With 39 hours to go, only 52% of PCOS machines in place

   

MANILA, Philippines – Updated official monitoring reports obtained by ABS-CBN News show that a substantial number of precincts may still not have voting machines, ballots, and compact flash cards when polls open on Monday. 

As of 9 a.m. of May 8 or 39 hours before Election Day, only 51.9% of Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines were in polling centers nationwide, 64% of bundled official ballots had been delivered from the National Printing Office (NPO) to the provincial/city treasurer’s office, and 14.5% of reconfigured compact flash cards had been delivered.

Despite the delays, a Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner still expressed confidence that all the election paraphernalia would be in the polling centers when polls open at 7 a.m. on May 10.

via ABS-CBN News Online Beta.

ALSO READ:

80K Catholic school students to serve as poll watchers – official

Instead of going to malls or to the beach, at least 80,000 tech-savvy college students from Catholic schools will be deployed to polling precincts this Monday to serve as poll watchers.

Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) president Msgr. Gerry Santos said most of these students from the CEAP’s 1,200 member schools are computer-savvy.

“They are IT (information technology) savvy and can do some computer troubleshooting,” Santos said in an article posted Saturday on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines news site.

via GMANews.TV

AND: Smartmatic head surrenders passport to Comelec; vows to stay in RP until polls finish

CPP-NPA to Comelec: Our targets are not your PCOS machines but their AFP escorts

Comelec: Mikey can represent security guards in Congress

   

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has junked the disqualification case filed against presidential son, Mikey Arroyo, who is seeking to represent security guards and tricycle drivers in the House of Representatives.

Initial reports said the Comelec Second Division has authorized Arroyo ‘s bid as representative of the Ang Galing party-list group, which represents security guards, FX taxi drivers, tricycle drivers, and street vendors.

With the Comelec’s go-signal for the presidential son to run for a party-list post in Congress, there is now a big possibility of having 5 Arroyos sitting in Congress all at the same time.

via ABS-CBN News Online Beta.

ALSO READ:

Memory card mess opens polls to rigging: ex-poll official

MANILA, Philippines – The fiasco triggered by the recall of thousands of faulty memory cards has further exposed the May 10 polls to massive rigging, a former Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner warned.

In an interview with abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak, ex-commissioner Mehol Sadain fears that the hundreds of compact flash cards that have not been recalled could be used to manipulate the results of the elections by using “ghost” precincts.

“Comelec and Smartmatic should take account of all those compact flash cards before these are used by some people to manipulate the results. This would be easy if the consolidating canvassing system (CCS) of the Comelec would not be able to recognize ghost precincts,” he told abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak.

Via ABS-CBN News

AND:

Comelec approves Lucy Torres’s run for Congress

MANILA, Philippines – Actor Richard Gomez announced Saturday that his wife, Lucy Torres-Gomez, has been allowed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to run for Congress.

“I have advance copy of resolution from law department of the Comelec saying Lucy has been approved to substitute,” Gomez announced in message sent to ABS-CBN News correspondent Mario Dumaual.

Lucy on Wednesday filed her certificate of candidacy for the congressional seat of Leyte province’s 4th District.

Via ABS-CBN News

Ganito kami sa Makati…

   

Squatters living at P. Binay cor. Guatemala Sts., Makati City

Ganito ang mga Binay sa Batangas (Click to enlarge):

Firms join in on the elections

   

THE MAY 10 general elections is, without question, the most important since the 1986 snap election that saw the late Corazon C. Aquino “win” the presidency from the dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos.

It marks the first time that the Commission on Elections will implement automated elections and also signals the end of the nine-year hold of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on the country’s reins.

Also, the May 10 elections present a golden opportunity for Filipinos to bring about the change that they seek through the ballot, instead of going to the streets.

It is people power of the voting kind.

via INQUIRER.net.

MEANWHILE:

Cliffhangers can still pull a surprise in senatorial race

MANILA, Philippines – It seems the re-electionists and returning senators are taking an easy ride in the senatorial race. Surveys of Pulse Asia since the beginning of the campaign period show that 6 re-electionists and 4 former senators have been consistent in the Magic 12.

“Much of that is name recall. It’s not an ideal situation but that’s the experience with the senatorial race. Most people don’t scrutinize the senatorial candidates, except maybe in the urban areas. They get swayed by the names,” said political analyst Fr. Jojo Magadia of the Ateneo de Manila University.

“Nearly all the attention is on the presidential race and, to some extent, the vice-presidential race,” added Pulse Asia chief research fellow Ana Tabunda.

Via ABS-CBN News

EARLIER:

The final push turns Metro into seas of green, yellow, orange

MANILA, Philippines—The main contenders for the Philippine presidency Friday night made their final push for votes in separate grand rallies that turned parts of the metropolis into seas of green, yellow and orange.

Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Sen. Manny Villar held his miting de avance in a vast field facing the once infamous symbol of poverty—Smokey Mountain—in Tondo, while survey front-runner Sen. Benigno Aquino III brought his “yellow forces” to the Quezon City Memorial Circle, where he and several city mayors danced on a stage with comedian Pokwang.

Arroyo not invited

Tens of thousands of supporters of former President Joseph Estrada and his Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino massed on the track oval of the University of Makati, while administration candidate Gilbert Teodoro Jr. staged his final show of force at the Rizal Track and Field Stadium in Manila, urging a mammoth crowd to show the world that Filipinos would not be guided by opinion surveys in choosing their president.

Via Inquirer.net

Why MAR Roxas

   

BUSINESS MATTERS By Ramon del Rosario Jr.

SINCE THE RESTORATION OF OUR DEMOCRACY in 1986, our country has had five vice presidents— Salvador Laurel, Joseph Estrada, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Teofisto Guingona and Noli de Castro. Laurel and De Castro won as running mates of their respective president but did not succeed to the presidency. Guingona’s case is unique: he assumed the vice presidency via appointment by President Macapagal-Arroyo after Edsa 2, but the partnership soured soon after. Estrada and Ms Arroyo won as vice president on tickets opposed to eventual presidential winners, yet they eventually succeeded as president. Unfortunately for our country, the Estrada and Arroyo presidencies foisted a terrible 12-year burden on our democracy. Estrada was ousted, while Arroyo ends her long term as the most disliked president ever thus far.

Click Ramon del Rosario Jr.

The ‘Noybi’ ironies
GET REAL By Solita Collas-Monsod

WITH A 22-POINT DIFFERENCE (PLUS OR minus 2 ) between the two leading contenders, as revealed by a poll taken one week before election day (ED); and with no credible scandalous revelations capturing the public imagination two days before ED, the presidential race is, for all intents and purposes, over but the shouting. Assuming an 80-percent voter turnout (or 40 million registered voters going to the polls), what the survey shows is that if the voters voted the same way on ED as they would have the week before, Noynoy Aquino would rack up about 16.8 million (range being 16 million to 17.6 million), compared to 8 million votes (range being 7.2 million to 8.8 million votes) for his nearest closest opponent Erap Estrada, and 7.6 million votes (range being 6.8 million to 8.4 million votes) for Manny Villar. That would be a humongous lead anyway you look at it—and no longer vulnerable to dagdag-bawas machinations, no matter how high-tech. Aquino is our next president.

Click Winnie Monsod

EDITORIALS

   

a2a_config = {
    linkname: ‘Example Page’,
    linkurl: ‘http://www.example.com/page.html’
};

Phil Star: Eleventh-hour ouster

On the eve of the end of the campaign period, Ed Panlilio received the final word from the Commission on Elections: for the past three years, he had occupied a post that he did not win in the 2007 midterm elections. The real winner in the race for Pampanga governor, according to the final Comelec ruling, is former provincial board member Lilia Pineda.

via Philippine Star.

