If machines fail, teachers not ready for manual count

By Julie Alipala, Inquirer Mindanao, TJ Burgonio (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Link: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100507-268519/If-machines-fail-teachers-not-ready-for-manual-count

MANILA, Philippines—Teachers manning precincts on Election Day will be at a loss on what to do in case the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines still do not function properly.

The teachers are not prepared for manual counting, Abelardo Brutas, secretary general of the Teachers in the Philippine Public Sector (TOPPS, said.

Brutas said one of the hindrances to manual voting is the clustering of precincts. A clustered precinct could have up to a thousand voters.

Manual elections would only be possible if the Commission on Elections (Comelec) restores the original number of precincts, which is quite impossible at this time, he said.

“Definitely, we cannot handle the clustered precincts, where we have to deal with about a thousand voters per precinct,” Brutas said.

Smartmatic admits glitches, errors; Testing junked, 76,000 flash cards recalled Failed polls fears up as PCOS malfunction

By Marie A. Surbano (The Daily Tribune)
Link: http://www.tribune.net.ph/

Six days before the precincts open for the electorate to cast their vote using the new system of automated polls, real fears of a total failure of elections and a no-election scenario surfaced yesterday as precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines tested virtually nationwide, all failed, with the machines giving out zero votes to some candidates, while some candidates had all the votes.

Machine supplier Smartmatic and Commission on Elections (Comelec) officials also yesterday tried to allay the public’s fear, saying that these machine glitches that were experienced in areas where machines were tested, are easily fixed, adding that it was human error that led to the failure of the machines to correctly read votes for local positions.

Smartmatic Southeast Asia president Cesar Flores admitted its mistake and said the company is taking full responsibility for it, as Smartmatic failed to properly configure compact flash disks of the PCOS machines to properly read the votes for the local races because of a difference in the layouts of the national and local ballots.

“The PCOS machine incorrectly read the local ballot because the local ballot has double spacing. If you look at the national (ballot), they are all single spaced.”

Government press probed for printing campaign materials

By Paolo Romero (The Philippine Star)
Link:http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=572428&publicationSubCategoryId=63


MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Director General Conrado Limcaoco is launching a probe into reports that officials of one of the printing offices that he is supervising have been illegally using facilities to print election materials for their own or their relatives’ political campaign.

Limcaoco was reacting to a report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) that some members of the board of the APO Production Unit, Inc. who are running for local elective posts, are using their printing facilities for their campaign materials.

The PCIJ report said the officials were taking advantage of the ambiguity of the status of the APO, whether it is a government corporation or a private entity.

The Omnibus Election Code prohibits the use of printing presses owned or controlled by the government in any election campaign or partisan political activity.

The penalties for officials of such an entity caught in violation of the law range from one to six years in prison, along with disqualification from public office and forfeiture of the right of suffrage, the PCIJ pointed out.

Manual count junked

By RAYMUND F. ANTONIO (Manila Bulletin)
Link: http://mb.com.ph/articles/255262/manual-count-junked
 

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) junked Thursday the proposed parallel manual count in the country’s first automated elections on May 10, on the pretext that it would only open up opportunities for cheating.

In its unanimous decision, the poll body ruled that the manual count is not the “only” way to validate the electronic results of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines, as pressed by religious leaders, IT experts, the Makati Business Club (MBC), and even some of the candidates themselves.

Comelec Spokesperson James Jimenez, who read the contents of the resolution before the media, said adopting such measure would have an adverse effect on the automation process such as the creation of discrepancies or errors in the tallying of votes.

“The Commission also cannot accept that the mere existence of disagreement between the hand and electronic count should automatically be interpreted as proof of the inaccuracy of the electronic count,” the seven-page resolution said.

Parallel manual count gains Proponents cite need to protect election’s integrity

BY IRMA ISIP (Malaya)
Link: http://www.malaya.com.ph/04282010/news1.html

THE clamor for a parallel manual count has snowballed as the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) yesterday said it supports the proposal as a backup measure to protect the integrity of the May 10 automated elections.

The Makati Business Club, Management Association of the Philippines, information technology experts and cause-oriented groups had proposed the parallel manual count to ensure that the results are credible.

In a statement, ECOP said in any computerized election, redundancy is important to protect the election’s integrity and reliability.

However, ECOP wants the parallel manual count limited to the votes for president unlike the MBC, MAP which advocates manual count also for vice president, mayor and vice mayor.

Ballot distribution begins; Coast Guard to deliver poll machines

By Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star)
Link: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=570173&publicationSubCategoryId=63

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has started shipping the ballots to be used in the May 10 automated elections to various areas nationwide.

The distribution of ballots to municipal and provincial treasurers’ offices in Mindanao and Luzon started last Saturday, Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said yesterday.

Larrazabal said ballots were sent to the provinces of Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, Agusan del Sur, Agusan del Norte, Zambo Sibugay, Bukidnon, Lanao del Sur, Palawan and Masbate.

He said the Comelec opted to distribute the ballots first in Mindanao provinces and other areas, which would take a longer time to reach.

He added that as a general rule, ballots should be delivered directly to the municipal treasurer’s office, but in some instances they are distributed directly to the provincial treasurer’s office because of security concerns.

Lakas members leaving Gibo branded 'pseudo' supporters

BY JEFFERSON ANTIPORDA Reporter (The Manila Times )
Link: http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/top-stories/16126-lakas-members-leaving-gibo-branded-pseudo-supporters

DAVAO CITY: A word war between Lakas-Kampi Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) standard-bearer Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro and House Speaker Prospero “Boy” Nograles Jr. continued and chances of the two patching things up seemed remote.

Nograles fanned the flame on Monday by saying that members of the ruling party, Lakas-Kampi CMD, would soon leave Teodoro because they feel that he has a very slim chance of winning the race to Malacañang on May 10.

He made the statement a day after attending a political rally organized by his supporters here during which Teodoro in a speech described Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and Vice Mayor Inday Sarah Duterte-Zimmerman as good leaders. The Dutertes are political rivals of Nograles.

According to the lawmaker, Teodoro’s support for Duterte means nothing where Davao politics or the next month’s balloting is concerned.

Melo says postponement of polls 'unconstitutional'

By Helen Flores (The Philippine Star)
Link: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=568671&publicationSubCategoryId=63

MANILA, Philippines - There’s no stopping the national and local elections on May 10 despite a petition for their postponement by a presidential candidate, according to Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Jose Melo.

“That’s unconstitutional… because the Constitution itself provides for the specific date on which an election will be held,” Melo said in reaction to a petition to postpone the polls filed by independent presidential candidate Nicanor Perlas.

The Comelec has yet to deliberate on Perlas’ petition.

In his petition, Perlas cited the agency’s lack of preparedness in carrying out its duties in the first nationwide automated polls.

In a 34-page petition, Perlas said the Comelec should first ensure that the automated elections system (AES) is fool proof before it proceeds with the elections in May.

Lakas expects defectors from rival camps

By Jefferson Antiporda, Francis Earl A. Cueto and Rhadz B. Barcia(The Manila Times) 

Link: http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/top-stories/15782-lakas-expects-defectors-from-rival-camps

THINGS are looking up for former Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro because stalwarts from other political parties are reportedly planning to jump ship and support the ruling party’s standard-bearer in the May 10 elections.

According to Reggie Velasco, the deputy secretary general of Lakas-Kampi Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD), more politicians from the rival parties have signified their intention to support Teodoro, whom they said is the most qualified among the candidates seeking to succeed President Gloria Arroyo.

Velasco said things are still under negotiations and that they could not disclose any details yet on the transfer of the politicians to the ruling party. What is sure, according to him, is that there are politicians who have sent feelers to defect to the camp of Teodoro.

Meanwhile, Rep. Amelita Villarosa of Occidental Mindoro, the Lakas-Kampi CMD chairman, has announced that Rep. George Arnaiz of Negros Oriental, who belongs to the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), would be supporting the bid of the former Defense secretary but that Arnaiz will stay with his current party.

Reveal favored bets, Lakas dares pollsters

By Aytch S. de la Cruz (The Daily Tribune) 

Link: http://www.tribune.net.ph/

Officials of the admi-nistration party, Lakas-Kampi-CMD, yesterday assailed the country’s major survey companies as it has come to their knowledge that these firms have themselves elicited the idea to the public that the battle for the presidency has been narrowed down to the two leading candidates, hence the frequent favorable results on the part of the candidates concerned.

Speaking before a Malacañang press

conference, ruling party’s secretary general, Raymond Roquero, challenged the owners of the survey firms in question to come out in the open and declare which candidates are they supporting and just how much do their companies receive from them.

“They (survey firms) should tell us who their benefactors are, how much do they receive from them to conduct these surveys and one presidential candidate even mentioned that it is time to refrain from publishing the results (in favor of them) because this gives the wrong impression to our people,” he said.

Perlas wants May 10 polls postponed

By Dino Balabo (The Philippine Star)
LinK: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=568392&publicationSubCategoryId=63

BALIUAG, Bulacan , Philippines – Independent presidential candidate Nicanor Perlas is petitioning the Commission on Elections (Comelec) today to postpone the May 10 presidential elections for three months to prevent failure of elections and election-related violence.

Perlas said he is “90 percent sure” that the automated elections would fail if it will be held as scheduled.

“It’s better to have the elections postponed until August instead of having an election failure that may result in violence,” Perlas said in an interview Monday afternoon before conducting a house-to-house campaign in Barangay Poblacion here.

Perlas said the Comelec has to fix its problems with the automated election system before conducting the elections.

Comelec enters passwords for automated system

By Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star)
Link: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=568388&publicationSubCategoryId=63

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday took the first step to thwart any attempt to alter the results of the country’s first automated elections by entering passwords to secure the system.

Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said the poll body, together with two opposition legislators, already entered three separate passwords and locked the Central Canvassing System (CCS) of the automated election system.

Melo said he, Sen. Francis Escudero and Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr. each entered a six- to eight-character code to prevent anyone from opening the entire automated election system.

“Each of us entered a code and we don’t know each other’s password so the system is now locked and in order to open the CCS, the three of us should be there and must re-enter the code,” Melo explained.

Palace, security officials tackle power crisis

By Paolo Romero (The Philippine Star)
Link: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=568387&publicationSubCategoryId=63

MANILA, Philippines - President Arroyo met yesterday with police and military officials and energy executives in her first national security meeting in recent weeks at the Palace.

Officials said the meeting did not focus on security preparations for the May 10 elections but more on the assurance of power in Mindanao, which continues to be hit by rotating power outages.

Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales said members of the Cabinet cluster on security briefed Mrs. Arroyo on the situation in Mindanao, particularly on the activities of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), the extremist Abu Sayyaf Group, and the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

“There were concerns on the possibility of pockets of lawlessness happening in the South because of the recent incidents there,” Gonzales told The STAR, referring to the recent blasts in Basilan attributed to the Abu Sayyaf, and the kidnaping of a Filipino-Swiss businessman in Zamboanga City by a kidnap-for-ransom group.

Comelec brags: Transport fees trimmed down by 50%

By Marie A. Surbano ( The Daily Tribune )
Link: http://www.tribune.net.ph/

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported that the cost of transporting the 50.7 million ballots from the National Printing Office (NPO) to the Philpost distribution center has been sliced by more than 50 percent of its original P92 million quotation.

Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said from the initial cost of P92 million, the transportation cost of the ballots went down to some P50 million and was further reduced to P23 million.

But Larrazabal refused to provide additional details of the forwarding companies the poll body will be tapping to transfer these ballots from the NPO.

In a separate interview, Comelec Commissioner Lucenito Tagle also confirmed that the en banc agreed to cut the cost of the ballots transfer to P23 million.

Unprepared poll body worries lawyers

By Tetch Torres ( Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Link: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20100420-265385/Unprepared-poll-body-worries-lawyers

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines—Be on the right side of history, the oldest voluntary national organization of lawyers told the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as it expressed concern over the poll body’s lack of preparation for the forthcoming national and local elections.

In a statement, the Philippine Bar Association (PBA), through its president Atty. Simeon Marcelo, enumerated the problems plaguing the Comelec’s preparations to include: malfunctioning Precinct Count Optical Scan machines, lack of independent source code review, delayed printing of official ballots,

Controversies in the public bidding for the supply of indelible ink and ballot secrecy folders, use of unreliable logistics firms, lack of transparency in the canvassing of votes, lack of contingency/continuity plans, lack of an effective voters’ education campaign, and lack of a legal framework in case of failure of elections.

