PPCRV: No Info Yet on When OAV Votes Will Be Fully Transmitted

The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) on Thursday said it could not say yet when the votes from the month-long overseas absentee voting — estimated to be about 400,000 — could be fully transmitted to them.

In an interview on Balitanghali, PPCRV media director Ana De Villa-Singson said they have yet to receive transmission from abroad as the votes there are still undergoing “consolidation” in capital cities.

“Sa overseas countries pala kung saan tayo may botohan… ang lahat pala ng ERs (election returns) ay kino-consolidate sa capital city. Like in the US [sa] Washington, or Saudi Arabia sa Riyadh. So kailangan nilang hintayin dumating lahat para ma-consolidate bago i-transmit,” Singson said.

Singson said this was the explanation given to her by Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Christian Lim, head of the poll body’s Office for Overseas Voting.

“Wala raw silang control tungkol sa transportation at sa timing sa labas. Pati siya walang timeline,” she added.

OAV votes have become the subject of extra attention amid the close race between vice presidential candidates Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo and Sen. Bongbong Marcos, with the latter leading only by more or less 200,000 votes over the former as of Thursday morning in PPCRV’s partial, unofficial tally.

Singson said the PPCRV will continue to monitor OAV votes as well as those from areas where there would be special elections on Saturday for the sake of transparency in light of the tight contest in the vice presidential race.

“In a contest as tightly contested as this, we’re talking about 200,000 na bilang, ang lahat ng datos na ‘yon, ang bawat boto ay napaka-halaga. Kaya dapat talaga there’s full transparency, there’s immediate transmission,” she said. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News

(Source: GMAnetwork.com)