Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III wanted the government to stop acquiring the service of the voting systems company Smartmatic because of repeating failures and glitches happening every election period.
“It’s about time we stop using Smartmatic,” Sotto said in a text message after the elections under Smartmatic experienced glitches again for the fourth straight time.
Meanwhile, Senator Risa Hontiveros also expressed her disappointment over the reports that hundreds of voting counting machines (VCMs) broke this election which more than what happened last presidential elections.
“This resulted in the disenfranchisement of a still undetermined number of voters and the severe inconvenience of many citizens in different parts of the country. This is our fourth automated elections. Mishaps like this, especially those that deprive our people of the right to suffrage, are unacceptable,” said Hontiveros.
Senator Koko Pimentel also wanted to hold a Senate probe on the glitches happened in this year election.
“Glitches are enough to call for a congressional investigation. Why are we still having all these glitches? Can’t Comelec anticipate them?” he told reporters in a text message.
Commission on Elections (COMELEC) blamed Smartmatic for the faulty and aging vote counting machine. Despite paying P8.1-B to buy 97,517 VCMs from the company, problems still occurred.
More than 1,000 SD cards had also experienced issues during the election period.