COMELEC to probe Sotto fraud expose

THE Commission on Elections (COMELEC) on Wednesday said it will investigate alleged poll irregularities earlier exposed by Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III that supposedly altered the results of the 2016 national elections.

James Jimenez, the COMELEC spokesman, said the commission will conduct its own investigation and will coordinate with Sotto who on Wednesday called for a congressional inquiry into the election anomalies, which include early transmission of votes and foreign access into the election server.

"Kailangan tignan natin yung datos na hawak ni Sen. Sotto kasi yung access, maari namang yung tinutukoy niya ay napapadala ng datos mula sa atin. [We have to take a look at the documents in the hands of Sen. Sotto.  Perhaps the access he was talking about could have been the sending of data to us]," Jimenez said.

"The Comelec shares Senator Sotto's call to determine the accuracy of these allegations.  The commission understands the grave importance of this matter and will, itself, strive to determine the veracity of these claims," he added.

Sotto said he got information about the poll irregularities from "an impeccably reliable source."

Malacanang also prodded the COMELEC to investigate Sotto's expose.


"Sana po maimbestigahan po ito ng COMELEC at ang Senado rin naman imbestigahan 'yan (I hope the Comelec and the Senate will make an investigation," Roque told reporters.

"Hayaan po natin silang mag-imbestiga at titignan din po natin kung uutusan din ng Presidente and sariling investigative branches ng gobyerno (So let's allow them to investigate and let's see if President [Rodrigo Duterte] will also direct other government branches to look into it)," he added.

Complete picture

Jimenez said to determine the veracity of Sotto's claims, the COMELEC needs to have "the complete picture" particularly on the transmission of vote results.

He added that the poll body will ask Smartmatic, who provided the automated election system that has been in use since 2010, to explain if there were problems in the voting process in the 2016 elections.

"We have to be more careful ahead of next year's May elections; it is important to keep the work going," Jimenez said.

He said the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines provided by Smartmatic were configured to read actual ballots.

Sotto said a Senate investigation would determine if poll irregularities did occur.

"It is high time that the proper Senate committee investigates the Automated Election System and subpoena COMELEC and Smartmatic to provide the relevant data, as regards these allegations," he said in a privilege speech on Tuesday.

"I believe that the outcome of any investigation on this matter will surely lead to more accurate and transparent system and results for the coming 2018 elections," he added.

The Senate electoral reforms committee headed by Sen. Richard Gordon has yet to act on Sotto's claims. [Catherine S. Valente, The Manila Times]