SENATE Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III to investigate electronic voting company Smartmatic on allegations of rampant fraud and manipulation of votes similar to the dagdag-bawas system.
In a privilege speech Tuesday, March 6, Sotto said the committee on electoral reforms must conduct an immediate investigation since the next elections are approaching.
Quoting a source that he described as "impeccable," Sotto said there were votes cast in the May 2016 national elections that were voided for some candidates and transferred to others.
"May nakinabang sa mga nawalan ng boto. I don't want to base on hearsay, so I am asking the proper Senate committee to subpoena the DNS (domain name servers) logs of Smartmatic," Sotto said.
He also alleged that the counting machine was counting the votes even before the precinct opened to voters.
During the interpellation, Senator Grace Poe said she knows in her heart that President Rodrigo Duterte won the presidential race in 2016.
"I definitely lost as Duterte had no means to manipulate the elections. But the other positions should be looked into so it will not happen again," she said.
Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, who once was a victim of election fraud, explained that the total votes cannot exceed the official number of total voters.
"Something is wrong if the figures don't tally," he said.
During the interpellation, Sotto questioned the decision of the Committee on Elections (Comelec) to avail of Smartmatic's services again despite its failure to explain the many issues hurled against them.
Senator Panfilo Lacson said it is interesting to note that some questionable mark in the electronic reception of Smartmatic returns was marred with controversy.
"Our voters have an absolute right to choose their leaders. The pasa vote that benefit another candidate at another's expense sounds alarming and we should not allow this thing to happen again," Lacson said.
Senator Miguel Zubiri, for his part, said Congress should force the Comelec to suspend their decision to hire Smartmatic for the next elections. (PS Jun Sarmiento/SunStar Philippines)