Comelec: 2013 polls one of the best elections

MANILA, Philippines - Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. believes the elections would have been perfect had the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines not encountered glitches.

“There are defects and there are some irregularities,” he admitted. “Compared to the past elections before 2013, this should be one of the best elections that we have.”

Brillantes said contingency measures are in place to address the situation, in answer to allegations of poll watchdog National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) that around 10 million votes cast remain un-transmitted to the poll body’s central server.

“The signal problem will not affect the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) because we have contingency (plans),” he said.

“If the compact flash (CF) cards cannot be transmitted, they can bring them directly to the NBOC.”

The Comelec acts as the NBOC when canvassing votes for senators and party-list groups.

In their initial report, foreign observers from Compact for Peaceful and Democratic Elections said they saw PCOS machines malfunctioning in some polling precincts during the elections.

The group observed that in Pampanga a machine “printed no text during zero sum printing.”

PCOS machines were also found malfunctioning in polling precincts in Cagayan and Pampanga, it added.

Brillantes said only 258 of the almost 80,000 PCOS machines used in last Monday’s elections had glitches, much lower than the 400 machines that malfunctioned in the 2010 polls.

Brillantes brushed aside insinuations that the poll results could be manipulated through the switching of CF cards.

“If you are dirty minded, that’s what you would think,” he said.

“But the watchers, the political parties, the civic groups are all watching... Why fabricate stories when they have been monitoring the procedures?”

Brillantes said they are mulling on filing charges against people spreading unfounded accusations against the automated election system.

“Those people from the outside who keep on talking but do not know anything, I will sue them,” he said.