Comelec, PPCRV, And Smartmatic Charged With Election Sabotage
The Commission on Elections (COMELEC), the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), and the Smartmatic have been charged by two groups with election sabotage in the Office of the Ombudsman.
In a report by Philstar, the complainants asked the ombudsman to have their case as a “class suit.”
The reports said that the complaints charged before the accused is because of the controversial changing of the hash codes in the transparency server dated May 9 while in the middle of the quick counts for the presidential, vice-presidential, and the senatorial race.
The respondents were named Rodolfo Javellana Jr. of the Coalition of Clean Air Advocates of the Philippines (CCAAP) and the Mata Sa Balota Movement (MBM), the PPCRV chairman, Henrietta De Villa, Smartmatic’s Marlon Garcia, and the COMELEC.
The complaint directly accused the COMELEC of having an Information Technology (IT) expert to intentionally introduce a new script in the computer system while the votes are being canvassed during the May 9 vote counting. According to the report, this has violated the rules under the Republic Act 9369 or the Automated Elections Law, which writes, “the credibility of the entire electoral process in doubt.”
The report added that Smartmatic, the automation service provider, allowed the switching of a script in the system.
“The switching in the script could not have been made alone by the respondent Smartmatic IT personnel except for and with the connivance of a Comelec personnel who was responsible for the safekeeping of the password (match code) which he provided to the former,” said the complainant as quoted in the report.
The complainant also pointed out that this affected the unexplained surge and the decline in the vote counting, especially in the vice-presidential and senatorial race.
What do you think of this complaint filed against the COMELEC, PPCRV, and Smartmatic?
Could it lead into a change in the election results?
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