DND chief: Cheating, voting machine 'deficiencies' took place during polls

Cheating and voting machine “deficiencies" took place during the Philippines’ first ever nationwide automated elections last May 10, but poll results should be “respected" for the country “to move on," Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales said on Wednesday. “I believe that cheating happened. I believe that… There (were) deficiencies in transmissions. There (were) manipulations in the elections. There (were) fake ballots in the last elections," Gonzales told reporters at the national military headquarter in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City on Wednesday. He added that he has “started collecting evidence" of poll fraud, so that the “truth would be established," but expressed no intention to bring these evidence to the courts. “It may not stand up in court, but we have to find the truth. We owe it to our people to show what really happened in the last elections," he said. The defense chief likewise declined to identify the parties behind attempts to alter results of the May 10 polls, saying that making such a comment will already be “partisan." Gonzales, who said a week before the May 10 polls that election officials, the police and the military were bribed to rig the poll results, also came to the defense of losing candidates who question the outcome of the elections. “The big problem is that when you lost and [you are] complaining, you will be called ‘sour-graping.’ I am listening to the losing candidates because I think there is truth to some of the things they are saying," he said. Despite claims of election fraud and technical deficiencies, Gonzales urged the public to “respect" the results of the May 10 polls for the good of the country. “The result of the election should be respected for the nation to move on. At the same time, we should identify the deficiencies in the past elections, study them and correct them for the next one," he said. The defense chief likewise expressed confidence that the Congress, acting as the national board of canvassers to tally votes for president and vice-president, can proclaim the country’s top two leaders before June 30. - ACC, RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV