Errors in CoCs found in 57 provinces, NCR By Angie M. Rosales 06/05/2010

Smartmatic’s counting system blamed; debugging urged Errors in CoCs found in 57 provinces, NCR By Angie M. Rosales 06/05/2010 At least 57 provinces as well as cities of the National Capital Region (NCR) were found to have erroneous certificates of canvass on account of these being the CoCs based on final testing and sealing (FTS) returns, not the May 10 returns.  This confusion, the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) said yesterday, is attributed to Smartmatic’s erroneous counting system used for the May 10 synchronized elections. CenPEG IT Fellow, Dr. Pablo Manalastas, shared this explanation in response to Thursday’s debate at the joint congressional canvassing committee triggered by the submission of two CoCs, one of which was the corrected version. But the confusion prompted the joint committee to defer the canvassing for Bacolod.  As a result, Manalastas said, both the Commission Elections (Comelec) and Congress should now debug all CoCs that incorporated FTS results. Data extracted from Comelec’s website http://electionresults.comelec. gov.ph showed at least 57 provinces and cities have this problem, he said. Manalastas hastened to add, however, that “the committee actually has a much bigger problem, namely, the fact that many cities and provinces had FTS election returns included in their CoCs, and these cities and provinces have not yet submitted reconciliation CoCs.” He said this problem resulted from the failure of the Smartmatic’s counting and canvassing system (CCS) program to reject the invalid CoCs and accept only the valid ones. The Smartmatic CCS program was not subjected to a testing and certification in accordance with Philippine election laws, despite the SysTest testing and certifications issued by Comelec’s Technical Evaluation Committee, Manalastas said. Despite these flawed CoCs that have been canvassed, the new president and vice president may be known by mid next week, in time for the commemoration of the country’s Independence Day. Senators, sitting in the National Board of Canvassers (NBoC) yesterday assured that the president-elect and vice president-elect will be proclaimed simultaneously either by Tuesday or Wednesday. This, despite pleadings and posturing by the camp of Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas, Liberal Party (LP) vice presidential candidate, contesting the estimated three million “null votes,” to have these audited by the NBoC. “We will dispose of that (motion) because some of those raised in those pleadings are matters that can only be handled by opening the ballot boxes. “In a canvassing process you cannot open the ballots. Only the electoral tribunals can open the ballot boxes. Only they can go to the ballots. The canvassers do not go to the ballots,” said Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile. “There’s no reason not to proclaim both, as far as I know there is no major issue left to delay the proclamation of one or the other,” he added. The NBoC is set to resume on Monday afternoon the canvassing of the five remaining CoCs coming from Mt. Province, Bacolod City, Davao City, Eastern Samar and Lanao del Sur estimated to be between 1.4 to 1.5 million votes, which is believed to spell a difference in the standings in the vice presidential race of Roxas and Jejomar Binay of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP).... MORE     Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100605hed1.html

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