Enrile: Actual canvassing could start Friday

Congressmen sitting as National Board of Canvassers may start the actual canvassing of votes for president and vice president on Friday, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said Wednesday night. Enrile said the 18-man panel would continue grilling officials from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and Smartmatic, the service provider in the May 10 automated elections, when session resumes 1 p.m. Thursday. “We might finish with the preliminary questions by Thursday and then start with the actual canvassing on Friday," he said. Enrile had earlier said that they intend to finish the canvassing on or before June 15. Wednesday’s session lasted for five hours during which lawmakers grilled Comelec and Smartmatic officials regarding the authenticity and reliability of the certificate of canvass for the two highest positions in the land. Enrile said they would continue questioning Comelec and Smartmatic officials so that they could arrive at a proper conclusion before starting with the actual canvassing.

“By and large I think we cannot make any conclusion yet, we will have to continue with the hearings and then we will make a judgment," he said. He said Thursday’s inquiry would likely center on determining whether the machines used in the recently concluded elections could be pre-programmed. During Wednesday’s hearing, lawmakers questioned Comelec and Smartmatic officials regarding the two separate sets of certificates of canvass for president and vice president. Under the procedures on manual elections, there is only one certificate of canvass for president and vice president. Comelec executive director Jose Teolentino said there is only one document for the certificates of canvass but it has two sets. "When we generate certificates of canvass for president and vice president, we generate it as one document, but the appearance is two different documents because one is for the president and the other is for the vice president," he told the body. Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal explained that the local board of canvassers prints the COC only once but they have the option to print out COC just for president and vice president. "When you click print, (the election machine) prints COC at one time. They have, if they decide, option to print just for president or vice president," he said. In short, “it is one document with two parts, for president and vice president," he said.- KBK, GMANews.TV