Smartmatic: Give us a month to draw 'complete map' of May 10 polls

Smartmatic-Asia Pacific on Friday asked Congress to give the firm about a month to come up with a "complete map" of how its automated election system performed in the May 10 elections, amid mounting allegations of poll fraud. Before the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms, Smartmatic president for Asia Pacific Cesar Flores said on Friday that a handful of individuals have recently come forward to claim irregularities involving dubious voting figures, compact flash (CF) cards, and even poll "operators" among others. Flores also noted how these complainants, mostly coming from losing candidates in the May 10 elections, seem to also be demanding immediate disclosure from Smartmatic and the Commission on Elections (Comelec). However, the Smartmatic official stressed that it would take time to verify the irregularity claims. "We've been here for over a week already... Eventualy we can put together a whole map of what happens. But this takes time. We're more than willing to do so... maybe [in] a month," Flores said. In response, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez told the Committee that the Comelec will have to discuss en banc Smartmatic's proposal to come up with an extensive report. Flores assured that the AES allows authorities to inspect counting machine logs, CF cards, back-up telecommunications logs, and server logs. "We have 76,000 machines and we have to look at each one to see the complete story of a precinct," he said. Flores expressed his frustration during the hearing: "Nobody seems to believe our explanation," he said. Appealing to the complainants, Flores said everyone should first await the retrieval of all 76,000 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines and CF cards deployed in the country so that Smartmatic can conduct a comprehensive audit. At Friday's hearing, Flores reiterated that it is impossible to use fake PCOS machines to transmit election results because Comelec servers only recognize machines with specific encryption keys and embedded electronic signatures. Earlier this week, Flores said he saw no problem with Comelec conducting a manual recount of the ballots in the May 10 elections to ensure that the automated election system produced accurate results. La union 'operators' La Union Rep. Thomas Dumpit also testified at Friday's hearing and claimed that a mayoral candidate in his province had been approached by two alleged poll "operators" before the elections, who . The men identified themselves as lawyer Freddie Villamor, who claimed to work for the Comelec, and a certain "Yabes," allegedly from Smartmatic. Jimenez said a check with their personnel department revealed that Villamor was not an employee of the poll body. "There is no such name in our roster of employees. But he could be a consultant. We will check that," Jimenez later told reporters. Meanwhile, Flores said they would also go over their records to see if Yabes worked for them. - TJD, GMANews.TV