Counters claim proof of fraud

Press, 14 February 1986, Page 6

Counters claim proof of fraud

NZPA-Reuter Manila Computer technicians who fled a counting centre on Sunday said the official Commission on Elections (Comelec) padded votes for President Ferdinand Marcos to show he was leading over his rival, Corazon Aquino.

About 30 women fled in tears after they noticed glaring discrepancies in the results shown by computer printouts and the Comelec tally-board.

The women said Mrs Aquino had a slender lead in the printouts, but the tally-board showed Mr Marcos was leading when they decided to walk out. The “Business Day” and “Manila Times” yesterday quoted Mrs Linda Kapunan, one of the techni-

cians, as saying the women would not retract their statements, although they feared for their lives. "Our dignity is not negotiable,” they said. The women took what they said was evidence of vote-padding. They said that before they left the counting centre, Mr Marcos was trailing Mrs Aquino by 46,305 votes, but the tally-board showed he was leading by 152,888 votes. The women said the padding had been done only in two northern regions, known as Mr Marcos’ “solid north.” At the time of the walkout, computer printouts showed Mr Marcos had 2,720,019 votes and Mrs

Aquino 2,766,324. The Comelec board showed Mr Marcos had 3,056,236 votes and Mrs Aquino 2,903,348. In the two “solid north” regions, Comelec and the head of the Government’s National Computer Centre (N.C.C.), Colonel Pedro Baraoidan, had added 336,217 votes for Mr Marcos and 137,024 for Mrs Aquino to reverse the trend, the women said. Mr Baraoidan, who is helping Comelec count the votes, has accused the women of being “hardcore” opposition sympathisers, a charge they have denied. Mrs Kapunan, the most senior of the technicians, has worked with the computer centre for 10 years.

In a country where politics can be a deadly business, the death toll was being counted at the same time as the votes in last week’s election.

A military news release said 86 Filipinos had been killed and 44 wounded in election-related incidents from the time the campaign began on December 6 until Tuesday, four days after the voting. The Philippine News Agency had reported 107 deaths, but the military said there were duplications in the unofficial counts.

The military tally said 74 of the victims were civilians, including 35 followers of Mr Marcos and 20 supporters of Mrs Aquino.