The minority bloc in the House of Representatives on Wednesday sought a congressional probe into the decision of the Commission on Elections to acquire the P2.2-billion vote-counting machines that were used in the 2016 elections.
House minority leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez questioned the move of the Comelec to purchase the VCMs from Venezuelan firm Smartmatic, citing alleged irregularities and allegations of cheating in the 2016 elections.
“The issue of whether or not the 2016 elections is a true reflection of the people’s choice remains a dark cloud that is cast on the integrity of the electoral process and the Commission in charge of its proper conduct,” Suarez said at a news conference.
“It behooves us now to conduct the appropriate investigations in aid of legislation, to determine whether the Commission and Smartmatic have been, and continue to be equal to the task of maintaining honest elections,” he added.
Suarez said looking back at the 2016 elections, Comelec and Smartmatic faced allegations of cheating in the national and local levels.
“We have seen the most number of election protests and contests filed—14 for local positions, 28 in the House of Representatives, 1 in the Senate, and 1 for the second highest position in the country,” Suarez said.
“We cannot help but question, why would the Comelec purchase from the same supplier, the same units which were used in the contentious 2016 elections?” he asked.
Suarez also cited former defeated vice presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s claims of ballot images which had questionable marks that may indicate electoral fraud.
“Poll results from clustered precincts in Leyte, Basilan, Quezon City and OAV (overseas absentee voting) precincts such as in South Korea, recorded 0 votes for 3 out of 5 presidential candidates, which are a statistical impossibility,” Suarez said.
With the issues involving the Comelec and Smartmatic, and the integrity of the 2016 polls, Suarez said “we cannot turn a blind eye from the risks that the 2019 polls would be facing.”
Senior deputy minority leader and Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza backed Suarez’s resolution, saying the country must not rely on a foreign firm for its elections.
“There’s an obvious and clear bias for Smartmatic. It is it clear that those machines may be tampered with?” Atienza said.
Atienza, former mayor of Manila, cited alleged anomalies in the ballots in the city.