Thank God It's Over!

The winners of the last elections were finally proclaimed last Wednesday and now all of us could finally take a sigh of relief. The last eight months were excruciatingly mad; there were mudslinging, accusations, and even violence. It was as if all of us were dragged into a telenovela with a totally convoluted plot.

Last Wednesday's proclamation may be considered as the grand finale of those tumultuous months. Consider yourself lucky if you chose to stay home or in your office and watch the proceedings in comfort. The Session Hall of the House of Representatives where the event took place was in total chaos. Decorum and protocol were dispensed with as supporters of the winning candidates came in droves.

I don't know if it can be considered as a good start but the two groups engaged in a cheering contest. There were no insults or disparaging remarks but it seemed that the order was the louder the better. I don't understand why they have to resort to this since both there principals were already winners and honestly, it was too juvenile.  Good thing that they were seated on the opposite sides of the hall, away from each other.

Many supporters of the winning Presidential candidate considered themselves important people so they wanted a seat in the first gallery.  What happened was plastic chairs were lined up in the Session Hall floor which, ordinarily, was a total no-no.  It came to a point that we could not identify anymore who among the people there were members of Congress and just guests.

Some members of the committee that canvassed the election results were given a few minutes to speak.  Surprisingly, the crowd went silent except at times that they had to applaud the one speaking but everybody was still subdued.  It was like this until one Senator started saying nasty things about the running mate of the winning Presidential candidate.  Those on the side of the winning candidate was cheering and clapping, but those on the side of the losing candidate appeared to have clenched their teeth and seething.  The speech was totally uncalled for, maybe the Senator was just too bitter that his son and daughter both lost in the two consecutive Senatorial race and there'll be no one to replace him in the Senate.

When it was time for the members of both Houses of Congress to approve the Canvass Report, the crowd went wild, drowning whatever the Senate President and Speaker of the House were saying.  The cheering erupted like someone scored a triple shot in a highly contested basket ball game.

And when the winners were finally called to the rostrum for the proclamation ceremonies, the whole place was justa bedlam of catcalls, screams and all the kind of noise a human can make when he or she is in a state of ecstasy.  Nobody could hear anymore what was being said infront of us.  All I was able to see was the leaders of Congress raising the hands of the winners.

It was all over in a few minutes.  Everybody went out of the Session Hall still buzzing with the excitement of what has just happened.  The crowd continued to distance themselves from each other.  I don't know where they all went but after just over an hour, the halls were empty again, except for the cleaners.

As we put those months behind us, many of us look forward to better days. The just proclaimed winners will be taking office at the end of this month and every one who gave them this position will be watching them.  Me, I will see if the incoming President would be true to his words - no corruption.

Cheating Koalas

It's been three weeks since we went to the polls for the first automated elections in our country.  Many of the winners have already been proclaimed, but many losing candidates are also claiming that they have been cheated by the very people who should have been safeguarding the sanctity of the ballots.

There were so many claims of "electronic cheating", "hocus PCOS", and computerized fraud allegedly committed by officers of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) that a Congressional probe was conducted to look into them.  At the center of the investigation are the machines and compact flash cards used in the elections which, according to some quarters, were tampered with to give fraudulent results.

The allegations reached fever pitch when a masked "whistleblower" who introduced himself as Robin claimed that he was party to an elaborate plot to cheat in the just concluded polls.

from inquirer.net

In a video presented first in a press conference and then during the hearing of the Congressional body, Robin claimed that he was part of a group that manipulated the results of the last elections by transmitting manufactured counts to the COMELEC main computers.  He added that the two leading candidates for Vice President paid more than a billion pesos just to get ahead of everybody else.  He said that the leading candidate paid better than the earlier favorite.  Why, even the Presidential race was allegedly manipulated such that the one that was supposed to win ended up near the bottom of the heap.

The Chairman of the Congressional body dubbed the whistleblower as "Koala bear" (a misnomer because koalas are not bears, they are marsupials like kangaroos) because of his mask, which was highlighted by a very large nose.  He looked more like a panda to me though.

After the initial release of the video, losing candidates from the National Capital Region all the way down to the southern part of the country emerged with stories of people approaching them to commit electoral fraud in exchange for hefty amounts.  By their accounts, one would think that the country has been invaded by "koalas" peddling their technical expertise in committing fraud during the elections.

One incumbent governor from a Southern Philippines province claimed that he was approached as early as November by a group promising to manipulate the results of the elections to ensure the victory of his entire team.  He told the body that he was asked 50 million pesos for this but he turned down the offer.  Another losing mayoralty candidate claimed that in January, an acquaintance also asked him for money in exchange for his victory in the polls.  This will be done by rigging the electronic results of the elections.  

