Non-techie lawmakers slow down canvassing

   

MANILA, Philippines – When the joint canvassing committee of Congress starts its 2nd day of work on Thursday, it will be hard pressed to answer one primordial question that was left lingering in the minds of the public when it wrapped up its day 1: when will they actually start canvassing votes for president and vice-president?

Quite ironically, the automated election system, first tried nationwide in the recently concluded May 10 polls, is fast becoming part of the problem it was meant to solve — the country’s long time quest for honest, orderly, peaceful elections with results fast and truly reflective of the sovereign will of the people.

Long time questions on the technology used in the new system dominated day 1 of the joint committee’s work, propounded by senior citizen committee members who were, admittedly, not techie or technology-savvy.

Via ABS-CBN News

ALSO READ: Aquino, Roxas lead official tally

Enrile wants 76,000 CF cards to be retrieved and audited

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Thursday requested the retrieval, inventory and audit of all the 76,000 compact flash cards and precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines used in the May 10 polls.

During the National Board of Canvassers’ Thursday session, Enrile also asked the body to create an independent technical committee that would check the CF cards as part of its mandate to ascertain the authenticity and due execution of the certificates of canvas (COC).

Speaker Prospero Nograles said the House has no serious objection to the proposal to form a technical group, but suggested that the info-technology (IT) experts of the two chambers of Congress should be the ones to audit the CF cards and PCOS machines.

Via GMANews.TV

Canvassing deadline moved to June 15

   

MANILA, Philippines – The joint Senate-House canvassing committee will finish its tabulation of votes for president and vice president and proclaim the winners on or before June 15.

Committee co-chairmen Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Speaker Prospero Nograles made the decision in response to a query raised by Sen. Gregorio Honasan regarding the canvassing and proclamation timeline.

via Philippine Star.

ALSO READ: Erap lawyer insists ex-leader won elections

Party-list groups urge Comelec to push through with proclamation

MANILA, Philippines – Leading party-list groups have banded together and asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to proclaim on Friday all the winning party-list organizations.

In a statement, the Party-List Alliance welcomed the Comelec’s plan to proclaim the top 10 groups, saying “voters deserve and expect a quick announcement of winners due to automation” of the May 10 polls.

Via Phil. Star

Computer error, ‘2 sets’ of CoCs bared

   

MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE 4) The “erroneous” number of registered voters, the alleged “two sets” of certificates of canvass CoCs, and the digital signatures of the poll inspectors on the election returns were the focus of discussions Wednesday by the joint congressional canvassing committee seeking to start its count of the votes for president and vice president Thursday.

For hours, committee members from the Senate and the House of Representatives needled Commission on Elections and Smartmatic officials and technology experts over these concerns.

“I apologize for the error that is presented in the server,” Smartmatic president for Asia-Pacific Cesar Flores told the committee after Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile demanded an explanation as to why the figure “256, 733, 195” was reflected on the “No. of Registered Voters” during the initialization process of the consolidation and canvassing system CCS server to be used in the tally of votes for president and vice president.

via INQUIRER.net.

ALSO READ:

Epic failures of Smartmatic-TIM

The post-election drama is getting more exciting to watch. Since the past week, the public have witnessed the Congressional hearings on the alleged electoral fraud during the country’s first automated elections. The intense turn of events pushed a lawmaker to make ‘unparliamentary remarks,’ transformed a whistle blower into a ‘Koala Bear’ and prompted more losing bets to cry foul over electoral fraud. Yet it is still unclear what the government will do with the consortium that made the poll automation, along with the glitches, possible.

After winning the controversial bidding last year, Smartmatic International Corp. (Smartmatic), a subsidiary owned by Smartmatic International Holding Inc. from Netherlands, and Total Information Management Corporation (TIM), a domestic corporation engaged in information technology and service provider, became the main providers for the May 10 national elections using electronic voting solutions.

