Sotto to demand Smartmatic logs

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said yesterday the Senate will subpoena audit logs of Smartmatic vote counting machines used during the 2016 national elections.

Sotto, in a chance interview at the sidelines of the joint congressional oversight committee on the automated election system, said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has yet to submit the audit logs that he questioned during past hearings.

Smartmatic was the provider of the automated technology used in the 2016 polls.

“We will subpoena them, we will issue a subpoena deuces tecum,” said Sotto, referring to the audit logs he has been asking the Comelec for so long now.

Sotto said he would consult with Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, chairman for the Senate and his counterpart from the House of Representatives Rep. Isidro Ungab in the joint committee to determine the deadline that will be given to the Comelec.

“It has been lingering for a long time already. We are about to enter the period for the 2019 election and it is still unclear. The Comelec is lawyering for Smartmatic,” he added.

Sotto has questioned early transmissions made by Smartmatic even before the actual conduct of the May 2016 presidential elections and asked Comelec for the official audit logs regarding the incident that Sotto said may be part of an orchestrated cheating in the polls.