Ballot boxes ordered retrieved for possible recount in Manila polls

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has ordered the retrieval of ballot boxes containing votes disputed by Joselito Atienza, who ran for Manila’s mayoral position and lost. The order was issued by the poll body’s first division dated July 5. Some 1,441 ballot boxes will be retrieved and deposited to the Comelec head office in Intramuros, Manila. A hearing date will then be set to establish ground rules for a possible recount. The same order said that the protestant "has enumerated the protested precincts in his petition." The former Manila mayor and environment secretary has also "substantially specified the alleged acts or omissions constituting electoral frauds, anomalies and irregularities that were supposedly committed therein, and the same are serious enough to necessitate the opening of the ballot boxes to resolve the issues raised in the petition," the order said. However, the necessary protests fees may reach “in millions" before the case is tried, Atienza said. In a poll protest filed last May 17, Atienza said that massive irregularities and errors took place in the counting of votes. As a result, the total number of votes cast was reportedly not reflected. Atienza questioned the victory of current Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim who scored 395,910 votes as against Atienza’s 181,094 votes, a margin of 214,816 votes. Meanwhile, Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said that Atienza’s election protest case is also the first such case after the Philippines held its first nationwide automated elections, “This can actually serve as a test case for the resolution of other protest cases pending before the Comelec," Larrazabal told reporters. Besides enabling computerized vote counting, the automated election system (AES) has also adopted new poll protest rules, prompting the use of official ballots together with their corresponding digital images. These images are stored in compact flash cards, which in turn, are installed in precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines, also known as automated voting machines. “Since we are automated now, you have to look at the digital image. That’s part of the revision: looking at the compact flash cards containing the digital images of the ballots," Larrazabal said. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV