Comelec checking reports some ballots were not checked for authenticity

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is still verifying reports claiming that ballots fed into voting machines may not have been checked for authenticity. The poll body "is still verifying these cases," Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal told GMANews.TV on early evening of Monday, the day the Philippines’ held its first nationwide automated polls. Various precincts across the country may have failed to use ultraviolet (UV) lamps, a device that was supposed to check authenticity of ballots, anecdotal reports reaching GMANews.TV said. Election inspectors in various areas in Quezon, Antipolo, Cebu, and Iloilo cities may have overlooked using UV lamps, reports reaching GMANews.TV said. UV lamps, which were bought days before the nationwide polls, were supposed to be used on a ballot’s security markings. Besides helping verify its authenticity, security markings on ballots are expected to prevent fraud. In one voting center — precinct 1223 in Krus na Ligas Elementary School in the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City — the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) said that it didn’t use the UV lamps it was provided with. After all, the voting machines accepted the ballots anyway, a member of the BEI said. “May isang nagrequest na gamitan yung balota niya ng UV lamp. Dun lang kami gumamit," a BEI member told GMANews.TV on Monday night in a separate report. (One voter requested to have his ballot scanned by the UV lamp. That was the only time we used it.) The BEI of another precinct in the same school related a similar story. “Ang sabi samin ng Smartmatic technician, gamitin lang namin kung gusto ng voter. Sumusunod lang kami sa kanila," the BEI explained. (The Smartmatic technician told us to use UV lamps if the voter requested it. We were merely following their instructions. Meanwhile, Luz Pasuengos, the BEI chair for yet another precinct, said that the UV lamps were used for every one of their ballots. But at the same time, she said that they were unaware of any guidelines covering the use of the lamps. “Hindi naman kami sinabihan kung may guidelines. Basta inilawan lang namin yung mga balota," she said. (We weren’t even told if there were guidelines. We just placed the ballots under the UV lamps.) A separate report said that the device was also used in Bulacan. Precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines were initially expected to scan ballots’ security markings and verify their but the function was later turned off. "Without the security check, there’s no way of checking whether the ballots are genuine," said Romel Bagares in a text message sent to GMANews.TV. Bagares is a lawyer for Concerned Citizens’ Movement, which filed a case against poll automation. "Switching can happen at this stage," he said, referring to ballots that were not immediately counted because the poll machines either failed to proceed or broke down. - with Jerrie M. Abella, Pauline Nikka A. Corsino, and Robert JA Basilio Jr., GMANews.TV