Decrease in numbers in transparency server seen

A discrepancy was noticed in the numbers posted on the Comelec-GMA Mirror Server early Friday morning, a report on Unang Balita by Joseph Morong said.

As of 12:30 a.m. on Friday, it was noticed that the number of votes for candidates posted on the mirror server were going down.

This was seen with the votes for vice presidential candidates Leni Robredo and Bongbong Marcos.

As of 9:45 p.m. on May 12, Robredo had 13,992,738 while Marcos had 13,775,616 votes.

By 10:45 p.m. on May 12, Robredo had 13,992,642 while Marcos had 13,775,470 votes.

An hour later, at 11:45 p.m. on May 12, Robredo had 13,992,549 votes while Marcos had 13,775,365 votes.

Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista, during an interview with GMA's Arnold Clavio on Unang Balita on Friday said they removed test votes that were inadvertently transmitted to the system.

He explained that there were pre-logic and accuracy tests conducted on the vote counting machines (VCMs) before the election. The actual names of the candidates were used for the test run. It was only during the mock elections that names of candidates were not used, he said.

“Kasi bago po sa araw ng halalan, gusto natin siguraduhin na ang ating sistema ay gumagana at nagkakaroon ng transmission kung kaya't may mga ilan-ilang mga test votes ang pinapadala. Pero pagkatapos, pinapadala. 'Yun ang dapat ay binubura. Pero may mga lugar na hindi nila nabura. For example nga ito pong Davao del Sur,” said Bautista.

“Nag-transmit (ang Davao del Sur) sa sistema. Ang kabuuan ng bumoto ay 1,797. Nagtaka kami dahil ang daming botante sa Davao del Sur, mahigit sa 300,000. So sabi namin talagang merong mali 'yan. Nag-transmit ng bagong COC (Certificate of Canvass) ang provincial Board of Canvassers. Lumabas ng 300,000 ang kabuuan. Kung kaya 'yung mga test votes na 1,797 ay aming tinanggal,” he added.

Bautista said the test votes that were removed are minimal and these will not affect the ranking of the candidates.

At the time when the number of votes for the vice presidential candidates and candidates for other positions were going down Monday night, the Comelec was removing the test votes.

“Nililinis na. Tinatanggal na po 'yung mga test vote,” Bautista said.

When asked if Comelec can show the details of the action taken, Bautista replied, “Dapat may detalye.”

On why the votes were going down, Bautista explained that BOCs transmit both test votes and actual number of votes as he cited the case of Davao del Sur.

“Sa Davao del Sur, pumasok pareho at parehong tinanggap. So kailangan ibawas 'yung mali,” he said.

“Ang nangyari, pinadala ang test votes, tinanggap. Tapos pinadala 'yung tama, parang yata hindi tinanggap. Kaya ang ginawa ng provincial board, nagpadala at nagpadala ulit. Pero pareho lang 'yung numerong pinadala nila para lang siguraduhin na matatanggap ng transmission system,” he added.

‘Ñ fix’

On Thursday, Comelec officials said the change made in the transparency server at the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) was mere cosmetic or superficial changes.

And this change was to correct a character in the names of candidates with "ñ" in them.

On the same day, during the canvassing of the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), it was revealed that test votes were transmitted together with the votes cast.

In Davao del Sur where there are 310,010 votes cast last May 9, the number of votes was mixed with 1,797 test votes.

What was done during the canvassing was that the officials called Comelec provincial election supervisor for Davao del Sur, Atty. Allan Cadon, who carried with him the actual copies of the Certificates of Canvass from the province.

These copies were presented to the representatives of the senatorial candidates and partylist groups.

The COC will be the basis of the official votes, according to the Comelec, and not the ones used for the partial, unofficial count of the transparency server.

On Monday night, the votes from Davao del Sur were transmitted to the transparency server, according to Comelec Commissioner Christian Robert Lim.

A similar incident happened in Rizal province, which is under Laguna province. there were also test votes mixed with actual votes cast.

Comelec officials say this was the result of the VCM operator's failure to reset the machine to zero. —Joseph Morong and Bernadette Parco/KG, GMA News