Marcos vows to take legal action

THE camp of Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Saturday vowed to exhaust all legal actions possible to expose to the Filipino people the orchestrated attempt of the Aquino administration to rig the recent elections to favor administration candidates.

“We will take every available legal action to ensure that the votes of BBM are properly counted and protected; also to have those responsible for this faux pas to be held accountable for their misdeed,” said Marcos’ campaign manager Abakada party-list Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz.

Dela Cruz stressed the need for government agencies, including Congress, to investigate the alleged security breach when a Smartmatic official altered a script in the server of the Commission on Elections. 

“It is all our desire to search for truth. We want to know what happened during the last elections,” Dela Cruz said, stressing that as a Filipino citizen and member of Congress, it is only proper that the unauthorized script alterations be investigated.

Meanwhile, National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) council member Maricor Acol said she believed there was some “hocus pocus” committed to manipulate the election results.

“Even if there was a change in the hash code [of the transparency server], there was no change in the value of election returns as far as we are concerned… They should look at the VCM which transmits the results of the election receipts,” Acol said.

Acol said that what should be examined also is the hash code of vote counting machines instead of the transparency server.

She also said that apart from the transparency server, there is also an “intermediary server” which contains the information on the transmitted ballots and the time these ballots were transmitted.  

But this intermediary server is under the custody of the Smartmatic, Acol said, criticizing Smartmatic officials for the security breach.

For his part, Alyansang Duterte-Bongbong (AlDuB) convenor Lito Soriano said the existence of an “intermediary server” under the supervision of Smartmatic bolsters suspicions that there was indeed a deliberate attempt to manipulate the Comelec quick count.

Soriano said that the “intermediary server” was “very dangerous” as it is prone to manipulation.  

“If this server is in the custody of Smartmatic, we can say that the results of the vote count has already been compromised,” Soriano said.

Meanwhile, Marcos himself thanked his volunteers and supporters, who he said, deserve commendation for helping him in the campaign in the last general elections. 

“I want to profusely thank our volunteers and our supporters for their selfless act of giving their time and effort in helping ensure free, honest and credible elections,” he said. 

Marcos earlier urged the Comelec to stop the ongoing quick count of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) after reports of the script alteration.

The senator said the prayers and words of encouragement of his volunteers and supporters nationwide continue to inspire him to keep on seeking the truth.

“I also thanked the people who continue praying for me and I assure you that you will be my inspiration to continue the fight for the votes of the Filipinos,” said Marcos.

Marcos appealed for continued vigilance not only from his supporters but also from the election watchdogs as well, as he cited reports that as of Friday over 3,800 Vote Counting Machines still could not transmit election results.

“With a considerable number of votes that have yet to be transmitted we have to remain vigilant, yet calm and sober, to ensure that the true will of the people will be reflected in the results of the elections,” he said.

Marcos said a total of 555 VCMs from polling precincts in the Middle East and Africa still have to transmit results, 310 from North and Latin America, 339 from Asia and 152 from Europe. These VCMs, he added, should supposedly account for around 980,000 registered voters.

“Likewise, 333 VCMs from Lanao del Sur still need to transmit election results, 207 from Surigao del Sur, 158 in Maguindanao and 160 in Sulu.”

“I will rest when I am satisfied that the results that are being counted, that are official, are actually validated by the results as we can certainty confirm it from local reports that we get from the different precincts,” Marcos said.