The Commission on Elections (Comelec) found several discrepancies in the canvassing of senatorial and partylist groups’ votes in overseas voting and North Cotabato, a commissioner confirmed Tuesday, May 17.
Commissioner George Erwin Garcia said the discrepancies were noted by the poll body’s Tabulation and Audit Group between the certificates of canvass (COCs) and statement of votes by precinct (SOVP) in Nigeria, Czech Republic, Mexico, Myanmar, Vatican, Timor Leste, Norway, and 63 barangays in North Cotabato.
“Dahil maraming nakitang discrepancies ‘yung (Since there were a lot of discrepancies observed by the) Tabulation and Audit Group reported to the National Board of Canvassers, we adopted the recommendation to correct such discrepancies,” Garcia said in a press briefing.
“If there is a discrepancy between the manually prepared COC and the manually prepared SOVP, the rule is that the SOVP will have to be followed because the SOVP is the source document of the COC,” Garcia explained.
LOOK: Comelec notes discrepancies in the canvassing of votes for senatorial, partylist elections. | @MB_mrtnsdngdng pic.twitter.com/5sTvN9KMLS
— Manila Bulletin News (@manilabulletin) May 17, 2022
For senatorial candidates, Senator Migz Zubiri had the biggest vote discrepancy reaching 1,328 votes among 40 candidates affected by the unequal tally in North Cotabato.
Zubiri obtained 37,357 votes as what was reflected in the COC covering the 63 barangays in North Cotabato but he actually got 38,685 votes in the SOVP.
There was also a five-vote discrepancy for Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro in Timor Leste; a 10-vote discrepancy for Bro. John Castriciones in Norway; 128-vote and 42-vote discrepancies for Senator Win Gatchalian and candidate Alex Lacson respectively in Nigeria; and 41-vote discrepancy for Jopet Sison in Vatican.
For the partylist groups, the Comelec’s Tabulation and Audit Group found out that there were 676 votes for the Asenso Pinoy Partylist as what was reflected in the COC covering the 63 barangays in North Cotabato, but in the SOVP, what was indicated was they only garnered 123 votes. This translates to a discrepancy of 553 votes – the biggest among partylist groups.
The votes for ACT-CIS, the leading group in the partylist race, also had a discrepancy in the Comelec’s tally where it collected 504 votes as reflected in the North Cotabato COC but it actually had 588 votes in the SOVP – or a discrepancy of 84 votes.
There were also discrepancies ranging from one vote to 250 votes for 83 other partylist groups including Ako Bicol, 4PS, Probinsyano Ako, Hugpong Pederal, Dumper PTDA, Pinuno, P3PWD, Gabriela, ACT Teachers, TUCP, Kabataan, and Duterte Youth among others.
In the Philippine Embassy (PE) post in Abuja which covers overseas votes from Nigeria, there was a two-vote discrepancy for AKO OFW Partylist, and one-vote discrepancy for AKO BISAYA Partylist. For Prague PE which covers Czech Republic, there was a one-vote discrepancy for AKO OFW Partylist.
There was also a two-vote discrepancy for AKO ILOCANO AKO Partylist in Myanmar; and a three-vote discrepancy for Arise Partylist in Norway.
Garcia said the Comelec en banc, which sits as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) for the senatorial and partylist elections, have already adopted the corrected tally by the Tabulation and Audit Group.