THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced on Monday that it achieved an almost 100-percent accuracy score in its recently concluded Random Manual Audit (RMA) for the May 9 elections.
As head of the RMA Committee, Comelec Commissioner Aimee Ferolino said they started the audit last month and were able to finish the task ahead of schedule.
“On behalf of the entire Random Manual Audit Committee, including the civil society organizations, Philippine Statistics Authority, and your Commission, as well as the teachers who served as RMA teams, I am happy to report that we finished ahead of schedule and that our accuracy rate as of 4 p.m. yesterday (Sunday) stands at 99.95928 percent,” Ferolino said in a statement.
“The law gives us a maximum of 45 days to finish the audit, but with the dedication and cooperation of all parties involved, it took us only 34 days. We finished early and we finished strong,” Ferolino adds.
On May 10, the poll body randomly chose not fewer than one clustered precinct for eache legislative district for the conduct of the RMA, with 757 clustered precincts representing one ballot box each.
The activity was held in public view at the National Board of Canvassers at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City in accordance with the law and guidelines of the poll body.
According to Ferolino, from the 757, a total of 746 ballot boxes have been audited. Some of the ballot boxes were not subjected to audit, while 27 ballot boxes still remain under additional verification by the Technology Evaluation Committee for the following reasons: wrong labels in the ballot boxes, wet or torn ballots, or had no printed online Election Returns (ERs).
Ferolino also expressed gratitude to the public and stakeholders for the successful RMA.
She also thanked all those in the auditing process, from the teachers to the verifiers, to the supervisors and security personnel who spent long hours during the audit.
“To the Filipino electorate, it is my hope that we were able to successfully carry out the principal objective of the random manual audit as mandated by law, which is to verify whether the vote-counting machines used in the May 9, 2022 elections read and counted your sacred votes accurately,” Feroline said.