Amid Marcos claims, Guanzon says Smartmatic machines ‘accurate’

MANILA, March 25 ------ Former elections commissioner Rowena Guanzon is confident that the vote-counting machines to be used in the 2022 elections will be accurate. “Every machine is going to be tested,” Guanzon said during a public forum organized by IBON International and Council for People's Development and Governance on Thursday.

Smartmatic has shown a good track record based on its performance in the past elections, she said. “(Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting) in the last elections had an audit of election returns. The accuracy of the machines is 99.8 percent, even (Commission on Elections) had its random manual audit of the election return so you know from the ground ... It's accurate,” the former commissioner said.

Smartmatic is motivated to keep the elections clean since it has a reputation to protect, Guanzon added. “Smartmatic will not risk its business e. It's a worldwide business. And so to make a mess here, it will be known in other parts of the world and they cannot do business anymore,” Guanzon said.

Calls to investigate Smartmatic have surfaced after Sen. Imee Marcos alleged there is a “serious security breach”, which the firm denied. The PPCRV, meanwhile, has proposed that the leak be investigated further, but said the supposed “data leak” had nothing to do with the 2022 polls. “I don't think you should worry," Guanzon said. “Worry about vote-buying and fake news."

Marcos, whose brother Ferdinand Jr. is running for the presidency, earlier said that after two hearings, she may be looking at something more tangible beyond mere denials from the Comelec. But due to her brother's candidacy, she has been urged to let other senators take over the probe.

Source: news.abs-cbn.com