Comelec ready to release 2022 polls’ transmission logs

MANILA, Philippines — Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia yesterday expressed readiness to release copies of the transmission logs of the general elections on May 9 last year to allay fears over the alleged questionable 20 million votes transmitted an hour after the conclusion of the polls.

“To erase doubts as to the transmission of the votes in the first hour after the close of polls in the 2022 national and local elections, the undersigned is very much willing to provide your requested transmission logs,” Garcia said in a letter addressed to retired Col. Leonardo Odoño, a concerned citizen.

“The commission hopes that the provision of the transmission logs will clear the controversies you stated,” Garcia added.

Odoño wrote a letter to the Comelec last March 10 that was received by the poll body three days later. The letter stated the “final request for the Commission to provide the undersigned, and the public, the truth on the supposed 20 million votes,” referring to the votes transmitted an hour after the close of elections.

Garcia said the release of the transmission logs in the May 9 polls would be “subject to the confirmation of the commission en banc,” which means that it will only be released to Odoño and to anybody upon the approval of all the Comelec commissioners.

Garcia added that his office would provide soft copies of the transmission logs to the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas and election watchdogs such as the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections and the Legal Network for Truthful Elections.

A similar document was also provided by the Comelec to the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Automated Elections Systems and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting last year, according to the Comelec chief.

Should the en banc approve the release of transmission logs, Garcia said it would be made available tomorrow at the Comelec main office’s Session Hall located on the 8th Floor of the Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros, Manila.