Sanlakas Secretary General and Nominee for Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) partylist Atty. Aaron Pedrosa said, Saturday, that these issues mar the credibility of the election results and put to question the legitimacy of its “winners.”
Pedrosa insisted that “it is only through public access to the data logs will we allay suspicions of electoral fraud arising from vote manipulation”.
“We have manifested this matter before the National Board of Canvassers (NBC) but we were rebuffed,” Pedrosa said.
PLM Partylist, Murang Kuryente Partylist and other partylist groups also decried the refusal of the NBC to recognize their previous manifestations.
“Under the rules, parties are allowed to manifest on matters concerning the canvassing of the votes,” noted Pedrosa.
He maintained there was nothing that prohibited groups to point out their observations and request access to data logs.
“If we cannot raise these matters before Comelec where then can we raise these?” he asked.
Legal counsels of Partylist organizations, including labor leader Leody De Guzman, raised these issues anew at the Comelec.
The issues raised were backed by a massive mobilization calling for the suspension of proclamations and a thorough investigation on alleged vote shaving and the delays of communicating the results of the returns.
“It is difficult to trust the credibility of the results while Comelec fumbles in explaining what caused these delays and lapses,” said De Guzman.
“While our campaign has already recognized our standing in the results, this does not mean that allegations of fraud and clear irregularities must simply be swept under the rug,” he added.
De Guzman noted the sheer number of failed machines, reports of votes not being recognized in the receipts and the delays in reporting the results transmitted to the transparenct server are too high to be ignored.
“Is it too much to ask the Comelec for an independent investigation of what had transpired and the scope of these issues? We cannot simply ignore them, for they will surely happen again if not addressed,” De Guzman concluded.
Chito Chavez