Despite major questions on poll automation, the Supreme Court upheld the contract between Comelec and Smartmatic-TIM. In an instant, Smartmatic-TIM became a household name as the major poll provider in the automated elections.

Via POC

Nograles moves back proclamation timetable

   

MANILA, Philippines – Presidential frontrunner Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III might have to wait longer before Congress proclaims him winner in the May 10 presidential election.

Speaker Prospero Nograles has moved back the proclamation timetable by more than three weeks, from June 4 to June 30, when President Arroyo must hand over power at noon to her successor, as Congress looks for indications of automated poll fraud.

In a television interview, Nograles said the Senate and the House of Representatives would be able to proclaim the winning candidates for president and vice president “on or before high noon of June 30.”

via Philippine Star.

ALSO READ:

Enrile squelches ‘no proclamation’ scenarios

SENATE President Juan Ponce Enrile squelched “no proclamation” scenarios owing to anomalies attending the May 10 automated elections as he assured that the joint congressional canvass of presidential votes, which starts next week, could be completed before June 30.

“We will try to make it [canvassing] fast but we are not going to sacrifice accuracy for speed,” Enrile said. “But we can assure the nation that we will finish it on time to proclaim a President and [a] Vice President before June 30. We estimate that the session for the canvassing could be over by June 4,” he added.

Enrile explained that the Senate and the House will first meet separately on Monday to draft the canvassing rules and then convene in joint session on Tuesday afternoon to approve the rules that will apply when they start canvassing the votes prior to proclaiming the official winners in the elections for president and vice president, as mandated in the Constitution.

Via BusinessMirror

AND: Estrada camp wary of Congressional canvass

Can 13th senator take Aquino’s seat? Miriam says yes, Enrile no

   

MANILA, Philippines — Can the Senate seat to be left by likely president-elect Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III be filled up by the senatorial candidate ranked 13th in the vote count, once Aquino is proclaimed President?

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said the candidate ranked 13th in the counting could occupy Aquino’s seat if Congress passed a concurrent resolution, but Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile disagreed, saying special elections should be held for the vacated position.

Interviewed over dzBB radio, Santiago initially disagreed with the idea of allowing the 13th-ranked senatorial candidate to become the replacement for Aquino but changed her position when told this happened in the 2001 elections when Congress passed a concurrent resolution.

via INQUIRER.net.

ALSO READ:

Santiago warns Aquino on an ‘opposition’ Congress

MANILA, Philippines — Likely president-elect Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III may face an opposition Congress, with defeated presidential candidate and Sen. Manuel Villar Jr., and President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, incoming Pampanga representative, working to gain the Senate presidency and the House Speakership respectively.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago raised a potentially challenging situation for the would-be Aquino government, as she stressed that Villar had the “numbers” to regain the Senate presidency. She added that Ms Arroyo, being a shrewd leader and having made preparations for her new life in Congress, could just clinch the House leadership.

But Santiago said Ms Arroyo could only be the next Speaker if her alliances would hold after Aquino’s proclamation by Congress.

Via Inquirer.net

Belmonte ready for Speakership fight

MANILA, Philippines – Congressman-elect Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte of Quezon City is ready to be the candidate of the Liberal Party (LP) for the House Speakership against outgoing President and congresswoman-elect Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

“I’ve expressed interest. Dati na akong naging Speaker and I know how it works,” said Belmonte on Sunday.

Belmonte, who is on his last term as Quezon City mayor, made the statement after Rep. Amelita Villarosa of Occidental Mindoro turned over the chairmanship of the Lakas-Kampi (Lakas) party to Arroyo.

Via ABS-CBN News

AND: Power blocs gear for Senate leadership showdown

Comelec asked to probe glitches, disenfranchised votes

   

MANILA, Philippines – Despite the fast transmission and tallying of results from the May 10 polls, election watchdog Kontra Daya Against Cheating said the countrys first automated elections were still “fraught with problems,” and called for an investigation into irregularities the group noticed based on its monitoring before and during Election Day.

Among the incidents that Kontra Daya urged the Commission on Elections Comelec to look into were the “faulty” compact flash CF cards on election day, which delayed voting and transmission of results; the failure of several Boards of Election Inspectors BEIs to use the UV lamps to verify the authenticity of the ballots; the actual number of reported disenfranchised voters; and reports of malfunctioning PCOS machines.“We are issuing these recommendations based on the monitoring work we did before and during the May 10 polls,” the group said in a statement on Sunday.

via INQUIRER.net.

ALSO READ:

Enrile: We won’t sacrifice accuracy for speed in canvass

MANILA, Philippines – Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile assured the public yesterday that Congress will guard the integrity of the results of the canvassing for the votes of president and vice president.

“We will not sacrifice accuracy for speed,” Enrile told radio station dzBB in an interview.

Enrile said he and outgoing Speaker Prospero Nograles have agreed to move the canvassing a week earlier from the original May 31 schedule to May 24, when Congress convenes as a national board of canvassers for the canvassing of votes for president and vice president.

Via Phil. Star

Nograles to Comelec: Don’t pay Smartmatic yet

MANILA, Philippines – Speaker Prospero Nograles wants the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to withhold full payment to its automation contractor Smartmatic-TIM.

“Comelec should not fully pay Smartmatic for the automated elections until such time as the Congress Joint Oversight Committee can give the public a clean bill of health about the first automated polls,” he said.

Nograles said Congress would require Smartmatic to reveal if it sub-contracted the supply of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines to other companies.

Via Phil. Star

Six days after

   

METHOD TO MADNESS
By Patricia Evangelista

HIGH NOON, MAY 10. A FAT FIST SMACK-SMACKING against the cracked yellow wall, the mouth with the cracked red lipstick flapping open and closed, her gay lieutenant yapping in refrain. Cheating, screams the pudgy woman, as the madding crowd outside the classroom cheers. Inside, the teachers in white and stripes continue to count, shoulders wincing at each pounded fist. The numbers join the rabble, greasy elbow to empty gut, the hallway shrinks, and a teacher is shoved and mobbed.

Wet T-shirt day in Payatas-A, 6,000 votes for the taking, chipped red nail polish, swaggering bad boys in their wife-beater shirts and denim cut-offs leering down sweating cleavages in padded pink bras. Waiting three hours, says the old man in the baseball cap. Five hours, says the mother with the missing front tooth. Squares of paper brandished, numbers hand-printed, teachers in crisp white calling on 204.

Click Patricia Evangelista.

Comelec proclaims 9 senators-elect

   

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections has proclaimed the first nine of 12 winners in the senatorial polls last May 10.

But only Senators Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, Juan Ponce-Enrile, Pia Cayetano, and Vicente Sotto III were present before the Comelec, sitting en banc as the National Board of Canvassers at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.

Absent were Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Franklin Drilon, Ralph Recto, and Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The senators are either re-electionists or returnees to the Senate. Only Marcos is a neophyte.

via INQUIRER.net.

ALSO READ:

Comelec told to speed up transmission of poll results

MANILA, Philippines—Election watchdog groups on Friday urged the Commission on Elections to speed up the transmission of the remaining 10 or so percent of election results, saying delays tend to cast doubt on the outcome of the elections.

In a press conference Friday, Kontra Daya said the Comelec must expedite the sending of the remaining results as delays would raise questions on the integrity of the results.

“Further delays open the results to all forms of intervention and possible tampering,” said Kontra Daya convenor Fr. Joe Dizon, adding that only 60 out of 274 certificates of canvass were screened at the national canvassing center as of Thursday.

Via Inquirer.net

Aquino may be sworn in by barangay captain

   

TARLAC CITY, Philippines — A controversy is in the offing, with presidential front-runner Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III considering being sworn in as President by a barangay captain in his home province, and not by Chief Justice Reynato Puno’s successor.

