WE have been urging Filipinos in America and elsewhere around the world to cast their votes and make their voices heard in deciding who will be the next president, vice president and other elected officials in the Philippines. But recent news about hacking, fraud, cheating, and voting machine problems surely douse water on the fire of enthusiasm among those who really want to be fully engaged in Philippine politics.
There have been reports and postings online showing that copies of the ballots with different instructions on how to cast votes. One version requires voters to shade the oblong corresponding to their candidate of choice, while another just instructs voters to draw a circle around the oblong beside their candidate’s name.
Some kababayans are also concerned about reports saying machines the Comelec provided in consulates abroad are faulty, and are really worried about the massive data leak of personal information of 55 million voters when the Comelec database was hacked.
But in a report on The Filipino Channel’s daily newscast “Balitang America” by Henni Espinosa, San Francisco Consul general Henry Bensurto said, “In the state of democracy that we are in now and Comelec is really working hard to ensure that all our votes are cast and that they are counted, we have to keep that faith.”
Addressing the aforementioned concerns, Bensurto advised Filipino voters, “Just make sure that you’re able to shade it within the circle. Huwag lalagpas as much as possible. (fully shade it?) Importante that you’re able to shade the whole circle kasi there’s a possibility pagkakulang, puwedeng hindi macount yon.”
Bensurto assures kababayans that the vote they would cast for their chosen candidate would be the vote that would be counted by Comelec. He explained, “That’s the reason why you have a receipt, to make sure na kung ano talaga ang nilagay mo don, yon ang magrereflect. so if that happens and I hope it doesnt happen to us, so far that hasnt happened, if that happens, you have to bring that to the attention of the officials there.”
On the issue of hacking, Bensurto admitted to “Balitang America” that overseas Filipinos may be among the victims, but reiterates the assurance of Comelec that the leaked data cannot be used to rig the election. He added that Comelec plans to use a different set of servers and a different website for election results.
Balitang America reported that the Comelec, the NBI and some international I.T. experts have worked full force in closing down the controversial website that carried the stolen Comelec data.
Having heard this, I hope kababayans continue to exercise their right and obligation to vote, and not be paralyzed by fear and doubt.
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
