THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) said it will follow the directive of President Rodrigo Duterte to investigate why many Vote Counting Machines (VCMs) malfunctioned on the day of the elections.
According to Comelec Commissioner George Erwin Garcia, Comelec Commissioner Marlon Casquejo will meet with the Comelec Advisory Council and the Property Management Office of the Comelec to find out what happened to the VCMs.
Casquejo heads the Comelec Steering Committee for the Automated Election System.
As for the protest actions of those who doubt and question the process and result of the elections, Atty. John Rex Laudiangco, Comelec spokesperson, said the poll body stands by its view that no fraud was committed during the elections.
Laudiangco insisted that only 950 VCMs malfunctioned during the election. This is only one percent of the more than 106,000 VCMs used on election day itself.
The VCMs that malfunctioned were immediately repaired or replaced, except on some situations.
As for those who question the speedy results of the elections considering internet connectivity in the country is slow, Laudiangco said that the file data transmitted by VCMs are quite small, and that there’s no need for a bigger bandwidth for the transmission.
He said that the speed in the transmission of votes can be compared to the speed in sending a text message.
Laudiangco likewise noted improvement in infrastructure and faster internet connectivity in the country as reasons for the speedy transmission of votes.