Marcos seeks probe of overseas absentee voting discrepancies
Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. INQUIRER PHOTO / LEO M. SABANGAN II
ORMOC CITY — Vice presidential candidate Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has called on the Commission on Elections and technology provider Smartmatic to explain alleged discrepancies in the ongoing overseas absentee voting.
“We have been getting reports from our friends who have voted in the overseas absentee voting (OAV) that the votes intended for me didn’t go to me. They went to Honasan and others,” he told reporters in a mix of English and Filipino at a press briefing here at the Ormoc Villa Hotel on Sunday.
In the reports, Marcos said the receipts allegedly do not march the actual votes. Smartmatic is providing the vote counting machines for the May 9 elections.
The senator said the reports have come from Hong Kong, Dubai, Kuwait, and Japan.
Marcos said they have reached out to the camp of vice presidential candidate Sen. Gringo Honasan about the reports.
“I know even my friend Sen. Gringo would not want votes that don’t belong to him. He’s an honest person,” he said.
Asked about the possibility that the ruling party has anything to do with the alleged discrepancies, Marcos said, “I don’t want to make accusations. I still don’t know what is happening.”
The senator has expressed alarm over the supposed pattern in the reports.
“There is a pattern beginning to develop. If it happened in one place, maybe there are problems there. But these places are far from each other,” he said.
Marcos said the reports were alarming and those involved should explain.
“I hope that Smartmatic and Comelec will give an explanation and further assure us that the counting will be an honest one,” he said.
“OAV pa lang, kakaunti pa lang ang botante. Paano na kapag marami na? Baka ano pa ang mangyari. Sana mabigyan ng paliwanag ito ng Comelec,” he added.
(There are still only a few votes by OAV. What will happen when the numbers increase? I hope Comelec can give an explanation to this.) JE
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