130 Lakas lawmakers rally behind Teodoro

By James Konstatin Galvez and Jefferson Antiporda (The Manila Times) 

Link: http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/top-stories/15635-130-lakas-lawmakers-rally-behind-teodoro

In an apparent show of force, some 130 lawmakers under the banner of Lakas-Kampi Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) gathered at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City (Metro Manila) on Monday to express support for former Defense Secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro, their standard-bearer in the May 10 elections.

Ray Roquero, the secretary general of the administration party Lakas-Kampi CMD, said that the meeting was held to show Teodoro that they will remain behind him and that they are committed to have him elected as the next president of the country.

“This [gathering] will show that they are still here for Gibo amid a few defections,” Roquero added, referring to a number of departures from the ruling coalition, most recently that of Gov. Jose “Joey” Salceda of Albay.

The meeting was the first of the two set by the party for its congressional and gubernatorial candidates.

Minority tag looms for Lakas Defections mean loss of dominant status

BY BERNICE CAMILLE V. BAUZON Reporter ( The Manila Times )
Link: http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/top-stories/15348-minority-tag-looms-for-lakas

Defections of members of the administration party Lakas-Kampi Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD) could lead to the ruling coalition losing its claim to dominant majority party status in the May 10 elections, a high-ranking official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said on Thursday.

But according to Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento, they still would look into political developments within political parties to determine which party should be declared as the dominant majority party and as the dominant minority party in next month’s polls.

He said that it would not matter if only Lakas-Kampi CMD was the only one to apply for the dominant majority party status.

Sarmiento added that the poll body could go around and declare another party as the dominant one.

Election failure to favor Arroyo Think tank cites 14 danger signs

By Tony Bergonia (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Link: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20100416-264500/Election-failure-to-favor-Arroyo

MANILA, Philippines—A multinational firm doing intelligence work for a host of embassies and some of the world’s top corporations has said signs that the Philippines’ first automated balloting on May 10 would fail are getting clearer as the elections draw closer.

In a paper entitled “Assessing 2010 Elections Automation in the Philippines,” Pacific Strategies and Assessments (PSA) said it had found 14 danger signs that the elections were bound to run into a wall of problems, or worse, completely fail.

The paper, submitted to PSA clients that include top US officials in Manila, said that the Arroyo administration was doing very little to assure people of fair and honest elections and might even benefit from failed elections.

“The automation project has been a sideshow to the ongoing shenanigans of sitting President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who is trying to dominate the Lower House after the 2010 elections,” the PSA paper said.

“There is widespread suspicion that Arroyo will somehow capitalize on automated elections problems or failure to advance her and her family’s interests and perpetuate herself in power,” it said.

Comelec urged to allow media to vote early

By Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star)
Link: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=566618&publicationSubCategoryId=63

MANILA, Philippines - Party-list group Alyansa ng Media at Showbiz (AMS) yesterday asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to allow members of media to vote ahead of the May 10 elections.

In a three-page petition, the party reasoned that media workers might not be able to vote on election day because they have to work to cover the polls.

“The worst thing that could happen to a Filipino citizen is to be deprived of his right to vote,” the group said.

The group asked the Comelec to allow members of the media to vote during their systems test, and use this opportunity to identify problems in the use of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines.

Comelec eyes expanded random manual audit

By Helen Flores (The Philippine Star)
Link: http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=566611&publicationSubCategoryId=63

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) might expand the coverage of random manual audit of ballots from a single precinct for every congressional district to five per district.

Election Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said the Comelec is expected to issue a resolution on the proposed expansion of the manual audit of ballots next week.

“Let’s wait for the resolution to be issued by en banc but it looks like five precincts per district. The other matters will be contained in the resolution. I don’t want to preempt (the decision),” Larrazabal said.

Electoral reform groups Automated Election System Watch, Center for People Empowerment in Governance and Consortium on Electoral Reforms have asked the Comelec to conduct a wider manual audit of ballots before the proclamation of election winners because a limited one would cast doubt on the results of the automated polls.