Even if he did not personally see any cheating during the May 9 local and national elections, President Rodrigo Duterte still urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to launch an investigation into the glitches in vote-counting machines (VCMs) to dispel doubts on the integrity of the results.
Duterte made the remark during his weekly Talk to the People aired on Thursday, three days after the polls.
"Sabi nila na nasira na [machines at] hindi nakabasa ng vote. I hope that Comelec will also find time to investigate, just to disabuse the minds of those na may dayaan [that there was cheating]," Duterte said.
"Wala akong nakita, sa totoo lang. At hindi din talaga ako papayag. Ganun pa man, just to satisfy the doubts of the few of them, para maimbestigahan, at ang result ibigay sa tao kung ano nangyari," he added.
[I didn't see anything and I wouldn’t have allowed it. But to satisfy the doubts of a few of them, it should be probed. The results of what happened should be released.]
Comelec earlier said at least 1,800 of some 106,000 VCMs broke down on election day, however, they assured the public that the vote count was accurate and should not be doubted.
At the same time, the President also lauded the poll body, other election personnel, and security forces who served during election day, which he described as generally peaceful.
Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr. leads the presidential race with at least 31.1 million votes based on the partial and unofficial tally result by the Comelec.
