Comelec finds 'inconsistencies' in claims of poll fraud whistleblower

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday said that it has found some inconsistencies in the statements made by a masked whistleblower who alleged that massive fraud took place during the May automated polls. The claim that manipulated results were sent to the Comelec server using equipment similar to the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines ahead of actual transmissions from precincts was too far-fetched, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said. "It was like he was running an entire shadow elections," he said at a press briefing on Thursday. Earlier, the whistleblower named "Robin" claimed that the two leading vice-presidential bets — Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay and Senator Manuel "Mar" Roxas — paid "players" to rig the results of the automated elections and that Binay allegedly paid more, explaining his lead in the tally of election returns If the whistleblower knew how the server worked, he would know that it immediately blocks and verifies "suspicious" transmissions, Jimenez said. "Pinapakita nito na hindi ganun kacomprehensive ang kaalaman niya sa sistema (This shows that he does not have a comprehensive understanding of the system)," he said. Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal also asked how the supposed operators could have purchased thousands of machines similar to the PCOS. Poll machine supplier Smartmatic Asia president Cesar Flores said that the purchase price of each PCOS machine is P60,756.31 each. Jimenez likewise questioned how the operators could have held thousands of digital keys, which is a security feature present in each voting machine. A total of 82,200 PCOS units were provided by Smartmatic, about 6,000 of which are spares. He also said that the video showed that the whisteblower could not even correctly spell PCOS. "Makikita mo na may dahilan ka para magduda (You can clearly see that there is reason to doubt him)," he said. But the poll body could not yet verify who is behind the supposed whistleblower. "Comelec cannot speculate on who basically let "Koala Boy" loose on the unsuspecting world," Jimenez said. The Comelec also has yet to get a complete transcript of the taped expose of the whistleblower, Larrazabal added, saying he was sure that all allegations have no basis. "As soon as we get the transcript, we will answer all the points raised to debunk all these false, baseless, and senseless accusations," he said. He likewise lashed back at their critics saying that they should stop peddling "lies." "Their statements have all been disproven yet they continue to peddle lies. You have to stop already. Enough is enough, you have to realize when to stop," he said. He added that if there are really valid allegations, they will be more than willing to answer them. "If you have a legitimate complaint, you have to follow that process," he said. The House of Representatives conducting another hearing about the alleged rigging of the polls on Thursday afternoon. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV