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Kontra Daya warns of electronic ‘dagdag-bawas’ even if difficult to spot, prove


Election watchdog Kontra Daya has warned of high-tech electoral fraud as the country goes through another round of automated elections on Monday.

In an interview on News To Go, Kontra Daya convenor Danilo Arao warned about the occurrence of electronic vote-shaving and vote-padding, or "dagdag-bawas",  even if such was difficult to prove.

Arao said it was difficult to determine if the series of commands in vote counting machines were followed since the source code review itself was not transparent.

He said there were anecdotal evidence indicating electronic fraud. He said these include the taking of photos of ballots being skipped and names on vote receipts being inconsistent with the choices the voter made.

"Certain anecdotal evidence like that should serve as a red flag na may high tech na dayaan pa rin na nangyayari," Arao said.

The Kontra Daya convenor said compact flash card (CF card) switching could also happen in a situation where the data transmission was not 100%.

"Du'n nagkakaroon ng oportunidad ang mga may masasamang balak na mandaya talaga sa halalan," Arao said.

Arao said incidents of high-tech cheating were already forwarded to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) but resolutions to prevent them are still not clear.

Aside from "high tech" cheating, vote buying is still prevalent, Arao said.

He said there were cases of voters getting paid P500 and families being given P5,000.

"Sana 'yung mga tagapanood ngayon ay huwag makakuha ng ideya na tumanggap ng mga bayad para sa pagboto kasi dapat tratuhin natin 'yung ating boto bilang sagrado at ito ay priceless," Arao said.

Arao cited Comelec Resolution 10488 which provides that candidates should not give or pay in cash or in kind anything in exchange for votes, whether in favor or against a particular candidate. —Margaret ClaireLayug/NB, GMA News

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