Poll body chair dismisses impeachment talk

CHAIRMAN Sixto Brillantes Jr. of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) shrugged off possible impeachment if the automated elections on May 13 will not be successful.

In an interview Thursday, Brillantes expressed confidence in the capability of the precinct count optical scan machines (PCOS) which were previously used in the 2010 presidential polls.

“After election, tapos na problema ko. Kung tapos na, hindi na nila ko impeach siguro naman,” he said. “Kung ipa-impeach pa rin nila ako maski successful, tatakbo na ako siguro na senador sa susunod na elections.”

To recall, the non-government Automated Election System (AES) Watch said Comelec officials could be committing “potentially impeachable offenses” if the re-use of the PCOS machines will result in an election failure.

In response, Brillantes challenged anyone who can hack the system running the machines and manipulate the poll results.

“The PCOS can’t be manipulated,” he said.

AES Watch, which is composed of IT professionals, businessmen and academicians, rated the Comelec’s readiness at 0.29 with 4 being the highest and 0 as the lowest.

The group also observed problems present in the last elections such as ballot rejections, transmission failures, inaccuracy of the vote count, and election returns and certificates of canvass not digitally signed as required by law, among others.

The Comelec conducted a mock poll in several areas in the country last February 2 where a PCOS machine in a Quezon City precinct had to be replaced after rejecting four successive ballots. (HDT/Sunnex)