BEHIND
THE SCENES
Alfred
P. Dizon
UP to this time,
numerous reports on media and online platforms are surfacing of malfunctioning
vote counting machines (VCMs), pre-programmed results, vote-buying, coercion among
others during the May 9 elections
Following
these, all eyes are now on the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting
(PPCRV) days after the partial and unofficial tally of the election results
came out.
But contrary
to the knowledge of many, according to an article by Dhel Nazario, “the poll
watchdog was not conducting a manual vote count but rather a parallel count.”
Nazario
quoted PPCRV spokesperson lawyer Vann Dela Cruz, “it’s done by matching the
electronically transmitted election returns (ERs) with the physically printed
ones which were both generated by the VCMs. But since there was already a
reliable source of transmitted ERs such as the transparency server and the
canvass being conducted by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), then why was
there a need for a parallel count?”
***
Dela Cruz
said when the Automated Election System (AES) was first introduced, there were
skeptics who were wondering if there was a possibility that the numbers
transmitted by the VCM can be intercepted. “Once the VCM transmits into the
cyberspace, someone might intercept the data. Intercept it, change the figures
and once it reaches the server if the VCM only transmitted 10 votes, it may
become 20),” he explained.
The solution
was before the VCMs even transmit the election returns, eight pre-transmitted
copies will be printed first. One of which will be given to the PPCRV.
“The election
return transmitted by the same VCM, which it printed and sent into the
cyberspace to be received by the server…should be a match. That’s the idea,” he
said.
***
A press time,
the poll watchdog said it has fully encoded a total of 16,820 election returns
(ERs) so far which resulted in a 100 percent match.
When asked if
the match meant there was no discrepancy found, Dela Cruz said that was what
the data showed and that they were just sharing it with the public.
Is the PPCRV
the only one who can conduct this unofficial parallel count every election?
According to
Dela Cruz, they’re not. He said other groups may file a petition before the
Comelec to become an accredited citizen’s arm.
Groups must
also provide credentials stating that they have the capability such as manpower
to do the task, and they are competent enough to receive the fourth copy of the
ER
Are the
printed ERs reliable?
***
During a talk
on Friday, May 13, Dela Cruz did a test with the crowd where they determined if
the “hash code” written on each ER wherever their place of origins are, is the
same; and they were. He explained this means that these came from the same VCMs
and programmed with the same source codes.
The poll
watchdog has so far reportedly received 24,640 ERs.
Most of the
ERs came from the National Capital Region (NCR), certain provinces of Luzon
particularly in Pangasinan, Laguna, Bulacan, Cavite, Ilocos Norte, Sorsogon,
and the province of Rizal. There were also ERs that came from Mindanao, which
were from Misamis Oriental. They have not yet processed ERs from Visayas.
***
Meanwhile, a PPCRV
official on Thursday, May 12, reiterated the church-based poll watchdog’s task was
to compare physical election returns to the electronically-transmitted ones and
not recount the tally of votes for the May 2022 polls.
“Others are
thinking that we are recounting. That is not in the law and it is not what we are
doing. It can be done, but that is not our mandate and that is not what is in
the law. We do not recount but compare),” said PPCRV spokesperson Atty. Vann
Dela Cruz in a press briefing on Thursday, May 12.
He said as
mandated by the law, the PPCRV receives the fourth copy of the pre-transmitted
ERs. Dela Cruz explained that these “pre-transmission physical ERS” will be
compared to the electronically-transmitted ones.
In relation
to this, a total of 24,640 ERs have reportedly arrived at PPCRV’s command
center in the University of Santo Tomas as of 11:20 a.m on Thursday. Of these
ERS, only 16,820 have been fully-encoded.
“These
fully-encoded ERs have been matched or validated with the electronic
transmission and the first batch of validation yielded 100% match,” said Dela
Cruz.
The expert
debunked circulating claims that there had been chaos at PPCRV’s command
center.
“We are in a
good situation here and we do not see any disturbance. We are calm here at
PPCRV. We continue to do this and we continue to receive ERs, we continue to
validate, and we continue to match results,” added Dela Cruz.
***
Despite
numerous reports that surfaced on social media during election day on May 9
regarding malfunctioning VCMs, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) maintained
that no voter disenfranchisement occurred.
In a press
briefing earlier on Tuesday, May 10, Comelec Acting Spokesperson John Rex C.
Laudiangco said that they did not even need to extend the voting hours since
they “delivered their commitment” since those who lined up at 7 p.m. they were
allowed to vote no matter how long it took.
He mentioned
that all the lessons learned during the conduct of the May 2022 elections will
be taken into the consideration of the poll body to make sure that the next
elections in 2025 will be better.
***
On the other
hand, Commissioner Marlon Casquejo stated that the malfunctioning VCMs that
were encountered on election day were not significant as compared to 2019,
stating that over 5,000 machines had problems during that time.
For this
election, he said that 915 machines encountered problems. He added that it will
be computed and multiplied for example to at least 500 registered voters, it’s
significantly smaller than the 64 million plus registered voters.
“We all know
that machines have glitches. There’s no such thing as perfect system.
Especially machines. Even cellphones like iPhones or any high-end cellphone
might freeze,” he said.
“Things as
such as those really happen and out of 106,000 only 900 malfunctioned and
there’s a reason behind it,” he added.
What’s
important, he explained, is that the said glitches do not affect election
results. Casquejo stated that this may be the last time that the said VCMs will
be used and for the next elections in 2025, they may ask Congress to lease out
new VCMs or any machine or technology that is allowed that can do the job.
Meanwhile,
according to reports, people were not that convinced of poll results due to
speculations aired on social media that for one, an IT expert from China headed
a group that pre-programmed vote machines, thus the huge gap of votes between
presidential contenders Bongbong Marcos and Leni Robredo.
People were
also wondering why there were no victory parties or wild dancing on the
streets.
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