We Should Try This Too

Or maybe we're so into the long story line of figuring out who the winner is that we like to watch the drama of our elections unfold.

After all tele-novelas are tele-novelas but the election drama only comes once every 3 years - and it's live.

Hmmm maybe if we still can't decide who the the vice-president will be why not have the two front runners Binay and Roxas slug it out in a no holds barred contest to decide who will be Aquino's partner for the next 6 years.

If you prefer something more civilized then WATCH THIS!

Anyway, let's get this elections over with because the longer it stays on the more ridiculous it gets - Koala Bears be damned . . .

And You Believe Them . . .

"Sons of bitches!!!"

No I'm not calling you that . . . it's what Makati Representative Teodoro Locsin said about Smartmatic's officials and about the company itself.

Locsin was angry and unsatisfied with Smartmatic officials’ explanation on why the election results transmitted by the voting machines had different time stamps that did not reflect the actual opening and closing times of the polls.

As stated in the Inquirer this is what Locsin said:

“You sons of bitches! You had us standing here guaranteeing to the public and to the world that even if fraud was committed, we would be able to trace it."

“We never said that fraud could not be committed, but you said that we could trace it, and now you tell me, that at 10 in the evening you [referring to hackers] could do it and we would never know."

Way to go congressman, that's giving them hell.

I'm not happy with Smartmatic's explanation either.

Heider Garcia, Smartmatic electoral systems manager, explained that the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines were stand-alone machines and reflected the time configured into their internal clocks before they left the warehouse.

Supposedly the time stamp was there to show the timetable of events that happened on each individual machines.

Garcia added that since the PCOS machines were not synchronized some may not have had their internal clocks corrected.

Why not?

Why were the internal clocks on the machines not set to our local standard time.

The time stamp was put there for a reason and so shouldn't it make sense that they should all be running on local time?

The Comelec came to the defense of Smartmatic with Comelec Chair Jose Melo saying that these may just be isolated cases and that it was not done deliberately by Smartmatic.

No sir Mr. Melo. If Smartmatic did not change the internal clocks then they deliberately did it - screw up the timestamps. There is a big difference between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. - by about 3 hours.

And the statement that only the losers would be complaining . . .

. . . well DUH.

Of course only the losers would complain.

I ask you, have you ever seen any winners complain about cheating or fraud?

I don't think so.

And so what if it was the losers complaining? Does it make their complain less valid? Less important?

Check the allegations out.

Or are our politicians too afraid to uncover anything that will put them in a bad light?

That being the case I would not be surprised.

Then this will just fade away as nothing more than rumor and the man who became "Koala Bear" would probably not live it down - forced to wear that ridiculous get-up with nothing to show for it.

Ah that's showbiz for you.

It's Getting Hot Again

And I'm not just talking about the temperature and humidity although it was 37.3-degrees Celsius yesterday.

At least it's a little better today.

No that's not what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about the drama that is our elections or rather the results of it - that is if we will ever get the results.

Almost 10 days after the elections and despite promises of a speedy result we still don't know who our Vice-President will be.

The presidency is already a done deal but that will depend on the outcome of the current poll fraud investigation.

A masked man (yes he was actually wearing a mask - maybe he is a fan of Lucha Libre, the popular Mexican style free wrestling or fighting) alleges in a video that he and others like him had been paid by certain candidates and/or their backers to rig the elections to assure the winners.

The way they supposedly did it was to shave votes from certain candidates and add it to the favored ones.

How you say?

By supposedly scanning in sheets to their own PCOS machines and sending it to the Comelec just minutes before the actual, legitimate PCOS machines do.

Of course the Comelec and it's official citizen arm, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) are up in arms about the whole so-called revelation.

Calling him a Koala Bear (although Koala Man might be more appropriate), Comelec officials deride him for not identifying himself and not showing any proof.

They are adamant that no cheating happened and if there was the masked man should show proof.

I agree that proof should be shown to support any accusation. After all it is easy to make claims but harder to support it.

If cheating really did occur proof should be shown now to make sure it is dealt with.

If there is proof then it should be taken seriously.

That is where I find issue with the Comelec and the PPCRV. Instead of saying that they agree that it is a serious allegation and one that needs looking into they instead quickly deny anything wrong happened and that cheating and fraud was impossible.

They also said men couldn't fly and as wel all know the Wright brothers proved them wrong.

So instead of laughing off the allegations they should look into it seriously.

Admittedly I too have doubts about the "timing" of this masked whistle blower - no I am not going to call him Koala Bear or Koala Man in respect to real Koala Bears out there who are cute, cuddly and have the awesome Australian accent.

