Election officials have yet to find out why 40 of the 200 unused vote counting machines (VCMs) have corrupted SD cards despite not being turned on during the May 2016 national and local polls.
The number of unused VCMs with defects may increase as Comelec has yet to test 1,100 more units as of Wednesday afternoon.
The testing was done as 1,300 unused VCMs have been transported to the Commission on Elections' (Comelec) warehouse in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
The Comelec has yet to announce possible reasons for the defect on the SD cards, but representatives from the camp of vice president Leni Robredo, who were present during the testing, said the pre-logic accuracy tests that were conducted on all VCMs before the elections may be the cause of the defect on some of the SD cards.
Representatives of former Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., who also observed the testing, declined to give a comment at the moment.
Marcos has asked the Supreme Court to stop the release of unused VCMs from Comelec custody to Smartmatic-TIM pending a resolution of his election protest against Vice President Robredo. --- with reports from Jerome Lantin, ABS-CBN News