What happens if Automated voting system is run by the same Arroyo and Garci lieutenants?

we are the only country where the elites think that automated is more "reliable and secure" than manual. if you ask all the other countries around the world, especially those with experience in computerized voting (particularly in the US)--they'd tell you the opposite, na mas safe and reliable ang manual because it is more difficult to fix the results (forge signatures, mess up the count) without getting caught thru verification.

sure, automated counts votes faster, but it is also easier/faster to fix elections from the inside. and AFAIK, chairman melo has not done anything to investigate or remove the 2004 operators who worked for garci inside the comelec. he did not clean house.

doing the automated system without credible election officials in charge is like building a swanky new henhouse while retaining the services of the fox to guard it.

Catching vote discrepancies and verifying the count would be almost impossible. NAMFREL and other watchdog groups from the CBCP becomes redundant/useless. Something like this will never ever happen again. if you did not catch it, it never happened. ignorance is bliss.

hindi kasalanan ng manual kung may dayaan sa 2004. manual made it harder for them and more risky to fix the results. kinaylangan ng administration ang sangkatutak na comelec at military operators para ayusin ang eleksyon. hindi pa maganda ang pagkakagawa, according to one general. alam nating may dayaan, sa 2004 canvassing pa lang halata na. pero walang nakulong. lusot ang mga mandaraya. dahil corrupt ang gobierno at accomplice ang CBCP.

UPDATE: Armida Siguion Reyna:

You ask a question about the transparency of the bidding process, of how the Comelec granted the bid to Total Information Management (TIM) and Smartmatic, and right away you get a defensive answer still in the form of another question: "Bakit, ayaw mo ba ng automation?"

Carlitos clarified that he was for automation, but not merely automation per se. Accuracy remained the highest value, as opposed to automated elections nga, automated din ang daya. He mentioned what IT experts in Princeton University had done to prove it was possible to put in, or pre-load, information into a computer that could alter results of a vote, and from there suggested it best for the Comelec to allow local IT experts to fully examine TIM-Smartmatic hardware to settle once and for all if hacking was possible.

When Rafanan reacted that wasn’t necessary as the Smartmatic process had been tested in other parts of the world, the soft-spoken Bahague countered the factors in, say, the US, would be different from here, iba raw ang testing sa US, dapat, iba rin dito. In other words, Carlitos exclaimed, walang Virgilio Garcillano sa America, so iba talaga ang testing doon, sa testing dito.

No reaction there, from Rafanan. I didn’t expect him to bowl over with laughter, a chuckle would have sufficed. Nothing doing, and that’s when I realized he must have been nervous. He then proceeded to insist the Comelec had been for the past few months working to weed out undesirables from its rank-and-file and that for me was cause to worry. I didn’t want to be unfair to him, but I couldn’t help but feel he wasn’t altogether being truthful.

Na-diyaryo na dapat ‘yon, na-bandera sa lahat ng media, kung tutoong naglilinis ang Comelec ng bakuran, with one year to go before the presidential elections of 2010.

I mean, where is lawyer Lintang Bedol, the election supervisor of Maguindanao linked to the alleged anomalous "win" of Miguel Zubiri over Koko Pimentel? What’s happened to Rey Sumalipao, lawyer Pebo, names attached to the fraud of 2004 and yet allowed to "operate" in 2007? Garci several times in his recorded conversation with "the voice of the President, but it is not she who is talking," as per Mike Defensor, made references to having to kidnap or salvage recalcitrant Comelec low-rank officials — has he even been made to at least clarify what he meant by those horrific statements?

And Benjamin Abalos Jr., the former chairman, who vowed to "clean his name," kaya na nga raw at nag-resign. He didn’t do anything to investigate Garcillano, and took a further plunge into degradation by getting involved in the NBN-ZTE deal. The last we’ve heard from him is that he’s flippin’ "borjers" at the Wack-Wack Golf and Country Club and in a stall somewhere in Boni Avenue.

The problem of the Comelec then was credibility, the problem of the Comelec today is still credibility.

It’s a credibility issue that has nothing to do with if indeed TIM was only "fronting" to be the local "60 percent" of a "60-40" investment requirement, or with how TIM and Smartmatic like lovers broke up and kissed and made up the next day, and refused to tell what exactly happened between them.

It’s a credibility matter that runs from Comelec top to bottom, in every possible way. We’ve heard of the abominable dagdag-bawas, there are still other tricks from within, designed to take advantage of the naïve candidate. Such as city-level Comelec officers brazenly refusing to release Comelec checker IDs shortly before an election, because "masakit ang braso, nangangalay, hindi makapirma ng ID." The candidate pays them, voila! Bigla na silang nakakapirma ulit. Or Comelec "brokers" who go around offering their own "protection" services to candidates.

If current Chairman Jose Melo, na former Supreme Court justice pa mandin, wants to send the message that under his leadership the Comelec has become aboveboard, the first thing he needs to do is go back to prosecuting past known "operators" from within and putting them in jail, Bedol, Sumalipao and Garci included.

When people like ComelecAKO's postigo luna and COMELEC spokesperson James Jimenez continue to claim that Garcillano did nothing wrong in 2004, you have to question their judgment and credibility.

MORE common sense from Raul Pangalangan:

The manual writing of the ballot—no different from the manual filling in of the boxes in the PCOS plan—is not the cause of the delay. The manual counting at the precinct level is usually completed within hours after the end of election day.The PCOS computers are infinitely faster but astronomically less transparent. But the greatest delay—and greatest opportunity for cheating—is in the transmittal, collection and final tally of the votes from precincts at every level. That is the stage that we must computerize—and we wouldn’t need fancy optical reading machines for that, just your basic wired PCs that will transmit and collate the precinct, municipal/city and provincial results. But by that stage, we already have the record of votes against which we can audit and counter-check what the central computers are doing.

Winnie Monsod praises Zubiri for not being "kapit tuko"

May delicadeza raw si Zubiri:

Whatever reason or reasons Migz has given, the fact remains that this is the first time in the Philippines that an incumbent legislator, whether senator or congressman, has voluntarily given up his seat. And the reason for this "kapit tuko" strategy is obvious: the congressperson is betting that it will take the better part of his three-year term before any decision is made on the electoral protest against him. And the senator, whose term is six years, is betting that his protesting opponent will just run again after three years, instead of waiting for the decision on his protest to be handed down.

If he's not kapit tuko, he should have conceded the elections 4 years ago like Denfensor did.

His legitimacy as senator was questioned and contested the moment he was proclaimed the 12th senator, after all the votes in Maguindanao were counted, which wiped out pimentel's decent vote lead. Maguindanao was the last area where the votes were not yet fully counted. Hinihintay lang ni Bedol at Ampatuan na matapos ang bilangan sa ibang parte ng bansa para malaman nila kung gaano kalaki ang kailangan nilang ipatong sa total vote count ni zubiri.

Zubiri should have conceded the elections like defensor and recto in 2007 and not let this drag on. He should not have used every bullshit delaying tactics like having the all ballot boxes of metro manila and other parts of the country reopened again (kasi doon raw sa manila siya nadaya ng opposition, according to zubiri's camp). he was kapit tuko all the way until one by one things started to fall apart, bedol and ampatuan started talking, military officials started confessing... he couldn't continue pretending to be a legitimately elected representative of the senate anymore.

Monsod also had something to say about the manual/automated voting systems:

Meanwhile, the real question is: What is being done to change a system that actually rewards cheating? Here are the Senate and House, with all their committee hearings "in aid of legislation" -- looking at everybody’s warts but their own, and ignoring the need for reform in its electoral protest process. And here is the Commission on Elections, still insisting on the manual (eyeballing) revision of ballots in protest cases, when one of the benefits of automation was supposed to be a drastic reduction in the time required for electoral protest decisions. And here are the Filipino people, whose collective will is being thwarted with impunity. Where is the tuwid na daan in all these?

Sorry madam, automated systems can't solve the cheating problem if rogue election officials from within the COMELEC are involved. Unless you want automated cheatings, LOL.

Not enough

Dapat hindi lang si Commissioner Resurrecion Borra ang matanggal at maparusahan sa COMELEC.

