“These losing candidates seem to be lost in translation… Adaza’s insistence on handwritten signatures seems strange in an era when billions of people around the world routinely use digital signatures everyday. In another example, Netizens who surf the worldwide web to communicate among themselves or acquire information also have to go through a “sign in” procedure whenever they log on to such social networks as Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo! This process, too, entails entering unique usernames and passwords… That is why they do not get the sympathy of Netizens...Do we keep on explaining this to them?”

According to the automated election law, every election return (ER) must contain the signature of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs) chairman of specific polling precincts.

Some quarters crying fraud in the May 10 polls point out that the ER printouts generated by Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines carry no such signatures. Former Assemblyman Homobono Adaza, for one, has been making the local equivalent a federal case out of this “failure.”

At the Kapihan sa Sulo on Saturday, it dawned on observers who listened to Adaza make his case against the Automated Election System (AES), against the Commission on Elections (Comelec), against private contractor Smartmatic-TIM, against House suffrage committee chairman, Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr. of Makati, against House suffrage committee member Rep. Roilo Golez of Parañaque and against just about anybody who does not buy his allegations of massive election fraud that he does not know what he is talking about.

What Adaza evidently expects are actual, handwritten signatures on each and every ER generated by over 76,000 PCOS machines used in polling precincts throughout the country on May 10. He does not seem to grasp the concept of “digital signature,” which is what the law actually requires.

Adaza’s insistence on handwritten signatures seems strange in an era when billions of people around the world routinely use digital signatures everyday.

For instance, bank depositors who go to automated teller machines (ATM) gain access to their savings or current accounts via their individual, customer-specific “keys”—usually consisting of four numerals, which are essentially digital signatures.

In another example, Netizens who surf the worldwide web to communicate among themselves or acquire information also have to go through a “sign in” procedure whenever they log on to such social networks as Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo! This process, too, entails entering unique usernames and passwords.

Digital signatures have been around for at least the past two decades. In fact, digitization has greatly speeded up business transactions, political mobilization and cultural interaction, not to mention mass and interpersonal communication.

Although cases of “identity theft” occasionally crop up, due almost always to the carelessness of individual ATM depositors or Internet account holders, the system has shown itself to be quite secure.

The modern world would be unimaginable without digital signatures. However, all that technical progress has apparently whizzed Adaza—along with others like him—by.

Some observers, however, could not help but suspect that what they were witnessing at the media forum was a case of legalistic nitpicking for a hidden political agenda. While Adaza’s objections to the AES seem flimsy, his bottom-line demand is downright outrageous.

What Adaza wants is for the May 10 general elections to be declared null and void, thus leaving all elective government positions open—until new polls are held.

In the meantime, he proposes that the 12 senators whose term of office do not expire on June 30 elect among themselves a new Senate president who, in turn, would act as caretaker chief executive until a new president of the Philippines is elected—presumably through Adaza’s method of choice, i.e. a slow, certifiably fraud-prone manual election.

The current term of office of President Gloria Arroyo, Vice President Noli de Castro, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Speaker Prospero Nograles is set to expire on June 30. Similarly, 11 other senators, all congressmen and incumbent local government officials would have to step down on the same date.

But there would be 12 senators whose term of office runs until 2013 and they would constitute the only “continuing institution,” as Adaza put it, which could guarantee the orderly succession of power.

These senators are Edgardo Angara, Benigno Aquino 3rd, Joker Arroyo, Alan Peter Cayetano, Francis Escudero, Gregorio Honasan, Panfilo Lacson, Loren Legarda, Francis Pangilinan, Antonio Trillanes 4th, Juan Miguel Zubiri—and Manuel Villar.

If this were to happen, as Adaza insists, it should be easy to see how the candidate who failed to win the presidential race on May 10 despite a mind-boggling campaign kitty could again get a chance to grab the country’s top political post.

If the remaining 12 senators were allowed to pick among themselves the man who would become the country’s acting president, it should be easy to see how Villar could finally attain his burning ambition.

Villar should be able to count on the vote of his long-time allies, including Angara, Arroyo, Cayetano and Legarda. Meanwhile, a smart businessman like him should be able to cut deals with at least three or four other senators.

Going by Adaza’s proposal, the candidate who failed to win the privilege of entering Malacañang through the front door might yet gain entry through the back—as Senate president simultaneously acting as interim chief executive.

Talk about “Aha!” moments.

Sensible suggestion
A more sensible input to the raging debate over the problematic AES comes from the election watchdog Halalang Marangal (Halal).

Also speaking at the Kapihan, information technology expert and Halal Secretary General Roberto Verzola proposed a way to empower citizens to audit the May 10 elections—and settle the questions about the accuracy and integrity of PCOS counts once and for all.

Verzola suggested that all the ballot images stored in the 76,347 compact flash cards (CFCs) be made public in unencrypted form and grouped by precinct cluster.

