PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday, May 30, advised the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to stop the use of vote counting machines (VCMs) supplied by Venezuela-based technology provider Smartmatic for the Philippine elections.
In a speech delivered in Japan, the President wanted the Comelec to find new contractor that is “free of fraud.”
“Dispose of Smartmatic and look for a new one that is free of fraud,” Duterte said before the Filipino community in Japan.
“Improve on the system. Ayoko naman mag-attribute ng corruption. Kasi pabalik-balik na ‘yan bakit pa sige Smartmatic (I don’t want to attribute to corruption. Why do we keep on using machines from Smartmatic?” he added.
The reported malfunction of a number of VCMs delayed voting in several polling precincts all throughout the country during the May 13 midterm elections.
Duterte’s latest statement came more than two weeks after he said he would first listen to the Comelec’s explanation regarding the faulty VCMs before calling for an investigation.
Earlier, the Comelec admitted that the issues concerning VCMs tripled this year, compared to machine glitches during the conduct of the 2016 national elections.
In his latest speech, Duterte said he was planning to make his announcement during his fourth State of the Nation Address (Sona) in July, but he could not hide disappointment over the defective VCMs from Smartmatic.
“I was reserving that for the Sona. I will tell the Comelec, independent body ‘yan pero sabihin ko talaga sa kanila (it’s an independent body but I have to tell them that),” Duterte said.
“I will assure you, I will bring this matter before the nation. At sabihin ko sa kanila, stop it because you are creating a problem na puputok talaga (that will surely burst),” he added. (SunStar Philippines)