Around 16,820 printed elections returns (ERs) have been encoded by the Pastoral Parish Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) by 11:20 a.m. of May 12, and matched with the electronically transmitted ERs from the vote counting machines (VCMs), council spokesman Van dela Cruz said at a briefing. The number represents 15.6% of the 107,785 total ERs.
The PPCRV, as the Commission on Election’s accredited citizen’s election arm, receives the fourth copy of the election returns before transmission of the physical ERs. It then encodes the figures from the returns and compares them with the results transmitted from the same VCM.
“‘Yung mga VCMs natin bago siya magbato ng data doon sa mga servers … nagpi-print ito ng 8 kopya ng election returns. Kami ang tumatanggap ng fourth copy ng pre-transmission ng physical election return … at ipinagbabangga namin ‘yun sa parehong VCMs,” the lawyer explained.
The church-based poll watchdog is not conducting a manual count, Dela Cruz clarified.
A total of 23,640 ERs, many of them from the National Capital Region (NCR) and certain provinces from Luzon and Misamis Oriental in Mindanao, arrived at the University of Sto. Tomas command center in Manila.
Previously, PPCRV Chair Myla Villanueva said they will discontinue updating the partial and unofficial electronically transmitted ERs once the number reaches over 90 percent to allow the Comelec to announce the results first.
The council further clarified there are “no irregularities” contrary to claims in viral online posts about a 68:32 ratio of votes going to Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos and Vice President Leni Robredo, respectively.
“Our take is that statistical analysis of the data do not indicate any irregularities. The relatively consistent distribution of votes may be expected to closely mirror the national vote given the random pattern of receipt of the transmitted result,” it said on a May 11 FB post.
In a separate statement, experts from the University of the Philippines said that the 68:32 trend from the electronic transmission is not evidence of election fraud.
Volunteers as ‘new heroes’
Meanwhile, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas lauded PPCRV volunteers for their selfless service calling them new heroes and reminded voters that making a choice for love of God and country was more important than the leaders they voted for.
“‘Pag bumoto ka sa pagmamahal mo sa Diyos at pagmamahal mo sa bayan, kahit anong lumabas sa bilangan, panalo ka no’n … Sa mga PPCRV volunteers, hindi namin kayo p’wedeng bayaran because only God can pay you.” he said on Thursday, May 12.
Dela Cruz added that they are still accepting volunteers for the May 16-20 shift on a “first come, first serve basis.”
“There is no shortage of volunteers. Actually, overflowing pa nga. Originally we want 200 volunteers but with longer shifts, but tinry naming ginawa na 1000 volunteers a day but [on] shorter, two hours per shift so everyone can also try and help sa page-encode,” Dela Cruz explained.
And since ‘fake news’ continue to circulate online, the PPCRV spokesman assured the public those at the command center were safe and in no danger. “Maayos ang kalagayan natin dito at wala tayong makikitang kaguluhan dito …sa mga kababayan natin, kalma lang, kalma lang tayong lahat.”
