Photo from BusinessWorld Online
By Junex Doronio
IN ITS BID TO RESOLVE ONCE AND FOR ALL that there was massive cheating in the 2022 presidential elections, Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman George Garcia said that he would propose to the Comelec en banc the opening of ballot boxes used last national polls.
“Naisip ng inyong lingkod para ma-settle once and for all, siguro ipo-propose ko sa en banc na gawa kami ng isang mabilisang procedure na kung saan 17 regions tayo, mamili na lang sila, pili ng kahit anong presinto, petitioner ang pipili, pabuksan natin ang ballot boxes,” Garcia said on Tuesday, October 17.
Garcia told reporters that this was a “win-win solution” to address the allegations of irregularities in Smartmatic’s services during the conduct of the 2022 electoral exercise.
“Bilangin natin isa-isa ang balota at tignan natin kung tumugma o hindi sa election returns,” Garcia dared critics of the 2022 polls.
Former Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) chief Eliseo Mijares Rio Jr., Augusto Cadelina Lagman, Franklin Fayloga Ysaac, and Leonardo Olivera Odono filed a petition last June 15 seeking to block Smartmatic from the poll body’s procurement of a new automated election system (AES) for the 2025 national and local elections.
Garica said the poll body was looking to resolve the issue by next week.
On the other hand, Smartmatic said on Tuesday that the allegations were “not only false but are mere baseless speculations with a singular goal of maligning our company.”
“We confidently stand by the demonstrable 100% accuracy of the results of the 2022 elections in the same way that we remain very confident in the untarnished reliability and integrity of our products and solutions,” Smartmatic said in a statement.
(ai/mnm)