“Once they are unencrypted, the ballot images will be in a standard format called JPEG, which can be displayed on any computer,” Verzola explained. “The 76,347 compressed files… can be made available for download at the Comelec website or saved as DVDs and made available to the public.”

He added: “While cheats have mastered the fine art of ballot box substitution, it will be a big challenge for them to create new ballot images now and substitute these for the authentic ones now stored on the CFCs.”

Verzola concluded: “Putting the ballot images online will not only . . . truly empower citizens in ensuring that their votes are properly counted, but it will also make it much easier for candidates to accept defeat.”

Good suggestion, but election losers “accept defeat”? That’ll be the day. Dan Mariano

TV5 Public Relations head Peachy Guioguio sent Bulletin Entertainment on May 29 a one-liner when queried about the civil case filed against the station and DJ Mo Twister (real name Mohan Gumatay) by GMA Network: “Our lawyers are reviewing the case.”

GMA Network has sued Gumatay for alleged “breach of contract,” for jumping to competitor station TV5 as talent.


In an interview on TV5 show “Juicy” early last week, Mo acknowledged that he’s had “contractual issues” with GMA Network “from the beginning when I showed interest if ever na pupunta nga ako sa TV5.”

Although GMA Network admitted that their agreement with Gumatay is from May 4, 2009, to May 3, 2010 only, it insisted that it still has an existing exclusive talent agreement with the host due in most parts to a clause in the contract that gives them the “exclusive and irrevocable option” to renew it.

GMA purported that it had, through its head of talent division Wilma Galvante, informed Gumatay of this before the expiration of the latter’s contract, vis-a-vis advising him that they are exercising their right.

Gumatay allegedly wrote back on May 8 and said he was not renewing the agreement and that he was resigning as host of the Sunday show “Showbiz Central.” Gumatay debuted as host on TV5’s “Paparazzi” on May 16.

He said on “Juicy” that “sinasabi nila (GMA Network) na they’re renewing it daw or something [but] this is something that I think kailangang pag-usapan ng mga lawyers.”

In the 16-page complaint, GMA also asked the Quezon City Regional Trial Court to issue a temporary restraining order against TV5 from letting the host work on the talk show “Paparazzi” or any other show in TV5 for that matter.

The network claimed that it wrote TV5 on March 26 informing the station about Gumatay’s talent agreement with them.

“Despite receipt of this letter, defendant ABC TV5 engaged the services of defendant Gumatay as talent/host and allowed him to appear as host on its program “Paparazzi” last May 15, 2010,” the complaint stated.

GMA is asking the court for a “writ of preliminary injunction,” in effect ordering Gumatay to comply with his agreement with the network and stop his transfer to TV-5.

The network said Gumatay should be ordered to pay P1,040,000—the amount equal to double his total compensation for one year—and P1-M in exemplary damages.

GMA also asked that an order be issued for the host and TV5 to pay P1-M in attorney’s fees and P1-M as litigation expenses.

The case was raffled off to the QCRTC Branch 217 under presiding judge Santiago Arenas.

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"Comelec Commissioner Melo, however, said most of the complaints from the lawmakers and losing candidates who now troop to the House of Representatives are just repetitions of what were already discussed during the drafting of Republic Act 9369, or the poll automation law.“Yun debate na yun nanyari na years and years ago. These have been set aside already by Congress and they decided that there will be fully automated nationwide elections in 2010. They discussed these during [meetings of] the joint congressional committee on poll automation. Binubuksan na naman nila na parang ngayon lang napakinggan,” Melo said."

Chairman Jose Melo of the Commission on Elections and his fellow commissioners are satisfied that the first Automated Election System (AES) experience of the Philippines has been a success—theyare now deciding whether top purchase the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines or just lease them from Smartmatic- Total Information Management (TIM) in the next elections.

He says the successful conduct of the first nationwide automated national and local elections on May 10 “is a beginning” for a more honest, clean and credible polls in the future.

“Over all, it was a very, very efficient process. Of course, we learned some things also that we can fine tune [for future elections],” the poll body chief told The Manila Times.

He said though that the commission has yet to decide on whether or not they will be purchasing some 82,200 PCOS machines from the joint venture of Smartmatic and TIM, the supplier of the machines that was used for the P7.2-billion automation project.

“The PCOS machines are on lease because we don’t want to be locked in with Smartmatic,” Melo said, adding that in the future, there may be more advanced technology that the next poll body administration would like to make use of.

“Maybe may mas maliit na machines or results can be transmitted through telephone or Internet right?” he mused.

And although he said that there were some hurdles that the poll body had to go through to conduct automated elections, Melo insisted that the commission has learned a lot along the way that will enable them to “fine tune” the process.

The poll body chief maintained that he still believes the recently concluded May polls was a positive indication of what lies ahead for the country’s electoral system.

“Of course, may mga complaints, but these are coming from old-time politicians,” Melo told The Times.