If there is proof show it now. That's it. Short and simple.

Put yourself under the protection of Congress if you have to.

Hey if he gets shot then that means what he is saying is true - because he has been silenced so he won't divulge anything.

Though I'm guessing this will come to naught - a with all things of a similar nature that happen in our country.

So it's either shut up or show up.

So we can damn move on from the elections that were supposedly fast.

"Supposedly" . . .

/-------------------------------------------------/

Note: I was supposed to post this yesterday but I had internet connection problems so that obviously didn't happen. FYI I use PLDT as my service provider and of course they keep saying nothing is wrong.

That's for another rant another day.

And the picture I took from the Inquirer's site

Automation Not A Cure-All

This according to delegates of the People’s International Observers’ Mission (PIOM) who were here to observe the May 10 elections.

The group said the Commission on Elections, Smartmatic and the Arroyo government were accountable for the problems encountered.

“And we can fairly say that the Philippine government is not committed to free and honest elections,” it added.

That in itself is an understatement.

I wonder if there has ever been a Philippine government committed to free and honest elections.

From the way the last elections were held the answer would be no.

I'm not going to bother with the details so I will post verbatim the observations of PIOM as posted by the Inquirer in their website.

• There was a sore lack in the preparations such as lack of teachers and lack of technicians; too few precinct count optical scan machines; no back-up plans, among other thing;

• There was general chaos and confusion in the voting process such as overcrowding due to the clustered precincts and there was no uniformity in procedures;

• There was lack of secrecy in the voting process such as people in the precincts watching, taking pictures of voters and people seen outside the polling places dictating to voters whom to vote for;

• There were clear violations of laws on campaigning such as poll watchers wearing campaign T-shirts and bringing campaign paraphernalia inside the precincts;

• Vote-buying was prevalent as shown by people lining up in politicians’ houses, people being paid not to vote and people distributing campaign materials with money clipped in;

• There was election-related violence such as cases of intimidation and harassment coming from armed groups of candidates, landlords and the military. It cited the case of Abra which was a "ghost town the night of the elections;"

• The heavy presence of military and police in the communities and within the polling places contributed to or caused a climate of fear;

• Political dynasties and their armed militias still lord it over local politics;

• There was a systematic vilification campaign against leftist senatorial candidates Satur Ocampo, Liza Maza and eight progressive partylist groups; and

• Political and economic inequality creates vulnerability to intimidation and vote buying.

The group concluded that widespread intimidation, vote-buying, corruption and violence showed that automation "could solve only part of the problem.’’

Of course we will counter this and say that they are wrong but the thing is we are looking at it from our respective subjective eyes.

The international observers are looking at it as outsiders - as objective 3rd parties. I think I will believe the objective party more than the subjective.

Besides I'm tired of "our" excuses anyway. They are pretty much the same.

The bright side is that this election was way better than previous ones. And there is still room for improvement.

Hopefully the coming elections will prove that point.

The Beer Has Spoken - Watch It

Oh wait did I say beer?

My bad - when I saw Corona I immediately thought of the Mexican alcoholic beverage.

Renato Corona has just been sworn in as our country's 23rd Chief Justice.

To those that have criticized his appointment he only had two words to say: "Watch me."

“I am my own person. All I know is that I am here. I have been appointed this job. I assume the responsibilities as chief justice and I am going to do a good job out of it,”

“I am grateful for my appointment. But that ends there….If the party in front of us is correct then he will win the case….We will decide things and cases on the basis of the law and evidence,”

Nice words but at the moment they are merely words - and Corona admits it. That's why he wants us to watch him do his job.

I do hope what he says is true. The Supreme Court has been wishy-washy and it needs to be more responsible and dignified.

That being said he is only human and like it or not the sense of owing someone for his position will come to play.

Remember we don't have the American mentality. We have the Filipino mentality and for us when we owe someone we owe someone - "utang na loob" is what we call it.

Acting Justice Secretary Alberto Agra said that "There is no longer an issue, whether legal, constitutional, moral, or political."

Yes it may b true that there is no issue legally, constitutionally, or politically but there will always be a question of it's morality.

Because like it or not it will still look to everyone that Corona's appointment was to simply pad the Supreme Court in her favor so she's protected.

Whether it's true or not remains to be seen but it is a big burden for the new Supreme Court Chief Justice, as well as the Supreme Court itself to overcome.

Time will tell, especially when Arroyo is one of the defendants.

Then we will see if the rule of law and evidence will win over "utang na loob."

Chief Justice Corona - please prove me and every naysayer out there wrong.