“[The Constitution] says that before assuming office, the President will subscribe under oath. It does not say [before whom]. I am waiting for my lawyers’ opinion, but [my oath of office] will probably be before the barangay captain of Tarlac,” the Liberal Party standard-bearer said Friday at a press conference.

By tradition, a new President takes his/her oath before the Chief Justice.

via INQUIRER.net.

ALSO READ:

Aquino’s plan to ‘snub’ Corona to embarrass RP — poll lawyer

Should leading presidential bet Sen. Benigno Simeon “Noynoy” Aquino III be finally proclaimed winner, a poll lawyer advised the Liberal Party standard bearer to drop a plan not to take oath before the newly appointed Supreme Court chief justice.

A dzBB report quoted former administration poll lawyer Romulo Macalintal as saying that Aquino’s plan not to take oath before incoming Supreme Court Justice Renato Corona would be an embarrassment for the country.

Corona was appointed as the next SC chief justice by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Wednesday.

Via GMA News.TV

AND:

JPE kay Noynoy: ‘Di ka pa presidente para mag-utos’

MANILA – Pinangaralan ni Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile si leading presidential candidate Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III na hindi pa siya ganap na presidente para mag-utos sa kasalukuyang administrasyong Arroyo.

Ang pahayag ay ginawa ni Enrile kaugnay sa pagkakapili ni Pangulong Gloria Macapagal Arroyo kay Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Renato Corona bilang kapalit ng magreretirong si Chief Justice Reynato Puno sa Mayo 17.

Sinabi ni Enrile na wala pang kapangyarihan si Aquino na utusan si Gng Arroyo na bawiin ang paghirang nito kay Corona dahil sa katapusan pa ng Hunyo matatapos ang termino ng kasalukuyang lider.

Via GMANews.TV

Congress leaders move to advance vote canvass

   

MANILA, Philippines—Moving for an early canvassing of votes for the two highest elective posts in the land, the leadership of the Senate and House of Representatives started talks Thursday to change the legislative calendar.

Both chambers are scheduled to hold a joint session to canvass the votes for president and vice president starting May 31, but Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Speaker Prospero Nograles and Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri agreed in principle Thursday to convene at the soonest time possible.

However, Enrile and Zubiri disclosed at the Kapihan sa Senado forum that what was preventing Congress from swiftly convening as the National Board of Canvassers was the Commission on Elections’ piecemeal submission of Certificates of Canvass.

via INQUIRER.net, .

AND: No quorum for early Canvass vote

Two election monitoring groups dispute Comelec’s claim of ‘success’ in May 10 polls

ALSO READ:

Winners in Luzon polls a mix of old and new

BAGUIO CITY — A mix of new and old faces will lead provinces and cities in Northern and Central Luzon in the next three years.

In the Ilocos region, proclaimed governors were Imee Marcos (NP) of Ilocos Norte, Luis “Chavit” Singson (Bileg) of Ilocos Sur and Manuel Ortega (NPC) of La Union. Reelected Pangasinan Gov. Amado Espino Jr. (Lakas-Kampi-CMD) had yet to be proclaimed on Thursday pending the completion of the provincial canvass.

Marcos, Singson and Ortega supported the candidacy of Nacionalista Party standard bearer Manuel Villar Jr.

Via Inquirer.net

Iglesia Ni Cristo endorses Noynoy Aquino, Mar Roxas

   

Ending the suspense over the choice of one of the countrys most coveted command votes, the Iglesia Ni Cristo has endorsed Liberal Party standard-bearer Sen. Noynoy Aquino and his running mate Sen. Mar Roxas. The INC can deliver as many as two million votes.

GMA Networks Unang Balita reported the Iglesia Ni Cristo INC local church in Quezon City announced its decision at a liturgical service around 4:45 a.m.

