That's what these complainers are. I'm of course referring those politicians who have come out with claims of being approached by individuals and groups offering to rig the elections in their behalf.

I'm disgusted with these people because the fact that they came out with this piece of information only after the elections shows that they're not really doing this to help fix the election system. Had they been motivated by a patriotic sense to help preserve the integrity of the electoral process they would have exposed these alleged offers long before election day.

I sure hope everyone is seeing the reality here. These pseudo-whistleblowers had all the time to reveal what they claim to know but only did so after the elections. What could be the reason for that? Well, we can only speculate that these people may have actually accepted the offer presented to them by these alleged electoral fraud operators.

Word on the street is such operations cost a lot of money. Well, We can only imagine how a politician who availed of such services would feel about losing despite having paid good money for a sure victory. They certainly won't be happy. They certainly would feel sore. They certainly would end up as sore losers.

Here's a scanned copy of a tabloid column piece from Dan Zulueta. Special thanks to my barber Mang Pedring for lending me his copy of Bomba.

I really wonder where Mr. Lagman based his conclusion. Is he seriously using the string of questionable claims and allegations against the automated election system as proof?

In fairness, he did dismiss the claims made by the self-confessed electoral fraud operator known as Koala Bear. I think he found Koala's story incredible.

In any case, it is still rather strange that Mr.Lagman would make such a conclusion about the system considering that none of the ongoing investigations have yielded any solid evidence.

(excerpt from abs-cbnnews.com report)

"We are back to where we were when we were using the manual elections," Augusto Lagman of the anti-election fraud group Transparent Elections.Org told ANC's Headstart, referring to the various complaints about the automated election system.

Mr. Lagman is clearly making a sweeping generalization here. How can he say such a thing when it's very clear that, despite all its imperfections, the automated system clearly changed the game. For one, it is quite clear that the system put many electoral fraud operators out of business.

Ironically, it is this game-changing impact of the system that is making it the target of all sorts of attack. Think about it. Who stands to benefit should our election system revert back to manual?

The same abs-cbnnews.com report says Mr. Lagman also believes that cheating "could not have come from outside, but within the ranks of poll equipment supplier Smartmatic."

I don't think so.

What Mr. Lagman and those gullible enough to believe him fail to realize is that there's just no compelling reason for Smartmatic to sabotage it's own system. And, for what? To help certain politicians win?

The way I see it, Smartmatic's interest lies in the success of the elections. It's obvious. Smartmatic aims to do more business not only here in the Philippines but in other countries in the region as well. Why would it fool around when doing so would clearly jeopardize its business?

I seriously think Mr. Lagman knows whom he should blame but chose to drag Smartmatic because of some other reason.

In case you missed it, Mr. Lagman is an IT expert and a businessman.

The general consensus is that the whole process prior to the actual filling out of the ballot was a big disappointment. Not a few people were discouraged to vote. It didn't help that it was really very hot today.

It should be noted however that while many were discouraged that doesn't necessarily mean they were all disenfranchised. Let's clarify the terms.

discourage: made less hopeful or enthusiastic; deprive of courage or hope

disenfranchise: to deprive someone of a franchise, generally their right to vote

Making that distinction is important because, sadly, a number of media outlets have been using the term "disenfrachised" rather loosely when what they're actually referring to are those voters who, because of the long wait, heat and every other hassle, decided on their own to give up their opportunity to vote.

The disenfranchised are those who were prevented from voting because their names could not be found on the voters list.

It should also be clarified that the biggest gripe of the day -- the long wait -- is not exactly a problem caused by the automated system. Therefore to say that the new system was a failure is inaccurate.

As many can attest to, the automated system itself worked like a charm. Most people report completing the process from filling out the ballot to feeding it to the PCOS machines in less than 5 minutes.

Sure there were some technical glitches in some areas but all in all these were easily managed. As Comelec have been assuring all this time, there were enough contingencies to address most of these technical problems.

The real problem was obviously in the area of crowd control. Comelec should take note of this for future reference.

So was the automated election a success. I think we can safely say that it is. Maybe it wasn't the spectacular success we had ben hoping for but a success nonetheless.

I will be keeping my fingers crossed that all the candidates will be sport enough to accept whatever the result will be.

The Cardinal said it clearly:

(excerpt from www.cbcpnews.com)

Although not making a direct statement to any politician, Cardinal Rosales said anyone who brings up such an idea is irresponsible.

“Whoever said that, I have never heard him (Aquino), but any kind of thinking, that is irresponsible thinking,” Rosales told reporters.

“For heaven’s sake, there is the Constitution, all these are covered by provisions of Constitution. If there are complaints, you go to the Comelec (Commission on Elections), in Congress because you still have that.”

“The laws are not done on the streets. That (People Power 1) was only an extraordinary situation for almost 20 years so you don’t do that again. That’s why we have the laws now,” he said.

Related to this, it appears certain sectors are really out to make a mess of the country's first ever automated elections. The Commission on Eelections has bared a plot to disenfranchise voters.

(report from www.journal.com)

Plot to disenfranchise voters bared
by Jess V. Antiporda
Monday, 03 May 2010 19:40
THE Commission on Elections yesterday confirmed that there are plans to delay or prevent voters from casting their votes on election day.

“What’s happening (is that) some individuals will purposely delay the voting in some areas to prevent voters from voting,” Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said. He said the plans will entail disrupting the voting process to delay, prevent, or discourage voters from taking part in the elections.

“We cannot give you names... we have to be very careful… who are and who are not involved,” said Comelec spokesman James Jimenez.

He said the information came from credible sources.

“We evaluated some of them and we’ve found them credible,” he said.

Jimenez hinted that the plans could be part of some candidates’ political strategy to prevent their opponents’ supporters from voting.

“This is what we are looking at. (But) you can only shut out the supporters for a short period of time,” he said. He added that another possible motive behind the move is to discredit the poll body and the conduct of elections itself so the results of the automated polls can be challenged easily.

Larrazabal said they have already instructed their board of election inspectors to “take appropriate action” in case voting proceedings are disrupted on election day.

It's obvious to me that this is one situation where a more sober and thinking People Power movement can be put to good use. Perhaps, those of us who are so inclined can help out by keeping watch over the whole process. If at all possible keep an eye out for suspicious activities such as attempts to slow down the voting procedure.

Instead of lingering on the seeds of negativity planted by Aquino and his cohorts, let's all focus on making sure the automated election will be a big success and by that I mean that it would be carried out in an honest, orderly and peaceful manner.

Mr. Columnist does have a point there. I agree anything that would help ensure the credibility of the country's first ever automated elections should be considered. However, I don't think Mr. Columnist sufficiently defended why manual count should even be considered at this point in time.

We should all be reminded that nowhere in the law does it state that a parallel manual count should be implemented. What the law states is that we should have full automation and of course that includes the counting aspect of the whole process. As far as I can tell, the idea of having a parallel manual count actually subverts the law.

I sure hope those pushing for the manual count really care about peace and order in this country. I say this because having a parallel manual count actually poses a threat not only to the system. The following quote lifted from a blogpost over at www.betterphilippines.com should give you an idea:

In any case, the manual count is quite dangerous. There will surely be an error in the manual account, and it will surely not jibe with the automated count. So in case there is disparity, which one is to be believed? The manual count can easily be rigged as we know from past counting of votes, so why are the MBC pushing for it?

The MBC is saying we should count each precinct votes and compare with PCOS count for each precinct. They say if there is 1 percent difference in the count nationwide, then we should use only the manual count. In short, they are saying, if there is discrepancy, the manual count is the more credible count! Amazingly, they now believe that the manual count is more credible!

I don't want to be an alarmist but I really think if the parallel manual count will push through things will really turn from bad to worse. For one, its proponents have already put forward the idea that the manual counting results should be trusted more than those from the automated system. That alone undermines the credibility of the system.

programmer

April 11, 2010 • 4:34 pm (Edit)

No one is auditing and showing us the Smartmatic Datacenter. Yes, PCOS = bullet-proof. But how about the back door?

Who will audit, contest (and recount) the number of votes *in totality*?

When all electronic votes are in, the 12M votes winner can just be *easily padded* (depending on voter's turn out, it was 81% 2004) so that the secret GMA-backed presidentiable can win by a margin of 1M votes (Garci style).

With the automated election how can the public know? How can the public check? Comelec needs to be more crystal clear transparent. But this election won't be transparent.

Here's my reply:

For security reasons (OBVIOUSLY) the actual area where the main servers of the Automated Election System will be located cannot be disclosed as of this time.

Who will audit? Comelec, in cases where anomalies are detected and when such anomalies warrant an audit.

Who will contest? The candidates, poll watchers, etcetera.

Who will recount? Comelec.

Regarding padding. This is not "EASY" as one would think it is.

Like any system whose integrity must be assured, the implementation of the projects different phases are chopped up among different people. Programming of one phase of the program is done by one person, another person does networking, another person does PCOS programming, etcetera. So, in order to engineer a means of padding the results from a central area, you'd have to have the collussion or cooperation of DOZENS of people.

Moreover, you have TWO SEPARATE MACHINE COUNTS GOING ON... So, if you manage to cheat the central server, the results shown on it may be different from the results that pass through the CCS.

As for cheating on the level of the PCOS machines, as in the Princeton study (which is a DIFFERENT MACHINE ALL TOGETHER), you would have to get the cooperation of the people who either program the machines in the warehouse (who subject the machines to intensive tests before releasing them) OR get the cooperation of a substantial number of field technicians who will assist in operating the machines in the field. SUBSTANTIAL, meaning, YOU MUST GET THE COOPERATION OF HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE...

So,in the end, you may succeed in tampering with the results BUT TO TAMPER WITH THE RESULTS WITHOUT GETTING DETECTED IS IMPOSSIBLE!

Sadly, there are also quite a number of issues being raised that simply boggles the mind. Take the case of this one raised by vice presidential candidate Jejomar Binay. He says there is a big possibility that fake ballots will make it into the system. Ok so far. It can be considered a valid concern, but then if we examine closely how he made that assumption we'd see that the logic underpinning it is rather faulty.

Binay based his concern on the Comelec's plan to just purchase handheld ultra-violet lamps to be used to scan the ballots prior to processing through the PCOS machines. If you failed to notice it, Binay's train of thought just doesn't make sense. Fake ballots will be introduced to the system because the Comelec has decided to purchase handheld UV scanners? Really strange.

The fact is the UV scanners will be deployed precisely as a security measure against fake ballots. Here's a report from inquirer.net:

Comelec to buy 80,000 UV readers to check ballots' security

By Anna Valmero
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 12:51:00 04/02/2010

Filed Under: Elections, Eleksyon 2010, Politics

MANILA, Philippines—Officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Thursday that there will be UV ink scanners to be deployed in all 76,000 precincts nationwide by May to check that the ballots to be used in polling precincts contain the UV security markings.

The poll body allocated at least P1 billion for the procurement of the handheld UV lamps.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the Comelec bids and awards committee has started the bidding for the acquisition of 80,000 UV lamps to detect and scan the invisible security markings that will prove the authenticity of the ballots before they are handed to voters.

This came after Comelec chairman Jose Melo admitted that some of the ballots printed at the National Printing Office have misaligned UV markings that might not be read by the poll machines.

“The UV marks are misaligned on some of the ballots. At the speed that the ballots are printed, some of the marks are sort of moving. The PCOS machine may not be able to read the UV marks with a number of ballots but a UV scanner can still do this function. Even the voter can do that so they can see for themselves the UV security marks on the ballots,” said Melo.

Smartmatic-TIM spokesman Gene Gregorio told INQUIRER.net in another interview that they are “finalizing talks” with Comelec on the acquisition of the UV lamps or scanner, after Melo announced that the automation technology provider is accountable for the UV lamps.

Comelec said earlier that the UV markings is one of the five security measures to be detected by the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines once the filled-up ballots are fed into the scanner by the voter. Other security markings include the 160 GSM custom-made paper imported from Canada, the 2D barcode, Comelec security markings and precinct specific numbers.

As of March 31, the NPO has printed 27 million of the total 50 million ballots for use in the May polls.

The thing is fake ballots may or may not be introduced regardless of the purchase and deployment of these UV scanners. This is non sequitur.

Isn't it funny how most of the candidates seem to be to preoccupied with all sorts of doomsday scenario? Of course, we already know why they're doing this. This is Philippine elections where no one ever gets beaten fair and square. Nadadaya lang.

I sure hope our candidates would realize sooner than later that they could better help ensure the credibility of the elections by educating the public about how the system works rather than fear mongering and spreading baseless and totally idiotic claims.

Here's part of the report  from inquirer.net.

Aquino fears failure of election scenario

By Gil C. Cabacungan Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:06:00 03/31/2010

Filed Under: Inquirer Politics, Eleksyon 2010, Elections, Benigno Aquino III

MANILA, Philippines—With just 41 days left before Election Day, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III voiced doubts that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) could prevent a failure of elections and urged the public to remain vigilant.

In a press conference, Aquino said he had directed his campaign staff in the Liberal Party to confer with the church, election watchdogs, the diplomatic community, the military and police to avert the elections from being sabotaged through cheating or forced failure.

Aquino, the LP’s presidential candidate in the May 10 elections, said the military should be reminded to remain “apolitical,” calling the armed forces “a very necessary institution in preserving the stability of the state.”

Florencio Abad, LP campaign manager, cited a number of allegedly questionable moves made by the Comelec, specifically the lack of an independent review of the source code for the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines to be used in the electronic vote.

“There is no way of knowing what is inside the machines until they are individually tested in the precincts,” Abad said.

Disabled safety feature

He said that the ultraviolet safety features of the PCOS machines had been disabled. “Fake ballots can pass through the machines.”

Abad also warned against what he said was the absence of a plan to conduct random auditing and a backup plan in case of computer breakdown and the delayed training of the board of election inspectors and technicians.

He said that the appointment of Gen. Delfin Bangit, a former close-in security officer of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, as head of the military and her plan to name a new chief justice of the Supreme Court had bolstered fears of massive cheating in the May vote.

3 worst-case scenario

Abad said one of three worst-case scenarios could occur in May—massive and wholesale cheating to favor the President’s candidate; partial failure of elections (no proclamation for the president, vice president and the senators) leaving the new House to elect its Speaker to take care of government; and a complete failure of elections with a military junta taking over.

Hey, Liberal Party, can you spell C-O-N-C-E-I-T-E-D? How about E-G-O-T-I-S-T-I-C-A-L?

These people should be reminded that there are other candidates who also have a shot at getting elected. Mister Aquino and the  other LP candidates should realize that there are other more probable reasons for them to lose. I didn't want to say this but in the case of Mister Aquino one of those reasons is the growing perception that he is simply not cut out to be president.

Having said that, I would strongly suggest that Mister Aquino and his merry band of presumptuous poseurs focus more on giving us realistic reasons why we should vote for them instead of getting people all riled up over unfounded speculations.

The only good thing I'm getting out of this latest LP statement is the call for the public to be vigilant. The LP got that one thing right.  The public should really keep a close watch to ensure the success of our first ever automated elections.

There's no denying there will be a lot of uncertainties in the days to come. There will always be attempts to game the system. But one thing is certain. Wholesale cheating will not happen through the automated system. In fact, the system itself is the monkey wrench that will screw up the cheating methods used in previous elections.

To the voting public, yes, heed the LP's advice. Be vigilant. Watch out for new cheating methods.

To Mister Aquino and the rest of the Liberal Party, keep your egos in check. Don't be so presumptuous that you would think just because you're salivating for it so much your victory is already certain.

Of course, as we all know, no amount of convincing coming from President Arroyo -- especially from her -- would be enough to assure those who have it in their heads that the upcoming elections will be a big failure.

Even the AFP leadership vows it will not allow the military to be used to keep President Arroyo in power. Again, such promises are just routinely dismissed by the perennially paranoid.

Perhaps, a new suggestion from election lawyer Romulo Macalintal might dot the trick.

Macalintal has proposed the filing of contempt charges against those behind persistent talks of a failure of elections. The lawyer qualified his suggestion, saying charges should only be filed on those who will make such statements publicly and without any proof.

The Commission on Elections is reportedly considering Macalintal's suggestion. At the same time, it again assures that the elections will be automated, will proceed smoothly, and will be a success.

According to the commission, the delay is due to the pendency of disqualification cases filed against a number of local and national candidates. Comelc Commissioner Rene Sarmiento explains that the names of candidates to be identified in the ballots should be finalized first.

The Commission also needs to finalize the exact number of people registered to vote in this election. Comelec has been saying it will need to print an exact number of ballots and just this weekend Sarmiento revealed that it has already discovered about 50,000 double and multiple registrants. The number is expected to go up further.

I've been trying to keep an optimistic view of poll automation and despite all the negative press I remain convinced this project will be good for the country. However, I am now also beginning to feel some anxiety because of the many problems and issues still being raised.

My number one concern is that the project is being unduly criticized because of certain election issues not necessarily directly connected to the automated system. The issues noted above are just two such examples.

I remain hopeful though Comelec would be able to thresh out all the problems at the soonest possible time.