The Commission on Elections has invited former poll commissioner Gus Lagman to show how the results of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines can be altered.
Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said he has sent Lagman a letter asking him to meet with the commission en banc.
“I said: It is your duty as former Comelec commissioner that you should inform us on how it can be easily tampered. Turuan niya kami kako para mapag-preparahan namin yan for 2016 since we will be using the same machines. So we invited him na pumunta siya dito at pakita mo sa amin yan,” he said.
Brillantes noted that Lagman did not raise the issue while he was a commissioner.
“He was in the Comelec for 10 months. He never said this. He never mentioned PCOS machines being rigged, which could be easily rigged, that is the adjective there. He did say you can probably manipulate it but not easily. Now he is saying it is very easy and I dare him to show it to us,” the poll body chief added.
Brillantes said that if Lagman fails to prove his allegations, the former poll official should refrain from criticizing the Comelec.
Lagman was a Comelec commissioner from 2011 to 2012 when President Benigno Aquino III decided against reappointing him. He has since joined election watchdog groups in criticizing the use of the PCOS machines.
Lagman ready
Lagman, for his part, said he is ready to prove that the PCOS machines can be tampered easily.
But, he requested that a programmer from Smartmatic-TIM should also be there.
“I accept the challenge on the condition na magpapunta din ng Smartmatic programmer na marunong mag-modify ng PCOS computer program kasi sinasabi ko naman na ang danger ay internal tampering,” Lagman said. — JDS, GMA News
