2 compact flash cards supposedly used to rig polls surface in hearing

Two compact flash (CF) cards, which were allegedly used to rig the results of the May 10 polls, surfaced on Friday, the third day of the House of Representatives’ investigation on supposed election irregularities. Quezon City Representative Annie Rosa Susano presented during the hearing two CF cards — which she referred to as “CFCs" — she claimed were used to rig the results of the city’s mayoralty race, which she lost to incumbent Vice Mayor Herbert Bautista. “How safe are these CFCs? Why do you need back up for CFCs? Is this yours?" Susano said after presenting the cards, addressing poll machine supplier Smartmatic-Asia president Cesar Flores. CF cards, which are inserted inside precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines, give instructions to voting equipment and tell them which type of ballots to read and how to read them. The lawmaker even offered to give the cards to Flores for examination, but the Smartmatic-Asia president refused to take the cards. “Where did you get that Ma’am? The procedure is that these back-up cards are supposed to be left inside the PCOS machines that will be delivered back to the warehouse in Cabuyao, where they will be all accounted for," Flores told Susano. Susano, however, refused to divulge how she took possession of the CF cards. “That’s [not] my problem. That’s your problem," she told Flores. Susano, who kept the CF cards, even admonished the Smartmatic-Asia official after refusing to take the cards for examination. “You are not from here and you have make a mockery of the elections," she said. In a separate interview after the hearing, Flores explained that he refused to take the cards because possession of the cards might entail a “breach in the chain of custody." “That’s a breach the chain of custody. There’s a procedure that needs to be followed in handling these cards. I won’t take that. I cannot touch those cards. She has to tell where she got them, or turnover the cards to officials," he said. Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal meanwhile said the poll body would still have to check if the CF cards in Susano’s possession are “legitimate" and asked that the lawmaker reveal how she got hold of these cards despite Comelec protocol. “We have to check if these are legitimate CF cards. There is a protocol in handling these cards. We have to know why that person got possession of the cards," he said. Larrazabal added that if the poll body proves that the CF cards in Susano’s possession are indeed real, the Philippine National Police and the Department of Justice may come in to investigate why there was a breach of chain of custody of the CF cards. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV