The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said there were no irregularities in the reported delay of the election data transmission to the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting’s (PPCRV) transparency server an hour after the polls closed 7 p.m. Monday.

At around 8:15 p.m., the PPCRV said it was unable to access the data of the election results that its transparency server received, raising concern that it was “unusual” and the first time that it happened since 2010.

After the PPCRV posted this statement on its Facebook page, social media users were quick to demand an explanation from the Comelec.

Asked to clarify if he thinks there could be an anomaly that caused the reported delay, Comelec Chairperson George Garcia categorically said there was none.

“Wala po. Simpleng simple lang po ‘yan, nandiyan lahat ng ERs (election returns) na available so puwede pong i-countercheck kung parehas ang results ng ER at simple lang din, parehas ba ‘yung ER na tinanggap ng (There was none. It’s simple, all the ERs are available so you can countercheck if the ER results that they received is the same with us and the ones received by the) municipal board of canvassers,” he said in an interview at the Comelec head office in Manila.

“Kasi kung prinoklama si Mayor A, titingnan natin ang ER ng bayan, compute-in ninyo kung parehas ang botong nakuha ni mayor sa ER nila at sa ER na napadala sa amin at sa PPCRV (If, for example, Mayor A was proclaimed, you can compute if the votes he secured are the same with the ERs that were transmitted to us and the PPCRV),” he added.

Garcia said Comelec is certain these ER results would be the same since the municipal board of canvassers, Comelec and PPCRV share one source.

“Sabihin na po natin na na-delay ‘yong citizens arm natin sa pagkatanggap ng kanilang results o doon sa kanilang media server, o hindi na-push kaagad ng kanilang primary server sa secondary — isa lang din ang tanong, parehas ba ‘yong pinadala sa kanila at tsaka sa amin (Let’s say there is a delay in our citizen arm’s receipt of their results or the data was not quickly transmitted from their primary server to the secondary — there is only one question, are the results they received same with ours),” he pointed out.

As of 10:53 p.m. Monday, the Comelec has already received over 86.91 percent of the 93,387 expected local ERs for this year’s midterm elections.

During the next media briefing at 9 p.m., PPCRV spokesperson Ana Singson said the poll watchdog was already able to access the content of the file from Comelec and was processing the data. (With a report from Kris Crismundo/PNA)