Discovery of 67 poll machines in Antipolo home triggers tension

The discovery of 67 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines stacked in a house in Antipolo City caused tension between the supporters of rival mayoral candidates there, a television report said Thursday. A GMA Network Flash Report said supporters of mayoral candidates Nilo Leyble and Rep. Lito Gatlabayan trooped to the house of Samartmatic technician Felipe de Leon in Carigma Extension, Tanag, Antipolo City, after rumors spread that the poll machines were brought there.
De Leon admitted he brought the PCOS machines after the Comelec Antipolo refused to accept them. He said he was too tired to wait until couriers of Smartmatic (the firm contracted to supply equipment for the automated polls) came to pick up the machines, so he decided to take the units home. The report said backup compact flash (CF) cards were also discovered along with the PCOS machines at De Leon’s house. To allay fears that the poll results may have been tampered, De Leon said the tally of votes had been transmitted before he brought the machines home. The report said lawyers of both camps, as well as elements of the Antipolo police, were already in the area to secure the poll machines, and were waiting for the arrival of the Comelec municipal coordinator. The local Comelec had proclaimed Leyble as mayor-elect last Wednesday. For his part, Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said there was no problem with De Leon’s initiative to keep the machines in his house, as long as the results had been transmitted, and that the polls were already over. On the other hand, the GMA Network’s report cited an information saying that another 10 PCOS machines were also stacked in the house of another Smartmatic technician in Flores subdivision, Barangay San Roque, Antipolo City. — LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV