FORMER Electoral Commission (Comelec) Commissioner Rowena Guanzon on Friday vouched for the accuracy and reliability of the Automated Election System (AES) via Smartmatic machines, which the electoral body has been using for seven years .

She told the Pandesal Forum hosted by columnist Wilson Flores of Kamuning Bakery in Quezon City that the major issue to consider was mass vote buying.

“The AES and Smarmatic machines have an accuracy rate of 99.7%, it’s very reliable and so hard to tamper with, especially the transmission of election results,” Guanzon said.

She said the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), a non-partisan, non-profit organization affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church that works to ensure free, fair and fraud-free elections in the country, as well as national citizens The Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) could attest to their reliability.

Additionally, Guanzon, who spoke out against presidential aspirant and ex-Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (BBM), said that in her seven years as polling commissioner, she could vouch for the relevant personnel handling the machines.

“You couldn’t bribe them to tamper with or add more ballots, I knew them well during my time at Comelec,” said Guanzon, who pushed the P3 PWD party list, of which she is, into the same forum. a candidate.

Guanzon, who is now actively campaigning for presidential hopeful and incumbent Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo, alerted the public to vote buying, which she said would be prevalent ahead of the election. of May 9.

“What we cannot trust is vote buying. This vote buying of politicians is what is killing our democracy,” the Comelec commissioner said adding that the amount could be the minimum 3,000 pesos per head.

Guanzon, however, declined to name names but attacked Marcos’ statement alerting his supporters to be on their guard, particularly on Election Day as he did not want a repeat of what happened to him when he stalked. was running for vice president but lost to Robredo in 2016.