QUEZON CITY, Philippines (Eagle News) — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) started the procedure of returning the vote counting machines (VCM) to Smartmatic, ignoring the request made by former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to preserve these for his protest case towards Vice President Leni Robredo.
This came about as the Supreme Court, sitting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET), authorized the poll body to immediate start the procedure of returning the VCMs.
“Authorize the Comelec and Smartmatic to immediately conduct the 2016 Automated Elections System Project closure/stripping activities for all the VCM and CCS (consolidation and canvassing system) Kits including the immediate disposal of the VCM external batteries, with prior notice to this Tribunal, the protestant and protestee and other interested persons,” the PET stated in its resolution finalized on Nov. 8 but issued only recently.
Meanwhile, the PET also mandated the poll body’s election records and statistic department to back up the contents of the VCM SD playing cards in all municipalities, cities and provinces coated by the Precautionary Protective Order.
