Resulta ng botohan apektado sa nasirang VCMs

MAKAAPEKTO ang pagkasira ng vote coun­ting machines (VCM) sa resulta ng halalan, ayon kay Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin.

“Definitely it will affect election results in areas where it malfunc­tioned and taken as a whole, it can affect voters turnout and consequently some places can have a failure of election,” ayon kay Villarin.

Sa kabila nito, sinabi ni Villarin na luma na ang mga VCM at malamang na naapektohan ang nilalaman nito.

“I think many VCMs are old and broken that might have been over­looked by Comelec. VCMs were used as early as 2010 and its wear and tear from storage, transport and handling have affected its internal systems,” paliwanag ni Villarin.

Dahil dito, nanawa­gan si Villarin na imbesti­gahan ang mga insidente para malaman kung sino ang nagkulang sa mga pangyayari.

“Comelec (Commis­sion on Elections) should do a probe into this to determine who was amiss in their duties,” aniya.

Ayon kay Pamela Valdez, sa presinto 185 sa Legazpi City, kinolekta ‘yung mga balota nila ng Board of Election In­spectors (BEIs) habang nakatengga ang sirang VCM.

Ayon sa dating Vice Governor James Calisin sa Barangay Bantayan, Ta­ba­co City sira ang VCM sa Barangay Bantayan ng Tabaco City.

“The ballots were just collected. The votes are now exposed to many violations: the voter is not anymore the one to feed the ballot to the VCM; the voter can’t check his votes absent of a receipt; the ballots/votes are now exposed to BEIs, etc,” ayon kay Calisin.

Nagpahayag  ng pangam­ba si Calisin na baka palitan ang mg balota.

Ayon kay Margie Mantes, sa Barangay Alcala sa Daraga, Albay halos lahat ng VCM ay sira. (GERRY BALDO)