Comelec begins decryption in VP poll protest

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has started the decryption and printing of the ballot images in the three pilot provinces identified by the camp of former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos in his poll protest against President Ma. Leonor “Leni” Robredo.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the decryption process is merely the first step in order for the recount of votes to be able to proceed.

“There are a total of 2.6 million votes. Decryption is kind of a long process... it can take as long as seven months,” he said in an interview.

The Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) earlier ordered the start of the decrypting and printing of the ballot images in the three pilot provinces identified by Marcos namely, Camarines Sur, Iloilo, and Negros Oriental.

Under the process, the revisors shall be tasked to decrypt the ballot images captured when the voters fed the accomplished ballots to the vote counting machines (VCMs).

After decryption, the images will then be printed for them to be used by both parties during the revision process.

Jimenez said they don’t expect to come out with a partial or incomplete results.

Lawyer Victor Rodriguez, spokesman of Marcos, welcomed Monday’s start of the decryption saying this will facilitate and expedite the election protest of BBM.

“We are glad that the case is finally moving forward because each step forward is a step closer to the truth,” he said in a statement. Leni, BBM camps lock horns on delay The camp of Marcos also scored the counsels of Robredo for allegedly trying to postpone the scheduled decryption on the pretext that they only brought two revisors.

The camp of Robredo was quick to debunk the claims that it tried to delay the decryption process by filing a motion before the Supreme Court (SC), sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal.

“In an unsurprising move, the camp of Mr. (Ferdinand) Marcos (Jr.) is once again peddling fake news,” Robredo’s lawyer Maria Bernadette Sardillo said.

Marcos’ lawyer claimed that Robredo filed a motion to postpone the decryption, saying that they only brought two revisors.

“All these constant and spurious delaying tactics by the Robredo camp have been going on for more than a year now. What are they afraid of?” said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez said in the last year and a half, Robredo’s camp has done nothing but question all of BBM’s efforts to expedite the resolution of his election protest, including his move for technical examination and evaluation of the Election Day Computerized Voters’ List (EDCVL) of the three Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) provinces which is subject of a separate cause of action.

But Sardillo said his claim can “easily be belied by the Commission on Election’s official recording of the proceedings.”

Robredo’s lawyer denied they filed such motion.

“There was no attempt to delay the proceeding on our part. The official record of the proceedings will speak for itself,” said Sardillo.

She said that Marcos should advise his lawyers to “look promptly at their own submissions to the court and get their facts straight so they can say who has been causing delays in this case.”

“After all, who failed to comply and submit the names of witnesses despite being directed to do so?” Sardillo asked.