PPCRV seeks clarification from Comelec on ‘mislabeled’ cast ballots

The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) on Thursday asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to explain the “mislabeled” ballots cast that the poll watchdog flagged in some precincts in Zamboanga and Dumaguete.

PPCRV spokesperson Ana Singson said their coordinators observed the mislabeling on the Comelec’s website on May 12.

She said there are no exact figures, but there are “a lot” coming from Zamboanga City and Dumaguete City.

In an example provided by PPCRV, a Comelec website showed that on May 13, a precinct in Dumaguete had 930 registered voters and 814 were able to vote. But it also showed that there were 956 votes cast.

As of May 15, PPCRV observed that the mislabeled ballots cast had been corrected and that the number of voters who voted and valid ballots cast was 814.

“We have been in communication with Comelec about this, and they said it was mislabeled. Apparently the data that was pointed to for that particular cell was not the data supposed to be for that cell,” Singson said, relaying Comelec’s response given Wednesday.

“They cannot point a data that was in the system if the data is not in the system, so what was the data in the first place?” Singson said.

“We are not throwing any accusations. We are simply requesting a more in-depth explanation,” she added.

However, in a press conference, Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said the matter had been “properly discussed with PPCRV's Ana de Villa-Singson.”

Not ‘dagdag-bawas’

Singson said that PPCRV wanted to know from Comelec what the data initially encoded in its website was.

Singson clarified that this case cannot be called "dagdag-bawas" or vote shaving.

“We cannot claim dagdag-bawas at any point until the audits are done. So, let’s make the audits work,” Singson said.

Despite the temporary mislabeling, Singson said PPCRV will still be able to cross-check the transmitted votes with the election returns (ERs).

“What we’re confident about is that we will be able to reflect the real vote count here because we’re holding on to the actual physical ERs once it gets here,” Singson said.

As of 10 a.m., PPCRV received 14,062 ERs, which account for 15.07% of all ERs nationwide. 

However, PPCRV has yet to receive ERs from Zamboanga City and Dumaguete City. 

Singson also said that the current number of ERs does not include Pangasinan, which they recently obtained. —VAL/VBL, GMA Integrated News

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