Marcos camp files formal request to open Comelec servers

SYSTEM AUDIT. The camp of vice presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr, represented by lawyer Jose Amorado (left) and party-list congressman Jonathan dela Cruz (right), wants the Comelec to allow a public audit of the results server before the start of the official canvassing of votes on May 25, 2016. Photo by Jasmin Dulay/Rappler

MANILA, Philippines – The camp of Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr officially filed on Wednesday afternoon, May 18, a formal letter requesting the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to open its election servers for public audit.

Lawyer Jose Amorado and Representative Jonathan dela Cruz represented Marcos in filing the formal request before the Comelec.

"I am formally requesting that this Commission permit my team of IT experts and programmers within 3 days from the receipt hereof to conduct an audit of the Transparency Server and the Central Server," said the letter signed by Marcos.

The Marcos camp filed the letter a week after his legal team also wrote to ask the poll body for an explanation on the alleged breach in their servers.

Two days after the elections, they raised the alarm over the changes that were introduced into the hash code of the server that was receiving the results from precincts all over the country. While the Comelec insisted the revision was intended to only correct typographical errors and did not affect the count, it admitted that the change was made without permission from the Comelec en banc.

They suspected that after this new command was introduced, Marcos' initial lead over Robredo was eroded.

Dela Cruz, Marcos' campaign adviser, said they want to conduct the public audit ahead of the official canvassing of votes that will be administered by the Senate and the House of Representatives starting May 25.

Still, Dela Cruz told reporters after filing that they are not insinuating or accusing anyone of cheating.

"Iyong dayaan nga hindi pa natin na-po-prove yun (We haven't proved practices of cheating in the elections)," he admitted.

"Wala po tayong inaakusahan na may nandaya. Ang sinasabi namin dito, ang kailangan natin, hanapin natin ang katotohanan," he said. (We are not accusing anyone of cheating. What we are saying is we need to find the truth.)

He also said that even Robredo's camp and other parties are welcome to join their public audit, should they be permitted to do so. In Naga City, Robredo said on Wednesday that she was open to the system audit if only to "remove any doubts over the integrity of the elections." – Rappler.com