Inquirer: Days of unease

COMELEC CHAIR JOSE MELO SAYS HE CAN SMILE again. “Elections will go through at all levels, in all precincts,” he happily declared Wednesday after a test run on a precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machine in one Makati precinct yielded a “perfect” result. The same machine was one among scores of machines that failed to read votes cast for local positions in an earlier test conducted Monday, forcing the Comelec to call off the nationwide testing of some 76,000 PCOS machines and recall all the flash cards where the instructions are encoded. The accurate reading of the test votes came after a reconfigured flash card was used. And a visibly relieved Melo gratefully said, “It seems that our prayers have been answered.”

Via Inquirer.net

Daily Tribune: It may have come too little and too late

The Supreme Court (SC) the other day ordered the Commission on Elections to disclose all its preparations for the country’s first automated polls for Monday, giving the Comelec two days to do so, upon receipt of the order.

Via Daily Tribune

Risa’s generation
PUBLIC LIVES By Randy David

RISA HONTIVEROS-BARAQUEL IS RUNNING for senator. The latest surveys show her to be hovering between 13th and 15th place—still outside the winning circle of 12, which includes the likes of Bongbong Marcos and Lito Lapid. But, clearly, she is very much within striking distance, almost by a miracle, having come from way behind—from the ranks of deserving candidates who languish in the bottom of survey rankings only because their names do not ring a bell.

Click Randy David

Vote
ROSES & THORNS By Alejandro R. Roces

It is an old saying that politics and not cockfighting is the true national past time of the Filipinos. May is a month of fiestas in the Philippines. We have the Flores de Mayo, Obando Fertility Rites, Pahiyas and Pulilan Carabao Festival. Fiestas are the highest form of community expression. We have referred to EDSA I as the fiesta that toppled a dictator. In a way, Election Day is another political fiesta. Voting is one of the highest expressions of our civic responsibility.

Click Alejandro Roces

‘Science means never having to say you’re wrong’
SOCIAL CLIMATE By Mahar Mangahas

“LOVE MEANS NEVER HAVING TO SAY YOU’RE sorry” is a cute saying. There must be as many definitions of love as there are lovers.

On the other hand, “Science means never having to say you’re wrong,” which seems to be what it means to presidential candidate Richard “Dick” Gordon, is not what science means to me, nor, I think, to most scientists.

Click Mahar Mangahas

Leaks for mind-conditioning
FRONTLINE By Ninez Cacho-Olivares

If there was any doubt that the Social Weather Stations (SWS) was into mind-conditioning, and perhaps even manipulating the results of a presidential candidate that it is supporting, doubt no more.

There can hardly be any doubt left today — not after the still dubious survey results that were supposed to be embargoed for a newspaper, the BusinessWorld, to print for Friday’s issue, were deliberately leaked to the Liberal Party standard bearer, Sen. Noynoy Aquino, in time for the other media establishments to quickly carry the results, showing the LP bet widening his lead, with a 42 percent survey score.

Click Ninez Cacho-Olivares

Agham
COMMENTARY By Juan Miguel Luz

Next to poor reading skills, low levels of science and math achievement hurt a country most. Functional literacy is the combination of reading (the basis for simple literacy) and numeracy (the facility to do the four operations of arithmetic: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division).

At a higher level, it is the reason why we are unable to develop and maintain a significant industrial base in this country. There are simply not enough science and technology technicians, professionals and scientists to run a broad-based manufacturing or industrial sector that can produce products for local consumption and export.

Via Inquirer.net

118,053 absentee votes cast – DFA

   

MANILA, Philippines – The number of overseas absentee voters has exceeded the voter turnout of 81,732 in 2007 to 118,053 for this year’s elections.

The Department of Foreign Affairs-Overseas Absentee Voting Secretariat (DFA-OAVS) said yesterday it is expecting more voters to come in or mail their ballots in the next three days.

The deadline for receipt of mailed ballots for postal voting and casting of ballots for personal and automated modes of voting is on May 10 at 6 p.m. (Philippine time), the DFA-OAVS said.

Via Phil. Star

ALSO READ:

AkoBicol tops SWS party list survey

MANILA, PHILIPPINES—New regional party list group AkoBicol Political Party (AKB) topped the Social Weather Stations (SWS) party list survey released Friday. The survey, which was conducted from May 3 to 4, 2010, showed that 5.64% of voters preferred the group over 186 rivals.

