‘No-transition’ fears raised Noynoy details events, urges hiked vigilance

by WENDELL VIGILIA

From Malaya

Link: http://www.malaya.com.ph/03312010/news1.html

LIBERAL Party standard-bearer Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III yesterday said there is a need for heightened public vigilance because President Arroyo "seems to be doing everything in her power to ensure that there is no smooth and peaceful transition of power."

"Perhaps the operative word is to ensure there is no transition," he told a press conference. "Those who think they can do minimal effort (in guarding their votes) should really awaken and take on a more active role and ensure that peaceful transition does become a reality."

Aquino, who earlier warned of another popular uprising in case elections fail, noted how ordinary citizens fought for the sanctity of ballots in the 1986 snap elections wherein his mother, Corazon C. Aquino, faced Ferdinand Marcos.

Aquino said there is no denying that the chain of events indicates that the Arroyo administration is doing away with what should be its last mandate of managing a peaceful transition of power.

He cited Arroyo’s "midnight appointments," which include that of AFP chief Gen. Delfin Bangit, her plan to appoint the successor to Chief Justice Reynato Puno, the Quezon City court’s decision absolving the Ampatuan clan from rebellion charges, and Malacañang’s warning of a military junta if elections fail.

Another crucial issue, Aquino said, is the lack of material time for an independent review of the poll machines’ source codes with only 40 days are left before Election Day, which he blames on the Commission on Elections.

"Sinadya bang patagalin ang pagpapahintulot sa pag-review ng source code?" he said, noting this would deprive candidates the chance to verify the authenticity of the votes registered in the machines.

Comelec instructed political parties as early as June last year to

"Now I have to harken back to the (Feb. 14, 1986) snap election where there was widespread fraud and eventually, Juan dela Cruz stood up, was counted and made his will be exercised and followed by the whole country," he said.

LP campaign manager Florencio "Butch" Abad said that because of the Comelec’s inaction, "we came to the conclusion that there is no more adequate time to review the source codes, much less address possible shortcomings the review may result in."

Abad said even the ballot’s authenticity could be a problem after the Comelec informed them that the ultraviolet ray markings on it will not be used anymore because the National Printing Office "insisted on putting its own markings on the ballots."

"If there are questions on integrity of ballot, teachers will have to manually scan the ballot... That will make time for voting even more limited. Wala nang auto scanners, pag sinubuan ng pekeng balota, di mo na alam kung totoo o hindi kasi binili nila manual scanners," he said.

Abad said the Comelec has also yet to decide on when the random manual audit (RMA) of the ballots will be undertaken by the parties, noting this is the only way to verify the accuracy of the results from the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines.

"You can do RMA in less than two days. That will give us enough time before proclamation of a winning candidate is made. Sagot ng Comelec the last time pag-aaralan pa ito," he said.

Abad said that while the Comelec has admitted that as much as 30 percent if PCOS machines may or will fail, it still has yet to offer a concrete backup plan.

"Sabi nila before start of Holy Week break they will give us an answer. To this day we have not received any," he said.