Missing COCs due to ‘procedural error’ of Comelec staff –spox

Commission on Elections (Comelec) acting spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco on Wednesday said the missing certificates of canvass (COCs) for the 2022 elections was caused by a certain procedural error on the part of the poll personnel.

“I believe there was a procedural error on the part of the Comelec personnel, specifically the Provincial Board of Canvassers,” Laudiangco said in an ANC interview.

“But they had spoken to the National Board of Canvassers in Congress and they will be submitting today all the documents required. They will be submitting these under oath in front of the National Board of Canvassers,” he added.

The NBOC deferred the canvassing of votes for president and vice president from Pampanga, Sultan Kudarat, Surigao del Sur, Mandaluyong City, Sulu, and Manila City due to missing COCs.

Pressed on why the COCs were not in the ballot boxes in the first place, Laudiangco said: “Initial investigation showed, I believe it’s still a preliminary assessment on our part, nagkamali po 'ata sila ng paglagay ng envelope. ‘Yung napaglagyan yata ng envelope was for another NBOC, hindi po ito ‘yung para sa president and vice president.”

(They must have put the envelope in the wrong place. I think the envelope was for another NBOC, and not for the president and vice president.)

He assured the public that the Comelec personnel involved will testify on what really transpired, and the poll body will then determine if there was indeed negligence or non-compliance on their part.

No vote shaving or padding

Despite this, Laudiangco claimed that there is no evidence to show yet that there is vote shaving or vote padding that took place in the recently conducted elections.

“Up to this point, we have received no proof of any vote shaving. In fact, this election was so transparent that within a matter of three hours, 80% of all the election returns had been transmitted to the transparency server,” he said.

Comelec Commissioner George Garcia earlier acknowledged the speed of the vote transmission for the 2022 elections, noting that it may be the fastest since the country has started conducting automated elections. He credited the feat to the “improved and upgraded” poll equipment and systems this year.

Church-backed election watchdog Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), however, recorded a 1.61% mismatch involving some 240 election returns and the transparency media server for the 2022 elections.

This was addressed by PPCRV itself, saying that the mismatch could be due to errors on the part of the volunteers.

“We maintain that the elections is free of fraud. No vote shaving or vote padding for any sorts and the people can prove that their votes had been counted and canvassed by both of the National Board of Canvassers and being counted by the National Board of Canvassers for president and vice president,” Laudiangco added.

The Congress is eyeing to proclaim the winners of the 2022 presidential and vice presidential race within the day, a lawmaker said on Wednesday.

Based on the partial and unofficial tally, former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. was the leading presidential bet with 31,104,175 votes.

Meanwhile, his running mate, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte has also maintained a huge lead among other vice presidential candidates with 31,561,948 votes.

A total of 55,197,306 votes out of the 67,442,616 registered voters have already come in as of posting. At least 98.35% of the election returns have been processed so far.—AOL, GMA News