Server script won't affect vote tally –Smartmatic

Poll technology provider Smartmatic-TIM insisted on Friday that the change in the program script to the Comelec's transparency server has not altered the tally of votes for the vice presidential race, which is being hotly contested by Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo and Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

Bongbong has alleged that the new script boosted the congresswoman's votes, allowing her to overtake him in the partial and unofficial tally, hours after polling centers closed last Monday.

In a letter, Marcos asked the poll body to shed light on the issue. But the Comelec, however brushed aside insinuations that cheating might have occurred during the cahnging of the server program script.

In its written explanation, Smartmatic said an observer called the attention of the Comelec IT officer, Rouie Peñalba, who was stationed at the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting Center (PPCRV) heaquarters in Manila on Monday evening, about question marks ("?") in some candidates' names in place of the usual "ñ" character.

Peñalba in turn called the attention of the Smartmatic technical support team led by Marlon Garcia.

"Upon being notified by the Comelec and after validating that changing the character '?' required a minor cosmetic change to appease the observers at the PPCRV Transparency Center, the Smartmatic technical support team addressed the concern by introducing a correction on the script in the presence of everyone present there," said Smartmatic project director Elie Moreno in his letter to the poll body.

Both Peñalba and the Smartmatic team then announced to everyone (including members of political parties) inside the PPCRV Transparency Center that the correction was made and all subsequent displays would reflect the candidates' names properly, with "ñ" instead of "?".

No one in the room objected on the change, Peñalba said in an incident report submitted to Comelec en banc.

"He (Garcia) saw it as simple and cosmetic. Look at it also on the engineering perspective. I am an engineer. I am trained to solve problems. So if I see a problem, I automatically try to solve it," Moreno said in a chance interview on Thursday.

Moreno also assured that there was no change in the results, the counting and canvassing of votes, and in the source code of the automated election system.

"The change in the script did not, in any way, alter any result for any candidate," he said.

To dispel insinuations of cheating, Moreno suggested to interested parties to compare the results in the transparency server with the printed election returns of all vote counting machines.

"That's the perfect proof that nothing has been done (to change the results)," he said.

He also said the CCTV coverage can be reviewed to validate that the process was done transparently.  — Virgil Lopez/TJD, GMA News