Lawmakers to recount 2013 senatorial poll results in Gapan, Nueva Ecija

To test the accuracy of Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines, lawmakers will recount the result of the 2013 senatorial elections in three clustered precincts in Gapan, Nueva Ecija.

Senator Aquilino Pimentel III on Thursday said Gapan was chosen as this was the area where a disparity between the official tally and the result of the manual counting of votes for Bro. Eddie Villanueva was found.

“The Joint Oversight Committee on Automated Election System will be the one to conduct a recount kasi marami kaming naririnig na salita na inaccurate, mali ang bilang ng PCOS machine, but at the same time officially wala namang protestang nagtatagumpay so tignan natin,” Pimentel told reporters.

Villanueva ran for Senate in the 2013 elections under the Bangon Pilipinas Party but lost.

“Ito may kaso si Bro. Eddie Villanueva na nakabukas siya ng tatlong ballot boxes na ni-recount ng Regional Trial Court, so ang committee na mismo ang magbibilang para makita namin once and for all gaano ba ka-accurate ang PCOS machines kasi we are getting conflicting reports,” Pimentel said.

Discrepancy

Raised during the hearing was the case filed by Bernardo Aranas and Arlan Esteban against the Comelec municipal registrar. The two said Villanueva had tallied more votes than those officially counted by the PCOS machines.

A decision penned by Judge Celso Baguio of the Regional Trial Court of Gapan City showed Villanueva getting 900 votes in the manual counting in Clustered Precincts Nos. 19, 29 and 30 of Barangays Pias and Concepcion against the official Comelec tally of only 781 votes.

Pimentel said senators and congressmen agreed to do the recount on August 28, 9 a.m., at the Senate premises.

Brillantes

Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. favored the recount, although he insisted that there was no discrepancy in the results. He even said that he will resign as Comelec chief if the claims of the petitioners were correct.

“We have all the details of this case. There is no discrepancy. If that is correct, what they are claiming that the physical count made by the judge would prevail over the count of the PCOS, then I will resign as a chairman even today,” he told the committee.

He said even before the lawmakers decided to do the recount, the Comelec was about to open and decrypt the ballots.

“I will prove that there is a manipulation of the physical count. We are sure the judge did not know how to determine which were the authentic ballots,” Brillantes said.

He added that a local court does not have jurisdiction over the case.

“How can you make a review of the ballots in the civil case involving a senatorial vote? They do not have any jurisdiction. They say we do not appeal, we don’t have to appeal, we filed a motion to dismiss. We said the judge has no jurisdiction over the case.  You cannot count three precincts and say Villanueva won the elections,” said Brillantes.

Discrepancy explained

The Comelec chief explained how the manual counting differed from the result churned out by the PCOS.

“There could be overvotes when a voter shaded 13 or more ovals. A PCOS machine will not count it but an ordinary person would count it and if he did there would be discrepancy,” he said.

“In those precincts where over 100 votes were counted in favor of Villanueva, the physicial ballots could have been tampered, we will see this in decryption,” Brillantes said.  —KBK, GMA News