Filane Mikee Cervantes/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Thursday said the recently-concluded May 2019 mid-term elections were credible amid several glitches involving vote counting machines (VCMs).
In a press conference, Sotto said there is only a small percentage of reported VCM glitches that marred the election process, but the issue was only brought to the fore by both the mainstream media and social media.
“Look at the percentages, it seems like (Commission on Elections) Commissioner (Rowena) Guanzon and Chairman (Sheriff) Abas were right about the small percentage which incurred problems, but they were highlighted because it’s on social media and the mainstream media usually picks it up,” Sotto said in a mix of English and Filipino.
“But in general I think the elections were credible,” he added.
According to Comelec, 961 out of the 85,769 VCMs or 1.1 percent were found defective and 1,665 (1.9 percent) SD cards were replaced last Monday.
Sotto said that he will support the planned congressional inquiry into the malfunctioning VCM machines during the polls.
Senator Aquilino Pimentel III earlier announced that the joint congressional oversight committee on the automated election system will be conducting the probe on June 4.