At dapat hindi lang yung issue ng automated voting machines ang isampa sa kanila, Joker Arroyo.

I believe the bigger reason kung bakit dapat matanggal sa pwesto at makasuhan ang mga taga-COMELEC ay dahil sa role ng mga officials na ito sa dayaan sa 2004 presidential elections. If you're only going to punish them because of the Mega Pacific issue, then you're pretty much giving this admin a free pass on GLORIAGATE.

Sa aking opinyon, kaya may dayaan sa nakaraang election is not so much because hindi na-implement ang automated counting machines, kung hindi dahil may mga election officials sa loob ng COMELEC na nag-double as "dagdag bawas" operators ni ate glo (and many of them are still there).

I feel na half-baked lang ang "reforms" na lalabas dito dahil ang focus ay nasa-Mega Pacific issue, at hindi mapaparusahan itong mga COMELEC officials na ito (including Garci and Barcelona) sa role nila sa election fraud scandal, dahil wala naman silang kinalaman sa Mega Pacific contract awarding.

More: PDI Editorial on the new legal principle created by Merceditas Gutierrez.

And from Ninez Cacho Olivares, who makes a few good points:

It does look like Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez is still taking orders from her patrons in Malacañang, given the report her office made on the automated voting machine scam submitted to the Supreme Court, after an extension or two.

She zeroed in on Commission on Elections commissioner Rex Borra, virtually laying all blame on him and the retired poll commissioners, but noticeably excluding the Comelec chief, Benjamin Abalos from the same scam.

For Borra, the Ombudsman recommended impeachment, since he is an impeachable officer, while the others are recommended to face charges of graft and corruption.

And if the Malacañang order is for Borra to be impeached, why, Gloria’s lapdogs in Congress can always come up with well over 79 endorsers and send the complaint to the Senate for trial — pronto.

After all, Gloria needs commissioners who will toe her line, and ensure that her cover-up of her fraud, along with the fact that more poll fraud is needed in 2007, to ensure that her congressional and senatorial bets win, if only for her to claim she is supported by the people.

Borra never got the ire of Malacañang until he testified in a Senate hearing on the wiretapping probe that touched on the 2004 poll fraud, where he was quoted as saying he wasn’t going to be a hypocrite and admitted that there was massive fraud.

Abalos, it will also be recalled, quickly came up with a spin on Borra’s remark, saying the commissioner never quite meant it that way. Strangely enough, Borra never corrected Abalos either, even when the Senate records show that Borra was accurately quoted by the media.

But why was Abalos excluded from the charges? Why didn’t the Ombudsman also recommend that the chairman be impeached by Congress?

This is not to say Borra should not be charged, or made to face impeachment, but why is Abalos, who, at the very least, should be charged by virtue of command responsibility, being protected by the Ombudsman, and evidently, Malacañang?

Borra has been in the Comelec long enough to know the ins and out of the agency, and having served under so many Comelec chairmen and commissioners, he certainly knows it is always the Comelec chief that has to give the final nod — especially at a time when everybody knew that he had a line to Gloria.

If Abalos is being protected — and well — it is almost certain that this has to do with the 2004 vote-rigging in favor of Gloria. Too many indications point to this.

The fact alone that the machines purchased by the Comelec were not vote-fraud free, as anybody — especially Malacañang — could link up with them was already suspicious in itself. The computers were ordinary ones, and extremely hackable, not to mention grossly overpriced.

UPDATE: Ito kaya ang dahilan kung bakit pinag-iinitan si Rex Borra ng administration?

Punishing the cheaters is the real solution, not election automation

From the PCIJ:

WHILE acknowledging that automation has a role to play in modernizing our elections, which remains a pitiful throwback from the first-ever held local polls in Bulacan more than a century ago, local information technology pioneer Roberto Verzola thinks the real problem does not lie with having an antiquated electoral system but with the fact that the cheats don’t get punished at all.

“They are blaming the manual system as the cause of cheating or that it makes cheating easy,” Verzola says. “But that is not correct. The system can be slow or fast but there will still be cheating unless you punish the cheats.”

In many instances, Verzola says, it is obvious who commits electoral fraud. But since they just get away with their crime, they just keep on doing it. “They even get promoted, occupy the highest positions in this country.”

Since the punishment for electoral cheats is perpetual disqualification from public office, Verzola says punishing them can have the added value of helping cleanse the government bureaucracy of cheats.

Computerization gives a false sense of security that everything will be tamper-proof, he says. “Computerizing the system will not stop them from committing fraud. Once they learn how to, cheats will make use of computers to cheat.”

Another problem with automation is that it will make cheating so much harder to detect and prosecute, says Verzola, pointing to the experience in the U.S. where there are “big issues about cheating precisely because the system is computerized.”

For instance, he cites the ballots that are entered into the counting machines. There is no way, he says, to double-check if the totals actually reflect the true count of the ballots. That is why he recommends that electoral processes at the precinct level should remain manual.

I agree with Robert. We should have removed the corrupting influence of Arroyo a long time ago and jailed all those involved in GLORIAGATE scandal and other election dirty tricks, like Garcillano, Joc Joc Bolante and Ricardo Manapat.

Sabi ni Joselu:

I don’t think that the problem is about punishing the cheats.
It’s more of having the evidence first to punish them.

if that’s the case, then edsa dos should not have taken place and erap should be re-installed na lang, because the evidence and chavit testimony against erap was much more inferior and less credible than the evidence against GMA and jose pidal.

Sabi ni Freewheel:

ah, Mr. Roger, you would rather have the Abalos-led Comelec to do the counting manually, eh?

and continue to allow a system that produces the likes of Garci?

yada yada yada...

pero nahuli si garci at arroyo di ba? nabuking ang entire operations ng malacanang, militar, at ng mga rogue COMELEC officials. even before the tapes came out, there were tons of evidence to show na nandaya si arroyo, pero puro "noted" lang ang hirit nina Sec. SiRAULo Gonzales at Sen. Kiko Cuneta.

Dahil mahirap, magastos, at matrabaho kasing mandaya kapag manual ang botohan eh. you need an army of EXPERIENCED dagdag bawas operators just to get the job done, and done right.

But people make errors pagdating sa mga ganitong ka-complex na operations. and the low ranking COMELEC and military officers involved in GLORIAGATE are no different. nagkakamali rin sila.

dapat marunong yung mga taong nautusan na COMELEC operators at military people sa ganitong trabaho, dahil kung hindi… mahahalatang dinoktor ang mga dokumento at hindi nagtutugma ang mga data, katulad nung sinabi ni garci, na “hindi masyadong marunong” raw ang pagpapataas sa boto ang mga heneral at ilang military officers dahil inexperienced sila sa ganitong trabaho.

kaya nga ayaw ng mga kaalyado ni arroyo na ipa-recount ang mga boto nung canvassing eh, dahil mahuhuli ang massive election fraud operation ni arroyo/garci.

the discrepancies between the ERs and COCs results were so obvious (thanks gen. habacon) na bumalik pa ang iilan sa mga GLORIAGATE operators after arroyo was proclaimed winner just to rectify and correct some of the kapalpakan made by inexperienced dagdag bawas amateurs.

read this too.

so it’s obvious na mas mahirap makalusot sa dayaan kapag manual ang botohan. the problem lang nga is that makapal talaga mukha ng cheater-in-chief at kapit tuko pa rin siya sa pwesto. and all the people who helped arroyo steal the elections are still free.

so IMO, i’m okay with automated machines, as long as the administration and COMELEC that is handling the elections are trustworthy and competent. else, we’d have another hugo chavez situation in the philippines.

kasi automated machines makes counting faster nga, but it also makes cheating and screwing up the elections much much easier too.

Toro comments:

Full automation of the electoral process and punishing the cheats are the best remedy to minimize if not stop election fraud. It is in the slow-count manual system that gives cheaters the opportunity to rig the results. A computerized system allows the swift transmission of results to central office thus minimizing the possibility of tampering. There will always be attempts to tamper results but there are safeguards, as in all computer programs, that can be incorporated into the system and make it easy to detect fraud.

how safe are the so-called "safeguards" anyway kung yung arroyo admin at ang mga arroyo-appointed na COMELEC commissioners at officials nito ang magpapatakbo ulit ng elections natin? if i recall correctly, wala ni isa sa mga responsable sa GLORIAGATE ay nakulong o naparusahan, at mukhang untouchable pa rin sila garci, joc joc, at ricardo manapat (our very awesome na ex-national archives head).

As long as the corrupting influence of arroyo is still there, mahirap magkaroon ng credible na elections dahil alam ng mga (manual or high-tech) na dagdag bawas operators na protektado sila at hindi sila makukulong as long as GMA controls malacanang.

yes, using automated systems makes it easier and faster to count votes. but it also makes it easier to rig or screw up the elections, and so much harder to detect election fraud.

From David Price:

The whole point of electronics and software is to manipulate information. That makes them great tools for lots of applications, but assuring election integrity is not one of them. If you value your democratic rights, demand your election officials use paper ballots that can be manually recounted and whose physical integrity and chain of custody can be confirmed.

Again, I really can’t emphasize enough how important this could be. As a software developer, I can tell you there are a million ways to sabotage something like this; very bad things happen merely by accident all the time. Trust me when I tell you that you wouldn’t want an absolutely honest programmer anywhere near your election results, let alone ones who may already be complicit in one stolen election.

even blogfather Glenn Reynolds aka instapundit believes that paper ballots are safer and more resistant to fraud than a voting machine.

From Glenn Reynolds:

A paper ballot encodes lots of useful information besides the obvious. Not only is the information about the vote contained in the form, but also information about the voter. Different colors of ink, different styles of handwriting, etc., make each ballot different. Erasing the original votes is likely to leave a detectable residue. Creating all new ballots with fraudulent votes requires substantial variation among them or the fakery is much more obvious; thats hard work. And destroying the original ballots in order to replace them with fraudulent ones isnt that easy theres a lot of paper to be disposed of, and shredding it, or burning it, or hiding it is comparatively easy to detect. (Protecting the ballots before counting doesnt require fancy encryption, either: just a steel box with a lock, a slot on the top, and a seal.) Whats more, because people are familiar with paper documents, fraud is easy to understand when it occurs. Paper ballots are both robust (resistant to fraud) and transparent (easy to understand). Compare this sophisticated voting technology to that of voting machines. A voting machine captures only the information regarding the vote. Once it has done so, one vote looks like another. Theres no handwriting, no style, no ink, just a simple notation of which candidate was favored. Most voting machines store votes electronically, meaning that if theyre changed, theres no troubling paper residue for fraud-perpetrators to dispose of. And because voting machines are complicated - and because their actual workings are unseen, and often kept secret its much harder for voters, members of the press, and others to identify or understand fraud. Electronic ballots, in other words, are neither robust nor transparent. The fact is, if you could come up with a new technology as simple and resistant to fraud as the paper ballot, people would be pretty impressed.

and from robert verzola:

Computerization gives a false sense of security that everything will be tamper-proof, he says. “Computerizing the system will not stop them from committing fraud. Once they learn how to, cheats will make use of computers to cheat.”

Another problem with automation is that it will make cheating so much harder to detect and prosecute, says Verzola, pointing to the experience in the U.S. where there are “big issues about cheating precisely because the system is computerized.”

For instance, he cites the ballots that are entered into the counting machines. There is no way, he says, to double-check if the totals actually reflect the true count of the ballots. That is why he recommends that electoral processes at the precinct level should remain manual.

so i don't know where you are getting your info na it's "easy" to detect computer election fraud, toto.

like most people, i want a fast count of the votes, and i'd be cautiously in favor of the automated vote counting machines, under normal circumstances. but if arroyo and her comelec are still running the show, then i think it's safer to use paper ballots na lang muna. yes, it's slower, but mas mahirap dayain ito... if you listen to garci detail some of the screwups by the military etc, LOL. kasi you need lots of EXPERIENCED people to make dagdag bawas work on a massive scale eh. and everybody should keep their mouths shut. if somebody screws up, mahahalata ang nakawan.

but i applaud GMA. nahuli na siya at si garci, pero ayaw pa rin mag-resign. kapal talaga.

