Poll watchdog group lauds indictment of Comelec, Smartmatic staff

A militant poll watchdog group on Wednesday welcomed the filing of criminal cases against employees of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and poll technology provider Smartmatic over the script change in the transparency server last May 2016 polls.

"Kontra Daya welcomes the DOJ (Department of Justice) finding that Smartmatic and Comelec are culpable for the script change in the transparency server during the May 2016 elections," Kontra Daya said in a statement.

"This validates our repeated assertion that the mismanagement of the election has put into question the credibility of election results at the national and local levels, especially in cases where the votes cast for competing candidates were close," it added.

The DOJ found probable cause against Smartmatic's Marlon Garcia, head of technical support team, and his subordinates Neil Baniqued and Mauricio Herrera for violation of Sections 4(a)(1), (3) and (4) of Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act.

Also found liable were Comelec information technology experts Rouie Peñalba, Nelson Herrera and Frances Mae Gonzales.

Meanwhile, the complaint filed against Smartmatic project director Elie Moreno was dismissed for lack of evidence.

The Comelec had admitted the script of the transparency server, which hosts the unofficial election results, was tweaked on the night of election day, but only to correct the “?” character into “ñ” that appeared in the names of some candidates.

The poll body said the script change did not affect the results.

Kontra Daya also urged the Justice department to probe even the "very officials" of Smartmatic and Comelec. —Anna Felicia Bajo/NB, GMA News