THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday said no “dagdag bawas,” a scheme involving vote padding and shaving, attended the May 12 midterm polls.
Comelec Chairman George Garcia issued the statement following confusion about running total votes. The confusion resulted from some media entities’ reporting of a higher running total of votes in the wee hours of Tuesday, then later coming out with lower counts.
“Whenever you see running total of votes with rankings based on election returns, it didn’t come from us,” Garcia, in a press conference. “We cannot process anything because what we have is real time data.”
“There is no vote padding, vote shaving that took place,” he added.
Garcia said entities that have access to election results servers receive the same election returns (ERs) transmitted by each automated counting machine in every polling precinct as the Comelec.
He explained that the ERs are the used as basis by all entities, including poll watchdogs, dominant majority party, dominant minority party, and media organizations.
But unlike the Comelec, Garcia said, those with access to servers have been directed to “cleanse” and “process” the data from the ERs.
“It was properly explained to them that the data they will receive have to be processed using a program they need to have. That program will cleanse the data,” he said.
Garcia said the confusion may have happened when some media entities failed to comply with the advisory to adopt the data-cleansing program.
He said this has resulted in multiple sending of ERs, instead of just once.
“There are entities that complied, there are those that didn’t. There are entities that came out late than others because they cleansed their data. There are those that came out faster but they didn’t process their data because they didn’t have that program,” Garcia said.
“Those entities cleansed their numbers after we called their attention. They corrected their numbers by dawn (of Tuesday),” he added.
He stressed that the Comelec will only come out with official results with rankings once the National Board of Canvassers complete the canvassing of votes.
“What we canvass is the certificates of canvass, not the ERs from each and every precinct,” he said.
‘PROCESSABLE DATA’
Poll watchdog Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) yesterday asked why the Comelec is saying it has processed 98 percent of election transmission when it and other watchdogs are only seeing 79.9 percent.
PPCRV spokesperson Ana Singson raised concern in a press briefing.
“We’re all at 79.9 percent transmission and I’m very happy that we’re aligning on that but if you look at the Comelec, we’re all seeing 79.9 percent. if you look at the Comelec dashboard and their website, they already have eyes on 98 percent of the transmissions, but we have eyes only on the 79.9. So, where is the 18 percent that we’re not seeing?” Singson asked.
“Nandito yung file sa transparency server, but not in a format na mako-convert namin so we publish it to you. So, yung format has to be in a format we can process (We have here the file of the transparency server, but not in a format that we can convert, so we publish it to you. So, the format has to be in a format we can process),” she added.
Singson said the PPCRV is still waiting for the “processable data” from the poll body.
“We have faith that there will be an explanation, that there will be transparency and a full explanation,” she added.
Singson said the 18 percent is important because “could affect the last two to three positions of the senatorial race, so that’s huge.”
She said a similar incident took place in the 2013 mid-term elections, during which the PPCRV could see only a fraction of what the Comelec was seeing.
“This situation is highly unusual,” the PPCRV said in a statement. “Since 2010, we have not experienced a delay of this nature, not even receiving a first data dump, especially despite over one-third of the results already being transmitted.”
It added, “We understand that the Comelec is meeting at this time. We pray for a swift resolution, and more importantly, for immediate access to the data, so that we may maintain transparency and clarity about what is unfolding in our country right now.”
TECHNICAL ISSUES
Singson said the Comelec started displaying the results shortly before 9 p.m. Monday but that the PPCRV was able to show its parallel count of the results only at around 10:30 p.m.
The PPCRV, which was supposed to have immediate access to the data, said the delay was caused by “unexpected technical issues,” and that the initial data it received at past 8:15 p.m. came in different file formats.
With this, the group said it would be important to conduct random manual audit and unofficial parallel count of the election returns.
Random manual audit, Singson said, would address issues such as overvoting or unintentional voting, while the unofficial parallel count would compare the physical election returns with the transmitted returns.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said reports of transmission variances are under technical review.
It said initial assessments show that while the transmissions from thousands of precincts were duplicated during consolidation in the servers for the PPCRV, Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP), the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), dominant minority party, and dominant majority party, it does not significantly affect official results and the integrity of the votes.
The DICT said the duplication was resolved by proper filtering to get the accurate data.
“There is no cause for alarm. The election results can still be verified and validated through the printed copies of the election returns. The integrity of the electoral process remains intact and we will issue additional clarifications as the technical review progresses,” said Information Secretary Henry Aguda, as chair of the Comelec advisory council.
The Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) demanded real-time release of election results, saying that the Commission on Elections has been receiving election returns “yet the raw data remains stuck, unreleased to the Transparency Server.”
“Why the delay? This is a breach of public trust. Filipinos shouldn’t have to wait, wonder, or worry about what’s happening to their votes. We’ve seen this before in previous elections where delays turned into doubts, and doubts eroded faith in our democracy,” the PDP-Laban said in a statement.
It said that the poll body must “act now” since the Comelec’s explanations that there were some technical issues is unacceptable to Filipinos.
INCIDENTS
Education Secretary Sonny Angara said the DepEd Election Task Force (ETF) which operated a 24/7 command center in Makati City to monitor the conduct of elections and ensure the safety of teachers doing poll duties received “603 election-related incidents’ since it was activated on the eve of the elections.
“Most of the concerns were resolved at the regional and division ETF counterparts while some were endorsed to the Comelec for appropriate action,” he said.
He said most of the reports came from Region 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula), the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and the National Capital Region.
“Common issues involved vote counting machine malfunctions, irregularities in ballots and receipts, and voter list concerns,” Angara said.
Despite these incidents, said the elections remained largely peaceful, said Education Undersecretary Malcolm Garma.
“In line with the assessment of the Comelec and other agencies, we can say that overall, the elections were conducted smoothly,” Garma, who is the chair of the DepEd ETF, said.
Angara expressed his gratitude to teachers and support personnel who he said ensured the safe, fair, and orderly conduct of the elections in thousands of polling precincts across the country. – With Myla Iglesias and Raymond Africa
