SC asked: Compel Comelec to prosecute Smartmatic execs
A group of concerned citizens has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to compel the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to investigate and prosecute officials of Smartmatic- TIM over the alleged tampering of results of the automated election last May 9.
In a taxpayers’ petition filed last June 2, the group led by lawyer Eduardo Bringas asked the high court to issue a writ of mandamus ordering the Comelec to prosecute the Smartmatic personnel “who tampered with the AES and those who may have conspired (with) them.”
It also urged the SC to make sure the poll body would conduct “an independent and thorough investigation of the two reported incidents (where Smartmatic officers accessed the AES system during the canvassing of votes).”
The opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) has expressed support for the call of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) to investigate alleged poll irregularities in the recent elections.
UNA spokesman Mon Ilagan said the dismissive attitude of the Comelec on the reported claims of election fraud only shows that it does not give serious attention to the allegations.
“The lack of interest of the Comelec to investigate election irregularities raises suspicion,” said Ilagan. “Do we take the commission’s dismissive attitude as a passive rejection, or an intent to ignore legitimate claims from concerned parties like the PPCRV and other poll watchdogs?”
Ilagan said Comelec should already start its probe as videos and photos of election irregularities are now posted in social media sites.
In conducting the probe against Smartmatic-TIM, Bringas’ group specified that Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista and the other commissioners, who already made conclusions on the case, should inhibit from the investigation and possible cases.
It wanted the high court to seek an explanation for the supposed discrepancy in the vice presidential race, citing the sudden rise in the votes for Camarines Rep. and vice president- elect Leni Robredo.
They specifically sought an explanation on “the apparent erratic upsurge and abrupt fall in the discrepancy between the votes for the president and vice president on the following times of May 9, 2016 – 7:25 p.m., 7:45 p.m., 8:05 p.m., and 8:25 p.m. – wanting a specification of where the votes came from and where they were later assigned.”
Bringas, a petitioner in the earlier pork barrel scam cases, also urged the SC to compel the Comelec to allow their group and the public to have access to the source codes and hash codes that were certified on Jan. 26, Feb. 9, and Feb. 11, 2016 and to have these examined by competent IT experts.