Finally We Have The Winners

It's really official - well semi-official at least - Benigno Aquino III and Jejomar Binay are our country's next President and Vice-President respectively.

Congress, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers, finally finished canvassing the 278 certificates of votes - a process which had been marred by delays due to questions about the election's validity as well as accusations of fraud.

Of course it's not over until it's really over since Senator Manuel Roxas is probably going to file an electoral protest.

Whatever the outcome of that remains to be seen.

But at least for now, a new leadership has been chosen by the people and will take office come end of June.

Whether it will be better or worst than what we've had is still up in the air.

We can only hope that President-elect Aquino would follow through with his promises and be able to steer the country to a better course than where it has been headed now.

And may the vice-president-elect and all the senators and representatives put aside politics and work for the actual good of the country.

Seems like a logical thing to ask . . .

. . . Or is that whistling in the wind?

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.

Use Of Dirty Tactics Normal - Or The PCOS Machines Will Eat Your Soul

There are indigenous people around the world who believe technology can take one's spirit and keep it trapped on this earth for all eternity.

Typically it was cameras that were the devils machines. Not surprising since when you see your picture it does seem as it has taken your very essence.

And that fear has been used by some unscrupulous bastards against some of the indigenous folks in Zamboanga Del Sur.

Administration candidates are said to be telling the Subanen lumad to vote only for the “right candidates” or their spirits will be trapped in the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines.

How wonderful for people to use another's lack of knowledge to instill such fear. But then again why is that surprising - this is Philippine elections we're talking about.

And par for the course denials are quick to come.

And of course in the guise of voter education, they are brainwashing many to vote for a certain party only.

How?

By telling them to keep practicing darkening the Lakas slate as part of a mock election.

It should be enough that the voters do it properly but to force them to only practice with one party is of course pretty obvious for what it is.

Administration officials say that those claiming that the administration was engaged in mind-conditioning tactics belonged to the opposition.

Well duh. Of course they would be from the opposition. It's the administration that's doing this so of course the opposition would complain.

If it were the opposition doing this then the administration would complain. That's the way it goes.

And that there has been no official complaint is not surprising. Death cannot make standing up for your rights a less bitter pill to swallow. Between the option of death and saying silent I would think a lot of us would choose silence.

And for those who say that not right and that they should stand up and show what's right then I say kudos to you but the thing is you're not the one in their shoes.

They have families to think of and their death would mean the death of their families. Of course if you can live with that in your conscience then maybe you can go ahead.

But remember that in the provinces there is really no law. Unless that's changed it will all stay the same.

But then again our politicians remain the same anyway regardless of how many elections have come and gone.

Election Failure Looms And It Won't Be A Surprise

The specter of election failure is back again. Earlier rumors came out of Malacañang about the possible scenario of failed elections.

Despite assurance from the Arroyo side that they were not pushing for such a scenario it seems, now more than ever, that a high possibility exists that it can happen.

Pacific Strategies and Assessments, an Asia-focused business risk consultancy group that does investigations for a number of multi-national companies as well as governments has come out with a warning of the possibility of failed election in the country, especially with the first time use of an automated system.

Malacañang has tried to play down the suspicions but the fact that Arroyo has had a history of saying one thing and doing another goes against her. That she is power hungry no one has a doubt. That she wants to remain in power despite what she says no one doubts as well.

And the potential of a failed election is one way for her to get her wish.

Of course the Comelec has vehemently denied that failed elections will happen because they say the automated system is fool-proof.

But the failure of some machines to function properly in Hong Kong casts some doubts about that contention.

These machines are all new and have not been tested in the field. Amid the heat, the humidity, the fluctuating electricity, the black outs, the inept personnel, and the ignorant public I ask - will things be alright?

I have my doubts and I would sincerely like to be proven wrong. We couldn't make anything work before, what makes us think we can do it now when there is technology involved.

And the fact that the Comelec is very very adamant that nothing wrong will happen makes me fear that something will happen.

Commission spokesman James Jimenez said Thursday that "total failure of elections is inconceivable."

Stranger things have happened Mr. Jimenez. This is the Philippines we're talking about.

Stranger things will happen.