Comelec commissioner scolds poll lawyer over request for audit logs

A lawyer for a party-list group earned the ire of Commission on Elections commissioner Rowena Guanzon on Wednesday when he asked for the audit logs on the glitches the automated election system suffered on Monday night.

Partial and unofficial results reflected on the Comelec's transparency server got bogged down for several hours before getting reactivated early Tuesday morning.

"This is a canvassing and you should not cite your objection in the stage of canvassing," Guanzon told Attorney Rommel Bagares, legal counsel for Append party-list.

The Comelec official even warned that Bagares would be cited in contempt if he refuses to stop voicing his sentiment.

"Chair may I move that this counsel's microphone be turned off and the marshal should require him to sit down... You're wasting our time already," Guanzon said.

"You sit down before you get into trouble. You sit down so we can continue the canvass," she added.

Comelec Commissioner Guanzon scolds lawyer Rommel Bagares, legal counsel of Append partylist, for raising concerns during the canvassing of votes. #Eleksyon2019 pic.twitter.com/wq58WjIn8p

— ????Anna Felicia (@annafelicia_) May 15, 2019

In an ambush interview, Bagares underscored that if there is really transparency in the recent midterm elections, he should be allowed access to the audit logs.

"'Yung logs po kasi ano, sa batas po di po pinagbabawal, wala pong sinasabi 'yung batas na wala kaming karapatan. Sa katunayan, nakatayo nga po ito sa prinsipyo ng transparency sa atin pong eleksyon," Bagares said.

"Kung may transparency po sa ating eleksyon, dapat po makita natin paano po binibilang ang ating mga boto. Sinasabi nila na java error lang pero hindi po nila maipaliwanag ng maayos kung papaano sa loob ng pitong oras eh wala po silang sinasabi," he added.

Bagares, meanwhile, expressed apology to Guanzon. However, he admitted that he cannot comprehend why Guanzon got mad at him, noting that he did not violate any rule in airing his concern.

"Ako po ay nagpapaumanhin kay Commissioner Guanzon kung hindi niya naiintindihan ang aking sinasabi dahil sa mikropono. Pero 'yun pong ibang Commissioner ay narinig po ang sinabi ko at humingi po ako ng permiso at ibinigay po ang permiso sa akin kaya di ko po maintindihan kung bakit bigla siyang nagsusumigaw," Bagares said.

"Wala naman pong pinagbabawal sa atin pong rules ng canvassing para po gumawa ng ganoong manifestation and motion," he added.

A glitch occurred on Monday evening that Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said may be due to a problem with the application that pushes the data from the transparency server to the different media outlets.

The hitch in the system caused a halt to the unofficial count of media organizations and watchdog groups for the 2019 midterm elections. —NB, GMA News