There were other stories from losing candidates in local positions but their stories are all the same.  Just before the national elections, someone or a group of people approached them, promising them victory in the polls in exchange for a huge amount of money for their operations.

I just wonder why these people waited until they lost the elections before they revealed these anomalies.  Like that Governor from the South, as an official of his province, he should have reported it to the COMELEC or even to the police at the time he was approached. Why did he keep it to his self?

The mere fact that he was asked to give money so that they would make him win is already a crime.  It sounded like an extortion to me: give us money so you'd win, otherwise you'd lose.  And it involved the elections, for pete's sake!  He said that he only realized that the offer was true after his entire team lost.  So what happened if he won the elections?  He'd just clam up and pretend that nobody approached him six months before to ask for money which will be used for an operation that will deny the people of their will.

I agree that this losers do not deserve to win the elections.  It is now obvious that they do not have the people's welfare in mind when they run for public office.  They just want to be elected in a position and all the privileges that go with it. 

Nitpicking

As the old cliche goes, the elections are over except for the shouting.  Indeed, tons of shouting are simultaneously heard all over the archipelago, but there's only a single theme: "We've been cheated by the precinct count optical count (PCOS) machine!" 

Losing candidates who ran for national positions all the way down to local positions, from Luzon to Mindanao protest that the faulty machines caused them to lose precious votes.  They were citing instances of discrepancies between the official print out tally of the PCOS machine and the manual audit.

A father-son team who were losing in their province even claimed that the machines were encoded days before the elections.  As of late, they were successful in having the votes recounted here in Metro Manila.

There were also reports of losing incumbent officials actually stopping the count when they were trailing behind. They were even the ones who complained that their opponents manipulated the counting.  In a nearby city, a technician even brought home some 60 PCOS machines to allegedly protect them.

But nobody can beat the trio of cellar dwellers in the Presidential race who held a press conference to bring forth, what they claim were reports of their supporters that there were "some questions that need to be answered" in the just concluded elections.   Amazingly, to support these allegations, the trio cited the fact that the disqualified candidate received even more votes than their combined numbers.

For sheer chutzpah, nobody comes close to the leading Vice Presidential candidate who all but declared himself the winner of the election.  He even said that should he lose, it was all because he was cheated since he allegedly received reports that some "automated cheating" were happening in precincts that have not transmitted their reports.  This he said when there were still 5 million votes uncounted and his lead was a little less than 800 thousand votes.

Amidst these allegations though are some good news.  foreign observers noted that while there were glitches and irregularities in the conduct of the poll, the people and elections personnel should be commended for making these elections happen.  They agree that if it were not for the collective will of the people, the elections would not have happened at all.

Personally, I think these elections was more credible than the one held in 2004.  Results in more than 80 percent of the polling places were already known in less than a week.  This is already a record here in the Philippines considering that in the past, it took almost a month before any semblance of trend were observed.  If you ask me, complaints about the PCOS machines and the automation were just nitpicking. 

As of this post, the leading candidate is still the son of a former President.  He's ahead by 5 million votes from his closest rival, something that some corners claim as a clear majority.  How he would perform, knowing his track record, is another matter worth blogging.

Election Day 2010

Election day has finally arrived. The country has been gripped with election fever for the last eight months and now that it's finally here, Filipinos went to the polls in throngs.

This is the first automated elections for the Philippines.  The shift was never easy and there were problems in every step of the way.  Up to the last minute, there were problems about the machines, the process and even the paraphernalia to be used for the elections.

But these problems did not stop Filipinos from going to their respective precincts this morning.  I was one of those who went to the polling centers even before they opened and when I got there, it was a scene of total chaos.

Voters cannot find their precincts because these were already clustered into just seven voting areas.  I also had a hard time looking for my voting area because it was transferred and clustered with 6 other precincts.  When I got there,  the line going to the area was already long.

In fact, it took two hours before I was able to cast my vote.  The counting machine stopped three times during the time I was on line because of paper jam problems.  This delayed the process at least 30 minutes.  Once I got my ballot, the process was already smooth.

I observed that the space to be shaded was really small. It was very easy to make mistakes that could spoil one's ballot.  I feel sorry for those two elderly women whose ballots were rejected by the machine because they shaded beyond the borders of the area.

Speaking of the elderly, I think they should be given a special precinct where they can cast their vote.  There was an instance where one old man had to fall in line to vote.  I told his companion to ask if it was possible for him to go first.  Thankfully, the personnel were kind enough to allow him to vote ahead of everyone else.  What I could not understand though was the attitude of the other voters.  They got angry and even protested when the elderly were given this special treatment.  They were acting like that they themselves would never grow old.

From the number of people who went out to vote this morning, I can say that Filipinos still believe in the election process.  I hope no one would try to break this trust for his or her own gain. It was almost lost 6 years ago so let us all help protect and preserve it.