With one statistical point equivalent to about 500,000, AKB’s ratings translates to some 2.8 million votes. This will entitle the group to at least 2 seats in the next Congress.

AKB edged out seasoned party list groups, which have already served in Congress.

via ABS-CBN News Online Beta.

AND: 3,664 teachers mobilized for manual vote audit

Roxas fights to regain ground lost to Binay in surveys

   

MANILA, Philippines—Three days before the elections, Liberal Party vice-presidential candidate Manuel “Mar’’ Roxas II is fighting back against his closest rival, Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay of Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, by erasing any doubts that front-running presidential candidate Benigno “Noynoy’’ Aquino III is firmly behind him.

Roxas was joined by Aquino in a press conference at the LP headquarters in Quezon City where the latter repeated for the nth time that Roxas was his only VP in the face of an aggressive push by Binay’s camp for a “Noy-Bi’’ ticket.

Aquino said he was “obliged” to come out and reject the “Noy-Bi” endorsement by a party-list group called Bandila whose nominee, he claimed, was Nilo Tayag, a former leader of the leftist Kabataang Makabayan who turned pro-Marcos in the post-EDSA years.

via INQUIRER.net.

ALSO READ:

Liberal Party declared dominant minority party

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc on Friday declared the Liberal Party (LP) as the dominant minority party.

This means the LP will have access to the sixth copy of the election returns, which reflect the results of the automated polls. It also gives the party access to the Comelec central server for the transmitted results of the elections.

The Comelec, Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP), and the majority party will all have access to the server.

Via ABS-CBN News

Frontrunner Aquino warns of election cheating

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine presidential frontrunner Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III warned Friday that poll cheating could rob him of victory, as a survey showed he could achieve the biggest election win in the nation’s history.

Just three days before up to 50 million Filipinos go to the polls, the son of national democracy heroine Corazon “Cory” Aquino said he was buoyed by the latest survey results but urged his supporters to be vigilant against skullduggery.

“We are very grateful to our countrymen. They saw the validity of our message and they saw that we were sincere,” Aquino said after the survey showed 42% of Filipinos intended to vote for him to be their next president.

ABS-CBN News

Villar confident of winning unless automated polls goes wrong

   

MANILA, Philippines – Nacionalista Party (NP) standard-bearer Senator Manuel Villar Jr. expressed confidence that his party will win in Monday’s election unless something goes wrong with the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) automated election system.

At the same time, Villar said he is now leaving his destiny to God as he capped a 90-day nationwide campaign in a miting de avance in Tondo, Manila last night.

 “Whether or not I can fulfill my dream of ending poverty, it’s up to our Lord now. I’ve already given my best shot in my firm belief that it’s what our Lord wants, this is what our people want,” he told reporters. 

via Philippine Star.

ALSO READ:

Teodoro: May 10 polls a big test to see if Filipinos can elect good leader

MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE) Delivering the final salvo for his bid for the presidency, administration candidate Gilbert Teodoro stuck to his positive campaign, praising the Filipinos and saying they deserve the best leader in the coming May 10 elections.

At the packed Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila Friday night for his miting de avance, Teodoro said the world is watching the Filipinos not only if they can hold a credible elections, but also if it can elect a leader who can manage a country mired in woes.

“This election is a test, to find out if the Filipinos can elect a leader who can rise up to the challenges . . . The world is watching us to see not only if the elections are clean, but to see what will be the results. Have the Filipinos elected a leader who can manage the country’s many problems. . . one leader who can unite rather than cause disunity?” Teodoro said.

Via Inquirer.net

AND:

Gordon: I have done my best in my campaign

MANILA, Philippines – Bagumbayan presidential bet Sen. Richard Gordon said his three-month campaign had been an “uphill run all the way.”

“I have done my best. I make no predictions. I have run uphill all the way. I have run against surveys, I have run against money and made protestations with the Comelec. I’m at peace. I make no predictions,” he said.

