MANILA, Philippines – A preliminary report on the random manual audit (RMA) of the 2016 election results should be out by next week, said an official of the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) on Monday, May 16.

Telibert Laoc, a member of the Namfrel National Council, told Rappler in a phone interview that audit results from all randomly selected clustered precincts nationwide will undergo verification first, starting Tuesday.

Laoc said that the Random Manual Audit Committee (RMAC) aims to release a preliminary report “by mid-week next week.”

“All reports from 715 clustered precincts will be brought to the RMAC – composed of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Namfrel, and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) – for a second level of verification,” said Laoc.

This is to make sure that the computed variance, or the difference between the VCM’s count and the manual appreciation of the ballots involved in the audit, will be accurate.

The RMA is conducted to verify the accuracy of election results, as counted by the vote-counting machines (VCM) on election day. This is prescribed in Republic Act 9369, which introduced amendments to the Automated Election System Act.

In a press release, Namfrel said that significant variances in the audit – like those exceeding a value of 10 – will be brought to the RMAC for validation, repeat count, and determination of root cause as needed.

In 2010, the accuracy rate as computed via the RMA was 99.6%. This increased to 99.975% in 2013. The audits are conducted in every legislative district nationwide. 

For the 2016 polls, the number of precincts randomly selected in each of the 238 legislative districts was proportional to the number of registered voters – more precincts were selected in districts with larger voter population.

In addition, the RMAs were now conducted in city or municipal canvassing centers, instead of in polling precincts, Namfrel said.

Audit delays

Laoc said that all RMA activities had been finished on the ground, but in some areas the manual audit experienced delays. 

For instance, on May 10, the audit in 14 precincts in Manila were postponed due to the absence of political party representatives, according to Namfrel’s press release on May 11.

In Sarangani, the RMA was postponed due to the misdelivery of election supplies. Namfrel reported that paraphernalia meant for the province was switched with Marinduque on election day. 

Meanwhile, 2 of 3 precincts assigned for audit in Basilan were inaccessible “because of peace and order constraints.” The Comelec also postponed the RMA in Masbate, said Namfrel. – Rappler.com