Reports of fraud during the elections have been surfacing lately. The most recent one is from a masked whistleblower who claims to be a Comelec employee and one of the players of the alleged cheating. But so far, no one has presented any conclusive evidence yet. I would love to see this issue either proved or disproved. Either way, it will give us good lessons and warnings so the next election will be a better one. I am hoping it isn't true, but sadly, I can't discount the fact that the allegations could be true. Before I go explaining why, allow me to take you back to the election process.
1. When it's your turn to vote, you will be asked to sign and fingerprint your name in the voters' logbook. A ballot with number corresponding to yours is then given for you to fill up.
2. You then fill up the ballot to cast your votes.
3. When you have completed your markings, you will be asked by the BEI to feed your ballot into the machine.
4. The machine will read your ballot and 'Congratulations!' will appear on the screen, a signal that the reading was a success.
5. After all in the precinct have voted, the machine-tallied results will be transmitted to the server. The final tally can be printed out for whatever purpose it may serve the BEI and Comelec.
Now, let's find loopholes where cheating can be inserted into the process. First, each voter has a corresponding ballot number. Meaning, the BEI can't give a voter just any ballot, it has to be the ballot assigned to the voter by the Comelec. Your signature and fingerprint in the logbook is the only proof that you're really the person who voted in your name and not someone else. This is a loophole because, in the first place, the Comelec didn't educate the voters regarding the ballot number system. I, for one, didn't even bother to check if I had the right ballot because I didn't know that there was a way to check it. Another loophole is that we weren't made to sign and fingerprint on the ballot itself and thus anyone with the means could easily print a duplicate ballot, mark a different set of candidates, load it into a machine, then transmit the fake votes rather than the authentic ones. To prevent his, voters should be made to sign and fingerprint the ballots and the machines should be able to read and identify fingerprints.
Second, there's no time stamps/marks for each vote. This is a loophole because transmission to the server is done after all votes in the precinct have been cast (some precincts even took days to transmit). If there's no time stamp, it's so easy for the culprit to invalidate the previous votes, then load the fake ballots into the machine before transmission. Machines should be able to time stamp each vote to make it very difficult for the culprit to commit fraud because he would have to feed the fake ballots at the exact time the real voter had voted in order to cover his tracks.
Third, the program which dictates the machine how to read votes is in the memory or CF cards which are so easy to access and so easy to replace. It would have been more appropriate if the program was installed somewhere inside the machine that is difficult to access, and even more difficult to replace.
Fourth, as stated above, it's all in the program. Meaning, the outcome of the elections is programmable. It's that easy. There's no other remedy to this, actually, but only honest, trustworthy Comelec officials and BEIs.
I'd like to believe there wasn't cheating involved but I won't be surprised if there will be soon because humans are more intelligent than machines and we always find ways to beat the system. In the meantime, a toast to what I consider the cleanest election in the history of the Philippines. The only apparent fraud I was able to witness and observe was rampant vote buying...but that's another story in my blog.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
I AM NOT VOTING FOR GIBO
A friend, a huge Gibo supporter, once told me that my view on Gibo is biased and I was influenced by the media's black propaganda against him. She then bombarded me with statistics, articles, and testimonies showcasing that Gibo is who this country needs.
My stand on Gibo is not based on what the media says, not on any statistic or testimony, but on my personal experience with the government and personal research (reading, interviews, tracing histories, etc.). So why am I not voting for Gibo? Simple. I can tell you matter-of-factly now that Gibo is not the cleanest of the lot.
First of all, he is GMA's ally. "But GMA should be considered innocent until proven guilty!" was the retort I got. (It was a pathetic retort, actually, and thus there's no need to discuss whether she's corrupt or not.) Let's, instead, apply this principle to Gibo. In other words, let's give him the benefit of the doubt and pretend that he's not corrupt like the person he has allied with. But can you honestly tell me that he has no knowledge of how corrupt GMA's admin is? Can you honestly tell me that he's unaware how this corrupt government system works? I'm a lowly citizen and I know. Hell, everybody in this country knows!
Of course, Gibo knows. He'd be a fool not know. It saddens me that he's tolerating the system, even defending it. He reasoned that he can't turn his back on someone who has given a 45-year-old man like him a break. Tsk! Tsk! Ain't that too much of a goodwill for a man who claims to be excellent and intelligent? If you're striving for excellence, shouldn't you fight against corruption, against corrupt officials no matter how indebted you are to them? If you're gifted with intellect, shouldn't you use it to get to where you want and not let others use you? Makes me wonder what more dirty jobs he's willing to do for her.
Another example of him tolerating and supporting tainted politicians is his decision to welcome Mangudadatu into his party right after he expelled the Ampatuans. Yet, before the massacre happened, Gibo appealed to the Mangudadatus not to exercise their legal and democratic right to run for public office to avoid violence. Now ain't that ironic? For him to discourage the Mangudadatus before the massacre, then stepping up only when all hell broke loose...how cowardly! What's even worse, ask anyone from Maguindanao and he'll tell you that the Ampatuans and the Mangudadatus are one and the same. Both have private armies, both are accused of murder and attempted murder, both have arsenals. Why expel someone from your party and welcome another who has committed the same atrocities? Where's the logic in that? He's a perfect example of a trapo politician who jumps from one sick horse to another to win the race.
What about the DND arsenal found in Maguindanao? There's absolutely no excuse for it. It's either he's incompetent not to have known about it, or he's corrupt to have supplied it. Yes, dissolving private armies is not that easy, but if you're excellent and intelligent as claimed, ain't two years enough for you to have at least controlled it? He said, he needed conclusive intelligence and prima facie evidence so he could disarm these armies. I find that too lame. The buried arsenal could supply a battalion (that's around 300 to 1300 men!), and local residents could attest for their kins who have been murdered by these private armies. If you have 'galing at talino', it shouldn't be too hard to gather enough intelligence and evidence when it's just lying in front of you. It's so disappointing to hear these excuses from someone who supposed has galing at talino.
I cringe on the fact that Gibo's supporters brandish his leadership during typhoon Ondoy as heroism. It was his job to act on it (for God's sake!). His wasn't heroism but rather a way to make up for slacking off as head of NDCC. Had he done a better job, NGOs and ordinary citizens wouldn't have to go out and risk their own lives to help. Yes, it was an act of nature and nobody could have prepared for it, but slight anticipation would have sufficed. It was obvious that NDCC was caught off-guard and empty-handed. Lucky Gibo, everyone helped out and it made his job easier.
And what about the Coco Levy Fund? Didn't GIBO orchestrate the plot to impeach Hilario Davide to sway the SC's ruling in favor of Danding? Is this the kind of president you want? Someone who schemes unkindly against our poor farmers?
I remember when Davide was asked what's the motive behind the impeachment, he simply replied, "Because they can't twist my arm." Davide had a close encounter with GIBO's galing at talino and that's exactly why he's not voting for him.
In conclusion, there's absolutely no question GIBO is smart and eloquent. But is he really what this country needs? This country is dipping into depression not because we lack intelligent leaders but because we have too much intelligent untrustworthy leaders who strategize not for this country but for their own pockets. So what makes his galing at talino so special? Nothing special, actually. As someone had perfectly put it, and I quote, "He's a genial man sitting quietly in a waiting room, a pleasant man with a pleasant face, a man capable of sacrificing principle for popular opinion, taking little responsibility for his omissions, horse-trading lives for power.”
My stand on Gibo is not based on what the media says, not on any statistic or testimony, but on my personal experience with the government and personal research (reading, interviews, tracing histories, etc.). So why am I not voting for Gibo? Simple. I can tell you matter-of-factly now that Gibo is not the cleanest of the lot.
