MANILA, Philippines - Lawyer and former Assemblyman Homobono Adaza appeared before a House probe on alleged poll fraud on Tuesday, insisting the Commission on Elections (Comelec) did not comply with a key provision of the poll automation law.

Adaza said the provision of Republic Act 9369 on digital signature requirement for transmission of Election Returns (ERs) and Certificates of Canvass (COCs) was not followed, so all proclamations should be deemed null and void.

Adaza also bared that a friend of his allegedly knew about 4 Commission on Elections (Comelec) regional directors, one of whom claims to be  the "Garci" scandal operator, who had reportedly been going around soliciting "clients" for their fraud operations in exchange for huge sums of money. In closed session, Adaza revealed the name of his friend to the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms.

Adaza also warned lawmakers they may be facing charges if they insist on proclaiming a president and vice president amid questions on the absence of Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) and Board of Canvassers (BOC) digital signatures on the ERs and COCs.

Comelec and Smartmatic, for their part, maintained that the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines have its own digital signatures to authenticate its transmitted results.

During the hearing, some losing mayoral and vice-mayoral bets also presented their own complaints on earlier time stamps and alleged pre-programmed compact flash cards.

An Ang Kapatiran party senatorial bet, meantime, alleged that her votes in Nasugbu, Batangas were shaved.

Grace Plazo insisted that she was cheated, only to find out that her actual canvassed votes reflected the number of votes she claimed she got in Nasugbu town, as attested to by Comelec spokesman James Jimenez, who told Plazo her votes on the Comelec website are correct.

Quezon City Rep. Annie Susano presented a witness who testified that 2 Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines were pulled out from Balingasa Elementary School and brought the City Hall only to be told by officials the machines had to be brought back to the school.

Susano's witness merely speculated on a probable anomaly, but could not specifically point out what it could possibly be.

During an ambush interview after the suspension of the hearing, Jimenez said most of the questions were really reflective of a lack of understanding of the system rather than proof that fraud and anomalies indeed occured.

Committee chair Makati Rep. Teodoro "Teddy Boy" Locsin, meantime, bared Smartmatic and Comelec were meeting to discuss Smartmatic's suggestion that ballot boxes be opened to manually count the votes of all losing candidates if only to put these issues to rest.