Suarez: If poll irregularities happened, some bets won who shouldn’t have

If the "irregularities" alleged by Senator Vicente Sotto III really occurred during the 2016 polls, then it's possible that there were some candidates who won when they should have lost and vice versa, House Minority leader Danilo Suarez said.

"Obviously, kung ang ginawa nila ay dagdag-bawas, this just means one thing: may nanalo nung 2016 na hindi dapat nanalo at merong natalo na hindi dapat natalo," he said on Wednesday.

Adding another hypothetical, Suarez said that if the irregularities occurred and if the margin of victory between winning candidate Rodrigo Duterte and his closest opponent Mar Roxas had been small, the Philippines could have ended up with a "Liberal" president.

"What I'm saying is that there is a deliberate attempt na kung maliit lang ang lamang ni Pangulong Duterte, baka ang presidente natin ngayon ay Liberal," he said.

Duterte's margin of victory over Roxas was more than six million.

Suarez made the remarks after Sotto claimed in a privilege speech that transmission irregularities during the 2016 national elections were detected.

Citing information from an "impeccable" source, Sotto said a transmission activity was captured as early as May 8, 2016, even before election day itself.

The early transmission continued until the morning of May 9, even before the conduct of elections, he added.

Sotto's source also said that some senators received zero votes in areas where there were early transmission, specifically the votes for Senator Panfilo Lacson and then-presidential candidate Grace Poe.

Suarez said he earlier filed a resolution questioning the results of the 2016 elections.

"On record, I confronted the Comelec chief then [Andres] Bautista during the budget hearing for 2018 and I gave him the list of 17,000 precincts na zero yung candidate," he added.

Sotto himself sought an investigation into the allegations revealed by these new information.

"I urge this august body to consider the facts presented today and conduct the proper investigation," he said.

"It is high time that the proper Senate Committee investigates the Automated Election System and subpoena Comelec and Smartmatic to provide the relevant data as regards these allegations," he added. — BM, GMA News