Under its late patriarch Eraño Manalo, the INC was allied with ex-president Ferdinand Marcos in the 1986 snap elections against Aquinos mother, Cory Aquino, who would eventually become president after the fall of Marcos.

The INC has since endorsed the past two winning presidential candidates, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Since the elder Manalo died last year, his son Eduardo Manalo has led the secretive, highly disciplined religious group founded by his grandfather Felix in 1914.

via GMANews.TV.

Estrada pins hope on silent majority in comeback bid

   

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines—Deposed president Joseph Estrada is confident that on May 10, the “silent majority” will propel him back to Malaca?.Buoyed by results of the latest Pulse Asia Inc. survey that put him at second place with Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Manuel Villar Jr., Estrada, the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino candidate, said: “The silent majority [refers to] marginalized people and theyre just very quiet about everything.””I will return,” he said Friday.

via INQUIRER.net.

ALSO READ:

Villar says PSE exposé timed for surveys

MANILA, Philippines – Beleaguered Nacionalista Party (NP) presidential candidate Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. yesterday questioned the results of the latest survey showing him in a tie for second place with former President Joseph Estrada of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino.

Villar said the results of the latest Pulse Asia survey came after Estrada and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile had accused him of exerting pressure on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) to favor his real estate firms to allow the sale of locked up stocks.

He said the survey was “ill-motivated” since it was done at the time the accusations came out on April 23.

Via Phil. Star

Noynoy won’t fall for psychological report trap

MANILA, Philippines – Liberal Party presidential candidate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III refused yesterday to lose his cool and said he won’t fall into the trap of his rivals’ insistence for him to undergo a psychiatric test and answer to fake psychological reports.

In Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro on Thursday and in Imus, Cavite yesterday, Aquino told reporters that his opponents were desperate to pin him down on bogus claims.

Aquino said the intention of those trying to portray him as psychologically unfit to become president was clearly to make him mad and fall into their trap. He said he would not give his rivals the satisfaction.

Via Phil. Star

Estrada, Villar and stock market—something in common?

   

MANILA, Philippines – The camp of presidential bet Manuel Villar found it ironic that former President Joseph Estrada has thrown a stock manipulation issue against the Nacionalista bet when the same issue had caused Estrada’s downfall.

On Thursday, Estrada, who is seeking the presidency for the second time this May 2010, joined Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile in blasting Villar for interfering in the fund raising efforts of Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. through the stock market in 2007. (Read: The inside story of Villar’s visit to PSE)

Enrile, who replaced Villar as Senate President in 2008, showed minutes of the June 29, 2007 meeting of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) board members who were discussing an issue regarding escrowed shares of Vista Land.

via ABS-CBN News Online Beta.

ALSO READ:

Enrile dares Villar to debate on stock allegations

ILIGAN CITY, Philippines – Reelectionist Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile yesterday challenged Nacionalista Party (NP) presidential bet Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. to personally clarify the allegations that he (Villar) used his position as Senate president to twist stock market rules.

Enrile said Villar should answer the allegations himself instead of delegating the task to lawyer Weslen Rosero-Galang.

Enrile noted Villar is trying to avoid answering the allegations that he used his position as Senate president in 2007 to exempt his billions of shares of stocks in Vista Land Lifescapes, Inc. (VLL) from the Philippine Stock Exchange’s (PSE) “lock-up” rules.

via Phil. Star

EDITORIALS

   

Manila Times: Misaligned priorities

THE National Statistics Office (NSO) reported a very disturbing piece of information this week.

According to the government’s main statistics agency, one in three poor Filipinos owns a cellular phone even as the majority of them have no access to sanitary toilets or electricity.

Among household appliances, only the TV outranked the mobile phone in ubiquity, with 43 percent of poor families owning the tube.

With six out of every 10 families having at least one member owning a cell phone, this makes the gadget the second most popular household convenience.

