Palace sees 'malice' in calls for parallel manual count

(Updated 5:06 p.m.) Malacañang is seeing “malice" in the calls for the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to conduct parallel manual counting during the first ever nationwide automated elections on May 10. This, as a former Comelec chairman added his voice to the growing calls for a parallel manual count on May 10. “The timing of these petitions, for me, is with malice," said deputy presidential spokesman Rogelio Peyuan at a press briefing in Malacañang on Tuesday. “Why only now? If they really think that this is meritorious, why [didn’t they] even bother to raise these concerns during the public hearings at the congress," he added. Without elaborating, Peyuan said the petitions for a parallel count filed by several groups—including the influential Makati Business Club (MBC) and the Philippine Bar Association (PBA)—were highly-questionable. The petitions were asking the Comelec to implement the manual count in all precincts nationwide to ensure the credibility of the May elections. Monsod wants manual count too Also on Tuesday, former Comelec chairman Christian Monsod said the parallel count is the "best way" to test the reliability of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines and the source code or the software that will be used in the upcoming elections. "The manual count is the check on the electronic count. If the PCOS machine has been tainted, then the result will not be correct," said Monsod, who served as poll body chief from June 6, 1991 to Feb. 15, 1995, at a forum held in Intramuros, Manila. He said the Comelec should conduct a parallel count of the votes for president, vice president, and one local position before transmission. He added that a one-percent error rate is tolerable, but anything more than that is alarming. Comelec Resolution 9369 authorizes the Comelec to "prescribe" another manner or procedure for the canvassing and consolidation of votes. The same resolution also provides for a random manual audit of at least one precinct in each congressional district. The Comelec had earlier increased the number of precincts to be audited to five. Anti-poll automation Peyuan said a parallel manual count is not only expensive but also defeats the purpose of the automation, which is to avoid human error. He stressed that Comelec is ready to address the concerns being raised by the proponents of the parallel manual count. He added that the groups could be out to discredit the elections. “I fear that, based on our history, that if these kinds of suggestions were brought up in the last minute and was rejected, these groups will then accuse that there are anomalies in the automation exercise." Teachers want out Meanwhile, the Teachers Dignity Coalition (TDC) said that teachers should no longer be involved in case there would be a manual counting of votes on May 10. “Count us out," TDC national chairperson Benjo Basas said when asked if they support the conduct of a parallel manual count in the upcoming polls. “We are in favor of the parallel manual count to ensure that the results of the automated polls are authentic. Dapat talagang gawin ito ng Comelec pero sila na lang ang magbasa manually ng results at di na dapat pang masangkot dito ang mga teachers," Basas added. (The Comelec should conduct a parallel manual count but they should leave the teachers out of it.) The automated election system has reduced the Board of Election Inspector (BEI) requirement from 800, 000 to about 250, 000 teachers. — with Kim Tan/LBG/KBK, GMANews.TV