Top officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) and the Comelec service provider Smartmatic are facing election sabotage charges before the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) for allegedly changing the computer script (hash code) or program which may have altered the counting of the votes. Most of the respondents were not named in the 27-page complaint except for Henrieta de Villa of PPCRV and Marlon Garcia Smartmatic, the Venezuelan IT expert who allegedly changed the script together with unnamed Comelec technicians to accommodate the letter “ñ.” The complaint was filed jointly by the Mata sa Balota Movement (MBM)) and the Coalition of Clean Air Act of the Philippines which asked Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales to look into the hash code switch which they claimed seriously affected the integrity of the counting of the votes in the May 9 national and local elections.
They stressed they were apolitical groups and did not represent any political interest in filing the case.
Rodolfo Javellana, Jr. of MBM described the alteration of the hash code as malicious and arbitrary and a breach of protocol of the Comelec Resolution No. 10105.
Together with running priest Robert Reyes, Javellana accused the respondents of collusion and conspiracy in allowing Smarmatic and Comelec officials at the counting centers to alter the hash code without prior clearance from higher authorities.
Full Article: Comelec, PPCRV, Smartmatic officials face election sabotage charges | mb.com.ph | Philippine News.