First of all, he is GMA's ally. "But GMA should be considered innocent until proven guilty!" was the retort I got. (It was a pathetic retort, actually, and thus there's no need to discuss whether she's corrupt or not.) Let's, instead, apply this principle to Gibo. In other words, let's give him the benefit of the doubt and pretend that he's not corrupt like the person he has allied with. But can you honestly tell me that he has no knowledge of how corrupt GMA's admin is? Can you honestly tell me that he's unaware how this corrupt government system works? I'm a lowly citizen and I know. Hell, everybody in this country knows!
Of course, Gibo knows. He'd be a fool not know. It saddens me that he's tolerating the system, even defending it. He reasoned that he can't turn his back on someone who has given a 45-year-old man like him a break. Tsk! Tsk! Ain't that too much of a goodwill for a man who claims to be excellent and intelligent? If you're striving for excellence, shouldn't you fight against corruption, against corrupt officials no matter how indebted you are to them? If you're gifted with intellect, shouldn't you use it to get to where you want and not let others use you? Makes me wonder what more dirty jobs he's willing to do for her.
Another example of him tolerating and supporting tainted politicians is his decision to welcome Mangudadatu into his party right after he expelled the Ampatuans. Yet, before the massacre happened, Gibo appealed to the Mangudadatus not to exercise their legal and democratic right to run for public office to avoid violence. Now ain't that ironic? For him to discourage the Mangudadatus before the massacre, then stepping up only when all hell broke loose...how cowardly! What's even worse, ask anyone from Maguindanao and he'll tell you that the Ampatuans and the Mangudadatus are one and the same. Both have private armies, both are accused of murder and attempted murder, both have arsenals. Why expel someone from your party and welcome another who has committed the same atrocities? Where's the logic in that? He's a perfect example of a trapo politician who jumps from one sick horse to another to win the race.
What about the DND arsenal found in Maguindanao? There's absolutely no excuse for it. It's either he's incompetent not to have known about it, or he's corrupt to have supplied it. Yes, dissolving private armies is not that easy, but if you're excellent and intelligent as claimed, ain't two years enough for you to have at least controlled it? He said, he needed conclusive intelligence and prima facie evidence so he could disarm these armies. I find that too lame. The buried arsenal could supply a battalion (that's around 300 to 1300 men!), and local residents could attest for their kins who have been murdered by these private armies. If you have 'galing at talino', it shouldn't be too hard to gather enough intelligence and evidence when it's just lying in front of you. It's so disappointing to hear these excuses from someone who supposed has galing at talino.
I cringe on the fact that Gibo's supporters brandish his leadership during typhoon Ondoy as heroism. It was his job to act on it (for God's sake!). His wasn't heroism but rather a way to make up for slacking off as head of NDCC. Had he done a better job, NGOs and ordinary citizens wouldn't have to go out and risk their own lives to help. Yes, it was an act of nature and nobody could have prepared for it, but slight anticipation would have sufficed. It was obvious that NDCC was caught off-guard and empty-handed. Lucky Gibo, everyone helped out and it made his job easier.
And what about the Coco Levy Fund? Didn't GIBO orchestrate the plot to impeach Hilario Davide to sway the SC's ruling in favor of Danding? Is this the kind of president you want? Someone who schemes unkindly against our poor farmers?
I remember when Davide was asked what's the motive behind the impeachment, he simply replied, "Because they can't twist my arm." Davide had a close encounter with GIBO's galing at talino and that's exactly why he's not voting for him.
In conclusion, there's absolutely no question GIBO is smart and eloquent. But is he really what this country needs? This country is dipping into depression not because we lack intelligent leaders but because we have too much intelligent untrustworthy leaders who strategize not for this country but for their own pockets. So what makes his galing at talino so special? Nothing special, actually. As someone had perfectly put it, and I quote, "He's a genial man sitting quietly in a waiting room, a pleasant man with a pleasant face, a man capable of sacrificing principle for popular opinion, taking little responsibility for his omissions, horse-trading lives for power.”
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