House to look into alleged poll fraud on Wednesday

On Wednesday, the House of Representatives will hold its own investigation of alleged irregularities that occurred during the county’s first nationwide automated polls last May 10. The House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reform will hold a hearing on the automated elections a week after polls were held, House Speaker Prospero Nograles said in an interview aired over GMA News’ 24 Oras.
On Tuesday, Nograles met with House members, mostly those who lost their reelection bid, to discuss details of the investigation. According to GMA News Research, as reported over 24 Oras, 19 incumbents of the Lower House lost their reelection bids. This is on top of other House members who ran for local government posts but also lost. The House Speaker, who lost his bid to become Davao City mayor in this year’s polls, said Congress will invite officials from the Commission on Elections and from poll machine supplier Smartmatic-Asia to answer questions on election fraud allegations. “Let’s look into their system, because if they gave us a bad system, who in their right mind would like to pay for a bad system?" he said. Makati City Rep. Teddy Boy Locsin, whose wife likewise lost in a bid to take over the post he will leave, said the hearing aims to discover the automated election system’s weaknesses. “I owe it to my continuing belief in the automation that we discover the weaknesses of the system," he said in the same television interview. The House of Representatives, together with the Senate, is also set to convene on May 24 to start the congressional canvass to officially determine who will become the country’s next president and vice-president. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV