Smartmatic admits PCOS errors on poll day

SIGNS OF FRAUD FLOOD HOUSE HEARING

Automated polls machine supplier Smartmatic admitted yesterday unforeseen errors in the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines on the day of the elections last May 10 primarily on the time stamps on election returns (ERs) that set off sparks flying at yesterday’s House hearing on the reported widespread electronic poll fraud.

Smartmatic electoral systems manager Heider Garcia when questioned by House members attributed the discrepancy in the stamps on the ERs and the actual voting period was an “unforeseen situation” that triggered Makati City Rep. Teodoro “Teddy Boy” Locsin, chairman of the House committee on electoral reforms and suffrage, to blow his gasket raising the possibility of fraud escaping detection by the Smartmatic system.

A masked whistleblower last Wednesday said a cheating syndicate was able to transmit forged results of the elections through the use of their own PCOS machines that sent results ahead of the official transmissions from voting centers.

“You sons of bitches! You had us standing here guaranteeing to the public and the world that even if fraud is committed, we would be able to trace it. You said we could trace it but now, you tell me that at 10 in the evening,

you could do it [false transmissions] and we would never know?” Locsin berated Garcia.

Doubts on the credibility of the recent elections grew as lawmakers raised questions about the “differing times and dates” recorded on the print out of the ERs from various precincts around the country.

Biliran Rep. Glenn Chong said the time printed on some of the election returns showed that the voting was held on “January 3 at 8 pm.” Another ER showed a different time: “Jan 24 at 12:56 am.” North Cotabato Vice Gov. Manny Pinol added an ER in his province showed print marks of a credit card.

Speaker Jose Nograles said he would ask the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to require Smartmatic officials to surrender back their passports due to their admission that the country’s first automated elections was not fraud proof.

“Watchers were simply given copies of the printed Election Returns many of which used unauthorized white thermal papers some of these with markings “Mastercard Citibank,” Pinol said during a hearing conducted by the House Committee on Suffrage and Elecoral Reforms.

“We have ER’s which were accomplished before the elections and even a day after the elections,” Pinol added. Garcia said the discrepancies in time and date were “unforeseen.”

Other lawmakers including Abakada-Guro Rep. Jonathan de la Cruz, Manila Mayor Lito Atienza also raised the same issues before the House panel.

“Do you realize what a fool you have made out of legislators who passed the (automated elections) law,” Makati Rep. Teodor Locsin shouted at the top of his voice upon hearing of Garcia’s explanation.

Camiguin Rep. Pedro Romualdo quickly asked that Locsin’s foul language be stricken off the record. When he first testified before lawmakers, Garcia said there can indeed be a difference in the date recorded but stressed that there is no way the actual time and that of the machine can be changed. Yesterday, however, Garcia admitted that time and day records can be varied.

Testifying before the committee, Atienza, Pinol and Biliran Rep. Glenn Chong complained that the election return printouts in their possession showed suspicious times and date elements that reflected the date of election as early as January to as late as May 11.

Sen. Jamby Madrigal, who showed up in the committee hearing, also made the same observation.

Also presenting their observations and accusations about the alleged rigged elections were Reps. Angelito Gatlabayan of Antipolo City and Monico Fuentevella of Bacolod City. Both lost their respective mayoral bids.

Atienza presented Manila City hall electronic data encorder Nilda Reluya who is willing to testify before the legislative body that they had encoded results of the elections a few days before May 10.

Reluya will be allowed to testify as soon as all complaints about the alleged poll frauds have been presented by lawmakers, Locsin said.

Locsin, revealed that at least 30 congressmen, mostly losers in the May 10 elections, may be expected to air accusations that they have been cheated in the elections.

Gatlabayan demanded a deeper probe into the discovery of 30 PCOS machines at the residence of an IT expert in Antipolo City. He claimed having received information that ten more machines used in manufacturing rigged election results are still missing.

Chong said ER’s have also been manipulated in Biliran, adding that he was cheated by at least 300 votes.

Pinol said that the Comelec should allow the physical appreciation of the ballots cast in North Cotabato and that all PCOS machines and voter’s registration record for the province be submitted to the House panel so that these can be used in determining whether there was fraud in the area.

Locsin himself alleged that in Makati alone the elections appeared to have been characterized by irregularities, as votes that were counted by the PCOS machines were recorded in the wee hours of May 11.

Party-list representative Dela Cruz raised the issue of defective PCOS machines and possible fraud emanating from the more than 6,000 standby PCOS machines that were used as replacements for the defective ones. Dela Cruz explained that certain PCOS machines could have contained pre-programmed compact flash cards to reflect higher votes for favored candidates.

In the end, dela Cruz moved that the committee require Comeelc and Smartmatic to submit an inventory of all PCOS machines and CF cards to determine their conditions when they were used in the last elections.

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, who is identified as the legal adviser of former president Joseph Estrada, asked Comelec and Smartmatic executives the official reason for the reported discovery of certain PCOS machines and election paraphernalia in a dumpsite. In Rep. Rodriguez’s view, the discovery of those PCOS machines and election paraphernalia in a dumpsite could indicate the existence of fraud that could prove disadvantageous to certain candidates.

Comelec officials led by Commissioner Larrazabal and Director Tolentino took turns to explain that the discovery was first reported to mass media, generating public attention to it. Comelec did not immediately learn about it until media reports triggered the controversy, although this is an issue that is currently being investigated, Tolentino said.

Rep. Rodriguez also raised the issue of digital signatures on the certificates of canvass (CoCs), asking the Comelec officials and Smartmatic executives about the possibility of tampering to favor certain candidates. Comelec and Smartmatic officials, especially Melo and Flores, explained that the digital signatures could not be tampered with and the canvassing servers were programmed to count and canvass only those transmitted CoCs with valid digital signatures.

Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte also raised the possibility of delayed proclamations of a new president and vice president, saying that the questions of the validity of the CoCs, which Congress will count as a national canvassing body, could delay the process.

Locsin averred that the public hearing was not intended to air misgivings and perceptions but the issues affecting the proclamation of the new president and vice president, stressing that it was to allow defeated candidates to explain their sides. But Rep. Villafuerte persisted anyway hoping to elicit answers on the issue of delayed proclamation.

Comelec chairman Melo refused to answer the question directly but cited a provision of Republic Act No. 9369 or the Automated Election System Law that allows the system of canvassing to prevent delay. –Gerry Baldo, Daily Tribune