Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. on Wednesday accused the Commission on Elections (Comelec) of using a computer command or ‘new script’ to wipe out his one million votes and to pad Rep. Leni Robredo’s votes on Monday evening.
Francesca Huang, speaking in behalf of Marcos, said the new script altered the hash codes of the packet data that started the “rather distinctive pattern” of dagdag-bawas (vote padding-vote shaving).
“Did Comelec know about the introduction of this new script? How does the new script affect the data and data reception of the transparency server?” Huang asked.
“How were the data of election returns from these affected clustered precincts or VCMs [Vote Counting Machines] uploaded to the transparency server? Does this mean that the data could be uploaded to the transparency server through other means of which we do not know about?” she said.
Huang added that Marcos’ camp on Wednesday sent a letter of inquiry to Comelec
Chairman Andres Bautista and the commissioners, asking them to address their concerns.
“We are waiting for their answer. Our next move will depend on their answer,” she said.
Huang added that as of 4:15 p.m. on May 11, their tally showed Marcos posting a 189,529 vote lead against Robredo based on the votes from 52.38 percent clustered precincts.
The votes that contributed to Marcos’ lead came from Pangasinan, Ilocos Norte, Sultan Kudarat and provinces under Region 4-B, like Mindoro.
The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting’s (PPCRV) partial and unofficially tally of votes initially showed Marcos having a commanding lead of close to one million votes over the camarines Sur lawmaker.
At about 10 p.m., however, Robredo’s votes came in and she eventually overtook Marcos shortly before 5 a.m., Tuesday.
As of 1:35 p.m., Wednesday, based on the 78.04 percent of registered voters, the Comelec transparency server showed that Robredo was leading by 231,728 votes.
She had 13,958,608 votes compared to Marcos’ 13,726,880.
Huang said they sent people to the PPCRV headquarters in Manila after the group’s vice chairman Johnny Cardenas invited the Marcos camp to send observers there.
Also on Wednesday, Marcos appealed to his supporters, mostly young people, to stay calm.
The Ilocano senator made the appeal after learning that a hundred supporters, mostly university students, staged a rally at the Rizal Park (Luneta) in Manila to show their indignation over the alleged vote padding-vote shaving scheme.
“I urge our friends, our supporters who are rallying their Facebook friends to come out and stage a rally to calm down. Cool down your heads,” Marcos said.
He added that his lawyers are preparing data that will show clearly the Liberal Party had orchestrated the alleged fraud to “freeze” his votes.
“What was even more puzzling was that the drop in my lead began after the Comelec had said there was a glitch that delayed the updates of the transmitted votes in the transparency server,” Marcos pointed out.
Marcos’ presidential tandem Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago came to the rescue of the senator.
“The roller coaster ride of vice-presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. invites comparison with a garrison state. In such a state, the authoritarian government feels free to manufacture numbers as they are needed,” Santiago said in a statement.
“I find it astounding that Marcos should have led in the vice-presidential surveys for many months, until the penultimate month, when suddenly the administration could jump up survey results to finally overtake him,” she added.