MANILA, Philippines — One of the vote-counting machines (VCMs) used in Monday's ballot feeding had malfunctioned, the Consulate General of the Philippines in New York disclosed Monday morning.
The agency made the disclosure in an advisory posted to its social media channels.
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"Unfortunately, despite the online troubleshooting by the Commission on Elections and Consulate personnel, the technical issue involving said VCM could not be resolved," the consulate general said.
The latest malfunction brings the number of VCMs assigned to the Consulate that can no longer be used to three.
The consulate said it would continue ballot feeding using its last remaining functioning VCM. This comes just days after the consulate had already requested two more vote-counting machines. To recall, one machine reportedly encountered a paper jam, while the other failed a routine scan.
The consulate general added that the Comelec has already been informed of this development and has been requested to replace the defective units as soon as possible so that ballot feeding can proceed more efficiently.
"We at the Philippine Consulate General in New York have an obligation to our people to ensure that the forthcoming elections will be conducted in a transparent manner," it also said in response to a commenter asking if the machines were "rigged."
"Technical issues such as those that we have encountered could unfortunately not be avoided. But as we have mentioned we will continue with the ballot feeding process using the remains VCM until we get replacement units."
Why does this matter?
The Commission on Elections, whose commissioner once threatened to call the military to arrest critics, has stood by its preparations for clean and transparent elections.
"To remove any doubt sa commission, openness [...], we have to be very transparent, but at the same time also, we have to talk to the people and to the stakeholders more frequently," Comelec commissioner and election lawyer George Garcia said at a webinar last week.
Elaiza Sabile-David, director of the Comelec Education and Information Department admitted at the same webinar that the Comelec’s role is to address situations as soon as breaches are reported or disinformation begins to build up.
"Pag meron ganyan naririnig na problema or mali na balita na kumakalat na, Comelec talaga po dapat should address po yung ganyan, sabihin po yung totoo doon sa nangyayari para hindi magtagal," she said.
Lawyer Ona Caritos, Executive Director of the Legal Network For Truthful Elections or LENTE said that while confidence is higher with automated elections, they aren't necessarily foolproof.
"We have a level of confidence in [automated] machines [but] this can still drop when technical glitches happen," she said in mixed Filipino and English. "The problems or glitches that we encounter are outside of the machines."
— Franco Luna with a report from Kaycee Valmonte