongdoings,” he added.

Ordinarily, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said their technicians would leave the machines at schools or take them to the municipality “but if it becomes untenable for one reason or another, for example the security of the school, our people on the ground are authorized to secure the machines the best possible way.”

Flores said the 67 PCOS machines have already printed and transmitted the local election results.

“The main memory card is at the municipality; there is nothing irregular about the machines. The machines must go back to Cabuyao (Laguna) in the next days,” he said.

The warehouse of Smartmatic-TIM, the poll body’s automation partner, is in Cabuyao, Laguna, where the 82,200 PCOS machines used in last Monday’s balloting will be stored.

Jimenez said that once the security issues are addressed, they would pull out the machines.

Nevertheless, Henrietta de Villa, chairperson of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, said it is proper for the Comelec to conduct a probe into how the machines landed in the Antipolo home of the Smartmatic technician. – With Non Alquitran and Evelyn Macairan