He was referring to the congressional inquiry of the committee on electoral reforms and suffrage that currently holds hearings where grievances of some losing candidates are aired, alleging that massive electoral fraud was committed during the May polls.

Allegations of fraud
Various allegations of fraud have been aired in the hearings of the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms. But not proofs have been presented.

In a video, an alleged whistleblower who goes by the alias “Robin,” or “Koala Boy” as branded by Rep. Teodoro “Teddy Boy” Locsin Jr. of Makati City, said that electoral cheating happened during the May 10 elections where vice presidential frontrunner Mayor Jejomar Binay of Makati City, who is running under the ticket of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, paid about P1.4 billion to ensure his victory over his rivals in the race.

He also alleged that Binay chose presidential frontrunner Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd of the Liberal Party to receive additional votes instead of Binay’s running mate, former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada.

The supposed architect of the 2010 election cheating also pointed out that votes were shaved from presidential candidates former Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro of Lakas-Kampi CMD, Brother Eddie Villanueva of Bangon Pilipinas and Sen. Manuel “Manny” Villar Jr. of the Nacionalista Party.

Teodoro, Villar and Villanueva have all conceded to Aquino after the son of former President Corazon “Cory” Aquino and martyred hero former Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. started leading unofficial tallies by Comelec and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), the poll body’s accredited watchdog.

Also, various allegations have been made against the automated elections system after incumbent Rep.
Mary Ann Susano of Quezon City, who recently lost the mayoralty race to newly elected Mayor Herbert Bautista, showed that she has in her possession two compact flash (CF) cards.

The CF cards were read the other day and showed a log.

CF cards are installed in the PCOS machines with specific per-precinct information. The cards also instructed the machines on how it will count and transmit the votes to canvassing systems at the municipal and national levels.

The Comelec said it will investigate how Susano got hold of the CF cards since she was not authorized by either Comelec or Smartmatic-TIM to possess them.

Susano refused to say where the CF cards came from, saying only that she has more of them in her possession.

Earlier, five days before election day, Smartmatic decided to recall some 76,347 deployed CF cards from all precincts nationwide after finding out that the cards were configured wrong. One week before the May 10 polls, several testing and sealing procedures failed because of the wrong configuration in the CF cards.

Smartmatic-TIM’s knee-jerk reaction was to recall all deployed CF cards and reship new ones at least two days before the May 10 polls.

The Comelec, however, said that the various misapprehensions about the AES—even the misconfiguration of the CF cards, the wrong time stamps and the lack of digital signatures—did not affect the accuracy of the voting results.

For the first time in the history of the country’s electoral system, the poll body was able to proclaim 12 winning senators in less than two weeks.

Previously, canvassing of votes for national positions took at least one month.

Redundant complaints!

Melo, however, said most of the complaints from the lawmakers and losing candidates who now troop to the House of Representatives are just repetitions of what were already discussed during the drafting of Republic Act 9369, or the poll automation law.

“Yun debate na yun nanyari na years and years ago. These have been set aside already by Congress and they decided that there will be fully automated nationwide elections in 2010. They discussed these during [meetings of] the joint congressional committee on poll automation. Binubuksan na naman nila na parang ngayon lang napakinggan,” Melo said.

“Iba’t-iba ang angles nila ng reklamo. I don’t know . . . baka meron silang investment,” he added.

The poll body chief said that things like vote-buying, harassment and terrorizing of members of the board of election inspectors (BEIs) cannot be eradicated completely; but hopefully, with the AES, all these can be minimized.

“The automation helped a lot,” he stressed. “Yung mga botante, ayaw na nila ng madaming hassles.”

The 2010 polls reflected the highest number of voter turnout in history. About 75 percent of more than 50 million registered voters trooped to polling precincts to vote on May 10.

Melo said that before, Board of Election Inspectors (made up of teachers and a Comelec person) would have to physically transport the ballots to the municipalities in their areas, which is “the most dangerous part of the job—the [possibility] of ballot-snatching.”

But with the automation, the Comelec chief said that there was less danger for the BEIs.

“In just a matter of minutes, they were able to transmit the votes [to the canvassing centers],” he said.

Under the manual system, BEIs would need to count and interpret each ballot as well as the handwriting of the voters.

But the automation allows for the process of shading the correspondent ovals beside the candidate’s names.

Upon completion of the pre-printed ballots, voters would then feed the ballots to the PCOS machines, which, in turn, would take a JPEG or photograph-like copy of both the front and back page of the ballot.

By the end of the voting period, the BEIs printed a copy of the election return, which would be distributed to various political parties, as well as the Comelec central command center, the PPCRV and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas.

Using major telecommunications company in the country like Philippine Long Distance and Telecommunications Co., Globe Telecoms and Smart Telecommunications, the BEIs were able to simultaneously transmit the votes to the municipal and national canvassing levels.

During the May 10 elections, initial uncanvassed tallies for all local and national positions were known merely hours after the closing of the polling precincts. BY BERNICE CAMILLE V. BAUZON