Speaking to reporters just before attending a rally Thursday night in Marikina City with his running-mate Bayani Fernando, Gordon lamented that Monday’s elections could show the absence of meritocracy in the country.

Via Phil. Star

Source code firm Dominion sheds light on voting glitch

   

MANILA, Philippines – A Canada-based software firm who leased the source code for the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines for the May 10 Philippine polls has shed light on the glitch that caused the machines to incorrectly read the ballots.

Sean Dean, product manager of Dominion Voting Systems, said the company only found out about the voting machine glitch during the final testing and sealing of PCOS machines in several municipalities last Monday.

Dean said Dominion representatives received clearance from the Commission on Elections to investigate the program files, which allowed them to isolate the problem in the compact flash cards.

via ABS-CBN News Online Beta.

ALSO READ:

Dominion also handled 2009 NY congressional poll

MANILA, Philippines – A Canada-based software firm that leased the source code for the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines for the May 10 Philippine polls has been tapped for various electoral exercises in Canada and the United States, including the November 2009 special election for New York’s 23rd congressional district.

Dominion Voting Systems, a full-service provider of elections solutions based in Toronto, provided portable ImageCast voting machines during the 2009 New York congressional election after signing an agreement with the Colorado-based company Sequoia Voting Systems.

A pre-election test conducted by the New York State Board of Elections on the ImageCast machines later showed software problems in the machines, particularly for races that allow voters to vote for more than one candidate. It noted that the Dominion ImageCast machines “did not allow for enough memory in these contests and caused the scanners to freeze during operation.”

Via ABS-CBN News

AND: Undelivered ballots, PCOS machines may set back polls

LP’s miting de avance turns festive as candidates dance to Lady Gaga

   

(Updated 9:22 p.m.) There’s still three days left before the elections, but the mood at the Liberal Party’s miting de avance in Quezon City was already so festive that their candidates were quickly prompted to dance to Lady Gaga’s monster hit, “Bad Romance.”

Celebrity Pokwang managed to get LP standard bearer Noynoy Aquino, vice presidential bet Mar Roxas, and some senatorial bets to shake their hips, clap their hands, and move their feet to the upbeat song before the crowd of thousands who showed up at the party’s miting de avance at the Quezon Memorial Circle.

Even Quezon City mayor Sonny Belmonte and Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim danced with the comedienne, whom Noynoy’s sister Kris introduced to the audience after LP senatorial candidate Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel suddenly fell down in the middle of her speech due to a torn ligament.

via GMANews.TV.

ALSO READ:

ABS-CBN, GMA-7 pull out Binay ads vs Mar

MANILA, Philippines – The Liberal Party (LP) said yesterday that television networks ABS-CBN Channel 2 and GMA Channel 7 have pulled out the advertisements of Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay for being deceptive and violative of the Fair Election Act.

LP standard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III also assailed Binay for coming out with deceitful ads against his running mate Sen. Manuel Roxas II and asked the networks to stop the infomercials showing an Aquino and Binay or the so-called “Noy-Bi” tandem because they were also misleading.

Aquino, Roxas and LP campaign manager Florencio “Butch” Abad said the networks were able to prove that the video and photograph of Roxas with President Arroyo was doctored to make it appear he was clapping while the Chief Executive was signing the expanded value added tax (EVAT) law.

Via Phil. Star

AND: Torn ligament in right knee caused LP bet’s fall onstage

Reasons to vote (or not) for Noynoy

   

Commentary By Leo Alejandrino

It is not sure that the Philippines can survive another six years of plunder by our leadership.

In this sense the coming presidential elections could be an inflection point in our history. They will be a test of whether the Filipino is truly deserving of his right to enfranchisement.

This country is in dire straits. Filipinos are worse off today than they were 10 years ago. We have a record budget deficit, a record national debt. Our education, environment, and health care are in disrepair. The corruption in government is encompassing. This cancer has seeped into the fiber of our society, into the values and mores of our nation.

Click Leo Alejandrino