By Hannah Torregoza
Reelectionist Senator Maria Lourdes Nancy Binay on Monday, aired her disappointment at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as she expressed concern over reports of a huge number of vote counting machines (VCMs) reportedly malfunctioning on Election Day.
Binay said she cannot accept such reports considering that the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) earlier assured that the VCMs were thoroughly tested.
“Nakakabahala na ang nagiging problema sa VCMs and overall process ng pagboto. Hindi ito katanggap-tanggap considering na ilang beses ito tinest ng DOST (The problem over these VCMs and the overall voting process is now a big concern. This is unacceptable considering the DOST has tested these a number of times),” Binay said in a statement.
“The Comelec assured us that everything is in order and all the VCMs are in working condition,” she added.
Binay lamented that one of the reasons why the country shifted to automated elections from manual counting is to ensure an efficient voting system and to ensure minimal inconvenience to the voters.
But she said various reports are already pointing various cases of delayed voting, with voters waiting in line for hours.
“Waiting in line for four hours is too much,” she pointed out.
“I call on the Comelec en banc to start investigating ngayon pa lang kung bakit ang daming kaso ng aberya. Ang nangyayaring ito is totally unacceptable (as soon as now why there are so many glitches),” she said.
“Huwag na po sanang hintayin ng Comelec magsara ang botohan mamayang 6pm para solusyunan ang problema, (I hope the Comelec won’t wait until the 6 p.m. closing to find a solution to the problem),” Binay stressed