Comelec: Technician with 67 poll machines at home just doing his job

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday cleared from any liability the technician who brought home 67 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines in Antipolo City, saying he was just doing his job and nothing more. Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said that Smartmatic technician Felipe de Leon was just following procedure when he kept 67 PCOS units in his home in Antipolo City. "This is a standard procedure... the technician (is) responsible (for the machine) until it is pulled out," Jimenez said at a press briefing.

For his part, Smartmatic Asia president Cesar Flores said that it is in the procedure that the voting machines remain in the custody of the poll machine supplier's technician should the school where it is being kept have security concerns. "(The) technician (was) just doing his job... (he) could not leave machines at the school," Flores said during the same briefing. Jimenez said the security in the school could not be guaranteed so De Leon, as an authorized personnel, kept the machines in his home. Flores likewise noted that the PCOS units were just leased to the Comelec, meaning they have the right to take them back after the conduct of the automated polls. The polls ended Monday at 7 p.m. He said that they were supposed to pull out the machines on Thursday but could not anymore do so because of the "frenzy" that has been caused in the area by the "discovery" of the 67 machines. He said that once they have addressed the security issues, the machines will finally be pulled out. Jimenez, however, said that the situation is being "exploited to foster fear and mistrust of the elections" by people who "forcibly... released their opinions that something was going on." "(It is) unfortunate napanguanhan po ng pangamba at duda kaya lumaki nang lumaki (It is unfortunate that the situation was preempted by doubt and fear that's why the issue exploded)," he said. But Flores said that people should not be worried about possible manipulation because the memory cards which have the election results have already been brought to the respective municipal board of canvassers. "There's nothing wrong, there is nothing that can be done with those machines. I would like to ask that no alarms are raised in this case," he said. — LBG/RSJ, GMANews.TV