After Sotto speech, Comelec to look into ‘irregularities’ in 2016 polls

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday said it will conduct its own investigation on the alleged irregularities in the May 2016 national automated elections as raised by Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III the previous day.

In an interview on Balitanghali, Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said they have already reached out to Sotto's office to obtain documents and gather information that were used as basis for his poll fraud allegation.

"Gusto ng Comelec makita kung ano 'yung hawak na dokumento and ano 'yung nakapalibot na mga information tungkol doon sa snapshot na pinakita niya," he said, referring to Sotto's slide presentations during his privilege speech.

In his speech , Sotto called for a Senate investigation on an alleged transmission activity captured on May 8, 2016, eve of election day.

In calling for a Senate probe, Sotto pointed out that some candidates, specifically Senator Panfilo Lacson and then-presidential candidate Grace Poe, received zero votes in areas where there were early transmission.

Jimenez said a zero-vote scenario was neither impossible nor uncommon. "Sa maraming lugar, merong mga kandidatong naze-zero. Kahit 'yung mga malalaking kandidato," he said.

"Wala pa tayong so far na nakikitang connection between doon sa pagpapalabas namin ng information sa website at na sabihin na 'yun ang dahilan kung bakit na-zero 'yung ibang tao," he added.

"Wala paring nakikitang katunayan na nagpapakita na nagkaroon ng pag-mamaneobra o pagmanipula ng resulta. So again, if we're going to make a conclusion, mas maganda sana kung solid 'yung basehan natin and, so far, 'yun 'yung gusto nating makikta. Baka heto yon. Baka kung ano man ang hawak ni Senator Sotto, baka ito 'yung solid na basis for saying that."

Malacañang, for its part, said it will keep track of the progress of the Comelec probe.

"So susubaybayan po natin iyan, dahil ang Presidente naman ay tagapagpatupad ng ating mga batas at napakaimportante po na ang ating election laws, dahil ang ninanakaw ay ang mandato ng taumbayan," presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said at press briefing in Palawan.

Roque added those who will be found responsible for the alleged poll irregularities should be held liable.

Sotto also mentioned the need to investigate the "irregularities" as Comelec officials recently voted in opting for the purchase of Smartmatic’s vote counting machines for the 2019 midterm elections.

For the Comelec's part, Jimenez stressed it was important not to take a transmission activity "out of context" to arrive at such a conclusion, saying various testing exercises for the machines are conducted prior to the actual polls.

"Before election day, alam naman po ng lahat na may tinatawag tayong final testing and filling, FTF ang tinatawag natin siyan, kung saan pinapagana natin 'yung makina. Lahat ng puwede nating ipagawa natin sa makina on election day, ginagawa before electiond day on site," said Jimenez.

"Iba po kasi 'yung transmission test, yung mga mock election, iba yan. Kasi kumpara sa FTF, parang laboratory condition yun eh. Very well-controlled, alam mo kung saan ipapadala. Iba 'yung sitwasyon na kapag ginagamit mo na 'yung makina on election day," he added.

"So again, hindi ganoon ka-imposible na magkaroon ng transmission on those days.  Kaya nga to say na may nakitang transmission na ganito on those days, taking it out of all context might be a little dangerous. Kaya mas maganda kung alam natin kung ano exactly ang pinag-uusapan."

Nevertheless, in a text message after the interview, Jimenez clarified that the Comelec was one with the senator's call to determine accuracy in the allegations.

"The Commission understands the grave importance of this matter and will, itself, strive to determine the veracity of these claims," he  told GMA News Online. —Margaret Claire Layug and Virgil Lopez/KBK, GMA News