Solon seeks probe into RTC ruling on alleged vote miscount

Deputy Majority Leader Atty. Marlyn Primicias-Agabas has pushed for an inquiry into a Regional Trial Court (RTC) ruling that stated the “automated counting machines did not accurately read and count the votes cast by the voters,” warning that it carries grave national implications for the integrity of the electoral process.

Primicias-Agabas, who represents the 6th District of Pangasinan, emphasized that while the controversy may appear local in character, its implications are national in scope.

The lawmaker cited a case in Rosales where a candidate initially proclaimed winner by 1,208 votes, based on official election returns, was later declared to have lost by 1,975 votes after a physical recount — a swing of 3,183 votes.

She said such a reversal demands transparency and clear explanations from election authorities.

“If it can happen in Rosales, it can happen anywhere,” she warned, stressing that the entire nation must pay attention when official machine results and physical recounts diverge so dramatically.

“Ang boto ng bawat Pilipino ay sagrado. Kapag nawala ang tiwala sa proseso ng halalan, natitibag din ang pundasyon ng ating demokrasya,” she said.

Primicias-Agabas framed the issue as a test of institutional credibility and democratic resilience.

She said serious questions must now be confronted: whether the automated counting machines committed a grave error; whether the Commission on Elections (Comelec) agrees with the trial court’s declaration that the machines miscounted votes; and whether similar discrepancies could have occurred elsewhere if the machines were indeed inaccurate in one municipality.

“Did our automatic vote counting machines commit a grave error? Sinasang-ayunan ba ng Comelec ang deklarasyon ng mababang hukuman na nagkamali sa pagbilang ang mga makina?” Primicias-Agabas said.

RTC Branch 53, presided over by Judge Roselyn Andrada-Borja, ruled that “the automated counting machines did not accurately read and count the votes cast by the voters.”

The court noted complaints from voters that their Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), or printed voter’s receipt, did not match the actual vote they cast.

However, Primicias-Agabas also said the protestee raised concerns regarding the authenticity of ballots appreciated in the recount.

Among the alleged irregularities were mismatched chairman’s signatures, darker microtext, misaligned Comelec logos, differences in paper color, phantom marks, and 106 extra votes purportedly lacking corresponding VVPAT receipts.

She described these observations as red flags that go beyond superficial defects and directly call into question the integrity of the ballots used to reverse the initial result.

Despite these concerns, a motion to decrypt ballot images — to compare the digital images captured on election day with the physically recounted ballots — was denied.

The Deputy Majority Leader expressed alarm over the development, citing established Supreme Court jurisprudence recognizing that digital ballot images carry the same evidentiary weight as physical ballots and may be relied upon when physical ballots yield dubious or highly suspicious results.