House Probe into 'Hocus PCOS' Stalls Comelec Tasks

The Congressional probe into allegations of electronic cheating during the automated elections is causing delays in the Commission on Elections' (Comelec) tasks, including canvassing and proclaiming election winners, an official said Thursday.

"The allegations of 'koala boy' are preventing us from efficiently doing our job," said Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal, referring to the election fraud whistleblower who appeared on ABS-CBN wearing a mask that made his face look like a koala bear's.

"We're supposed to be conducting meetings now and coordinating with field officials, but we can't do it," he added.

For one, the Comelec has yet to proclaim the winning party-list groups. Larrazabal said they cannot focus on the canvassing of votes, aside from waiting for the certificates of canvass to be completed before proclaiming the winners.

"It depends on how long the hearings will last," he said when asked how long it would take for the Comelec to proclaim the winners.

"We respect Congress, that's why we are attending, but this will cause delays in our work," Larrazabal added. "Instead of doing work here [at Comelec], we have to be at the House of Representatives."

Probe Antipolo, CDO incidents

Meanwhile, the Comelec also said it will investigate possible irregularities connected to the discovery of election materials in Antipolo City and in Cagayan de Oro City.

Larrazabal said the poll body has directed the Philippine National Police to look into what happened in Antipolo, particularly how some candidates ordered PCOS machines opened without Smartmatic-TIM's permission.

"The protocol on who has custody over the machines has been explained," he said. "Unfortunate things happened there. People were excited. They were misled. We'd like to get to the bottom of it."

Larrazabal said the Comelec has also formed a panel to investigate the discovery of election paraphernalia, such as compact flash cards in a junk shop in Cagayan de Oro. The panel is composed of a Comelec official, the regional state prosecutor, and a representative from the lawyers' group Lente.

"What we'd like is just to get to the bottom of it. Bakit napasok ang Comelec office? Why was it thrown to the junk shop? Why did the personnel not report it to Comelec?" he said.

Source: ABS-CBN News