Philippines News Source: may 2013 elections

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Bishop accuses Comelec of ‘stonewalling’ on PCOS

A Catholic bishop on Saturday accused the Commission on Elections (Comelec) of repeatedly “stonewalling” when questions are raised about the integrity of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines that will be used in the May 2013 automated elections.

Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo cited in particular the warnings from the election watchdog Automated Election System (AES) Watch that “wholesale cheating” could occur with the use of the PCOS machines.

AES Watch and Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. gave a briefing for the bishops in a plenary session last month but Pabillo said the Comelec chief left them with more questions than answers.

According to the bishop, even with the elections now being completely automated, he has received information that so-called “election operators” were asking for P20 million to “fix” a provincial gubernatorial race and P70 million for a mayoralty race in Metro Manila.

No problems in mock polls, says Brillantes

There were some glitches but no major problems.

Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. acknowledged only “minor” problems in the dry run for the May 2013 elections that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) conducted on Saturday in 10 selected areas across the country.

The glitches mainly involved the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines not starting immediately or paper ballots jamming.

“We saw no major problem. We had some initial minor problems but everything has settled down,” Brillantes told a press conference at P. Bernardo High School in Quezon City, one of the main voting centers.

“It’s speculative but maybe since the PCOS machines were last used in the 2010 elections, or two-and-a-half years ago, we needed to heat them up a bit,” he said.

Eric Alvia, secretary general of the election watchdog National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), had a more extensive list that included conflicting voters’ lists, PCOS machines with missing clips, rollers that did not work, technical staff who did not report early and low turnout.