Comelec exec to whistleblowers: Present evidence on alleged vote shaving 

A Commission on Elections official on Tuesday urged the whistleblowers on the alleged vote switching in Quezon province to file a formal complaint if their claims are legitimate.

In an interview on GMA News TV's News To Go, Commissioner Luie Guia questioned the claims of the three whistleblowers, saying the procedure they presented was different to that of the Automated Election System.

“Hindi po namin alam kung paano mangyayari yan pero mas maganda siguro kung magfile sila ng tamang complaint o kaya i-specify nila akung paano nangyari at saan nangyari para maaksyunan ng Comelec or kung sino man yung proper body na puwedeng tumugon sa ganitong complaint,” Guia said.

Guia noted the burden of proof lies on the whistleblowers to prove their claim and file an election protest or a case before Comelec for a possible violation of election laws.

The poll body would also like to investigate the alleged cheating but so far sees no basis, according to Guia.

On Monday, the supposed witnesses on the vote switching surfaced and claimed the rigging of results was done in a building in Quezon province where Smartmatic personnel were also onsite to assist them to shave votes in favor of the Liberal Party ticket Mar Roxas and Vice President-elect Leni Robredo. 

“Hindi ganiyan yung naka-design sa Automated Election System kaya siguro nasa kanila yung burden para i-prove na nangyari nga iyon. Sa ngayon wala kaming nakikitang basehan sa kanilang akusasyon,” Guia said.

Guia said the canvassing of votes starts with the municipal board of canvassers to the provincial level until it reaches the national board of canvassers to proclaim the winning candidates.

He added each stage of the canvassing has poll watchers for each political party aside from volunteers of the citizen's arm of Comelec with the opportunity of raising any supposed vote shaving.

“Dapat ipakita na doon sa pinaggalingan o yung mga source document ay hindi tumutugma sa kina-canvass sa higher level ng canvassing. Yun lang siguro yung katanggap-tanggap na paraan sa canvassing framework na mag-establish ka na hindi totoo yung binibilang na boto,” Guia said.

In a report on GMA News' 24 Oras on Monday night, the figures supposedly added to the votes of Roxas and Robredo did not match and were even more than the actual votes the tandem received in the province.

Meanwhile, Guia defended that the undervotes during the elections does not constitute to cheating since some voters opt not to vote in one position or their votes were not recognized by the vote counting machines (VCM).

Guia said a ballot is considered undervote when the markings failed to meet the threshold needed for the VCM to count them while some voters shaded or marked the wrong oval.

“Maaring inadequate yung marking. Ibig sabihin, yung paglagay ng marka ay hindi sapat para basahin o doon sa nakatakdang threshold para basahin ng makina,” he said.

“Ang undervote ay maaring hindi pagboto o hindi tama yung pagboto,” Guia added. — Joseph Tristan Roxas/RSJ, GMA News