The live feed of the Commission on Elections on the filing of the certificates of candidacy was temporarily interrupted on Friday after the audio of officials’ argument regarding the press conference coordination was suddenly aired.
A public official aspirant was delivering a statement when voices of Comelec officers were suddenly heard on the livestream.
While there was no video in the background, the voice of Comelec Chair Sheriff Abas could be heard. He was conversing with a poll body employee about the upcoming press conference for the last day of the COC filing.
In the audio, the Comelec staff said Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon does not like to hold a virtual conference.
However, Abas could be heard adamantly saying he wants to hold a virtual conference instead of a live one, which Guanzon supposedly prefers.
“Virtual ang gusto kong kwan.. Ako magpapa-press con kung ayaw nila…Virtual ang sinabi ko,” he said.
The staff also invited Comelec spokesperson and Education and Information Department (EID) Director James Jimenez to join the conversation and inform him of the plan.
Abas said he and Jimenez would be the only ones holding the virtual press conference, reiterating that he does not want to hold a live one.
Jimenez later agreed to the virtual meeting setup.
Minutes later, the staff relayed the information to other Comelec members.
Abas was once again heard on the audio, this time, he was scolding the Comelec employees.
“Kayo ba hindi kayo makakuha ng instruction? Sinabi ko sa inyong virtual…” the Comelec chief said.
“Naiinis ako sa inyo EID ah. Better watch out ah. Sabing virtual, bakit mas makinig pa kayo sa iba?” he added.
While there were pauses, an irked Abas continued scolding the Comelec staff.
“G*go kayo ah. Kainis kayo ah. Ako lang ang magpe-presscon kung ayaw nila, ako lang. Bakit ba kayo magkwan kwan sa instruction?” Abas said.
“Di kayo makaintindi ng instruction EID…Bakit takot kayo kay Guanzon? ‘Di kayo takot sakin? Talaga ah.” he said.
“Bakit ba nanguna-nguna kayo sa anong gusto? Sino ba nagsabi sa inyong live. Ayusin niyo,” he furthered.
During the livestream audio blunder, only the standby page could be seen on the screen.
The virtual conference of Comelec later pushed through with officials’ Zoom meeting also aired on the live stream. They discussed what went down during the week-long COC filing.
