THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) slammed Friday the alleged reports on irregularities during the vote counting machine (VCM) final testing and sealing held Thursday.
Complaints raised included the mismatch between the actual vote casted and the result reflected on the voter's receipt.
Comelec-Davao third district Election Assistant 2 Jonathan Casquejo, in a media forum held at the Vinta Bar of the Waterfront Insular Hotel Saturday, said that it is impossible that such thing will happen.
The question was raised by the members of the media during the forum following the different complaints heard from citizens that after they voted for their candidate, they were surprised to see that their actual voter's receipt reflected a different candidate.
"It is not true that if you vote for [your candidate] the turnout reflected in the receipt is [a different candidate]," Casquejo said in the vernacular.
Casquejo, however, said that if that happens, the voter can express his or her complaint to the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) so that necessary action will be made.
"Pag naay mag complain [regarding ana] ipasa namo sa [Comelec] main office ang report but I don't know how long na ma process (If there is a complaint, we will forward it to the Comelec-Main Office but I don’t k'ow how long the process will take)," Casquejo said.
Comelec assured that they will make necessary actions to resolve complaints but he said that their main office will handle it.
Liaison officer Aileen Lourdes Lizada of the Operation on Election that is Clean, Honest, Accurate, Meaningful, and Peaceful (Echamp), a national citizen's movement accredited by the Comelec for poll watching activities, said in the same media forum that they had so far not received any similar report from their volunteers.
Lizada said that according to the data from the Comelec, there are only four VCMs which had minor glitches but she was quick to add that the Comelec has prepared contingency VCMs which will be utilized if there are any problem found with other machines.
There are 10 contingency VCMs in the first district, 10 in the second district, and nine in the third district, Lizada said.
Casquejo also said that the VCMs are already placed in their designated polling places.