What makes this piece of information jarring is that at least one out of every three poor families has no electricity.

via Manila Times

Daily Tribune: Private citizen Villar?

Reacting to reports that Nacionalista Party (NP) standard bearer Sen. Manuel “Manny” Villar, when he was Senate president, met with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) in relation to getting his 180 day lock-up shares being freed and sold on a secondary level within the same period his companies’ IPO (Initial Public Offering) hit the stock market, which was then on a boom cycle, a Villar company official admitted that indeed Villar did meet with these officials, but claimed he met with them, not as Senate president, but as a private individual.

This is the hoariest explanation given yet from Villar’s camp, after Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) presidential candidate former President Joseph Estrada and Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile exposed the Villar scam that not only probably impoverished the overseas Filipino workers who had bought the shares, in anticipation of making money (OFWs were targeted by Villar and his companies as share buyers with a roadshow yet), but also a lot of other stock market players who may have lost a lot of money, not even aware of the fact that, as they were buying up the shares, Villar was dumping his shares, and making billions out of it.

Via Daily Tribune

Phil. Star: Reduced to tears

Alberto Agra, in the brief period during which he will serve as justice secretary in an acting capacity, has managed to gain the kind of notoriety that is hard to ever live down. He will always be remembered as the justice chief who dismissed criminal charges that are already in court.His move might have escaped public attention in this busy election period if the case did not involve one of the most heinous crimes in the country’s history, and the most atrocious case of election violence.

Relatives and friends of the 57 people massacred in Maguindanao on Nov. 23 last year have wondered whether justice is possible under the watch of President Arroyo, a staunch ally of former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr., patriarch of the clan that now stands accused of conspiracy in perpetrating the mass murder. Agra’s resolution dismissing the multiple murder charges against Ampatuan’s son Zaldy and another member of the clan – charges that are already in court – can only reinforce the fears of the victims’ heirs

via Philippine Star.

Inquirer: In good hands?

Deputy presidential spokesperson Gary Olivar said it was “certainly reasonable to ask about (Carpon’s) credentials.” But he told critics not to look down on Carpon saying, “It is not correct to question someone just because he or she has a poor station in life.” He said that was, in fact, one of the reasons she was picked for the job. The President deemed it appropriate to have somebody like Carpon on the board “to make sure that poor government employees were represented by one of their own.”

That explanation would have been believable if the President were more consistent. If she truly believes disadvantaged sectors are best represented by someone from their own ranks, why has she not dissuaded her son, Rep. Mikey Arroyo, from seeking to represent security guards and tricycle drivers in the House of Representatives? And if “poor government employees” need their own representative in the institutions that were established to promote their welfare, why stop with Pag-Ibig? What about the Government Service Insurance System? Or even PhilHealth?

via Inquirer.net

Noynoy, Mar ratings surge in latest poll

   

MANILA, Philippines – The trust ratings of Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and running mate Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II have surged in the homestretch of the campaign for the May 10 polls, according to a recent survey by independent pollster Pulse Asia Inc.

Results of the survey conducted from March 21 to 28 among 3,000 respondents showed Aquino leading the pack of presidential candidates in terms of trust rating by voters, with 69 percent saying they have “big trust” in the LP presidential bet.

Aquino’s rating was up five points from 64 percent in the February survey.

via Philippine Star.

ALSO READ:

Winning LP senators to resolve Senate presidency issue

MANILA, Philippines – Senators, or at least those from the opposition Liberal Party (LP), will resolve after the May 10 elections the issue of replacing Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, according to Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

The LP standard-bearer said there is no urgent need to settle the issue before the conduct of the elections, and explained that “the issue comes before us at noon of June 30,” when the line of succession is needed in case a failure of elections is declared.

President Arroyo’s six-year term ends on June 30. Critics have been warning that the Chief Executive, who is running for congresswoman of Pampanga, is out to extend her term, especially since the line of succession does not include Chief Justice Reynato Puno.

via Phil. Star