MANILA – The Commission on Elections' (Comelec) proposal for a manual recount of votes from the 2022 national elections in select precincts would settle all allegations of irregularites, a Church-based poll watchdog said Wednesday.
Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) national media and communications head Ana Singson said they support Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia's call for the measure.
“PPCRV has always advocated for the highest level of transparency. If the opening of randomly selected ballot boxes in 17 regions will provide further transparency to the 2022 elections, we welcome the proposal,” she said in a text message.
Once the proposal pushes through, Singson added that they will be present to monitor the proceedings.
“PPCRV will observe the procedure consistent with our advocacy for Clean, Honest, Accurate, Meaningful and Peaceful (CHAMP) elections. We will take special note of proper ballot custody and expect that safety measures will get implemented at all procedural levels,” she added.
On Tuesday, Garcia said he would propose to the Commission en banc for the manual recount of ballots.
The poll body chief's remarks came after the en banc's hearing of the disqualification petition against poll technology firm Smartmatic, filed by the group of former Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Eliseo Rio.
Rio, former Comelec Commissioner Augusto Lagman, retired Col. Leonardo Odoño and former Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines president Franklin Ysaac filed a petition asking the Comelec to disqualify the international company from participating in the bidding process for automated election system to be used in the next national polls.
Smartmatic had served as the automation partner of the Comelec in the 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2022 elections. (PNA)