Previous:

- How countries like Venezuela steal their elections

UPDATE: nytimes may 12, 2006

David Bear, a spokesman for Diebold Election Systems, said the potential risk existed because the company’s technicians had intentionally built the machines in such a way that election officials would be able to update their systems in years ahead.

“For there to be a problem here, you’re basically assuming a premise where you have some evil and nefarious election officials who would sneak in and introduce a piece of software,” he said. “I don’t believe these evil elections people exist.”

Maybe you haven't been to our country, Mr. Bear.

read this too.

Still want to put your blind faith on Automated election machines?

Honduras' referendum results on Zelaya's consti amendment pre-loaded on computers.

the report got picked up by Slashdot.

"In Honduras, according to breaking Catalan newspaper reports (translations available, USA Today mention), authorities have seized 45 computers containing certified election results for a constitutional election that never happened. The election had been scheduled for June 28, but on that day the president, Manuel Zelaya, was ousted. The 'certified' and detailed electronic records of the non-existent election show Zelaya's side having won overwhelmingly."

Related: What happens if Automated voting system is run by the same Arroyo and Garci lieutenants?

Florida governor abandons automated voting machines for paper ballots

From instapundit:

I'VE BEEN WRITING ABOUT THIS for a long, long, long time, and now something seems to be finally happening:

Gov. Charlie Crist announced plans on Thursday to abandon the touch-screen voting machines that many of Florida’s counties installed after the disputed 2000 presidential election. The state will instead adopt a system of casting paper ballots counted by scanning machines in time for the 2008 presidential election. Voting experts said Florida’s move, coupled with new federal voting legislation expected to pass this year, could be the death knell for the paperless electronic touch-screen machines. If as expected the Florida Legislature approves the $32.5 million cost of the change, it would be the nation’s biggest repudiation yet of touch-screen voting, which was widely embraced after the 2000 recount as a state-of-the-art means of restoring confidence that every vote would count.

Much of the unhappiness with electronic voting was mere conspiracy-theory sour grapes, as demonstrated by the fact that we suddenly didn't hear much complaining once the Democrats won an election. But the underlying point that I've been hammering for years, that elections must not only be trustworthy, but must be obviously trustworthy, is a good one. Electronic machines are a black box, and harder to trust. Easier to trust systems are inherently good.

My additional thoughts on the automated voting system here, here, and here.

Of course, iba naman ang opinion ni Dean J. Bocobo sa isyung ito.

Dumb

That's the title of the Inquirer Editorial on our favorite ombudsman, Merceditas Gutierrez

ON Sept. 27, on the same day the Office of the Ombudsman resolved to dismiss criminal and administrative liabilities against all those involved in the anomalous Mega Pacific contract, the office also found probable cause to charge Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay and 10 others for “alleged irregular purchases of office partitions and furniture” worth P232 million.

To anyone but the most obtuse, the difference in the outcome of the two cases is easily explained: Binay is a leader of the opposition, and is therefore presumed guilty. Commission on Elections Chair Benjamin Abalos and other persons implicated in the Mega Pacific anomaly are identified with the administration, and—despite evidence of gross abuse of discretion that passes even the Supreme Court’s own stringent standards—must therefore be found innocent.

Gutierrez apparently thinks the public would not notice the difference, or perhaps she has come to believe those Palace operators who, despite what they say about the importance of public opinion, act as though they really don’t care.

(Are we being unfair, in characterizing the Ombudsman’s Sept. 27 resolution on the Mega Pacific case as incorrigibly partisan? Hardly. Yesterday, more administration allies in Congress rushed to Gutierrez’s defense, with some of them even gleefully declaring any attempt to impeach the Ombudsman is doomed. Because she had merit on her side? No. Because, they said, the administration has the numbers. Partisanship, again, trumps the majesty of the law.)

The case against Binay is familiar enough; suffice it to say that the Ombudsman found certain details in the biddings and awards for certain equipment “highly irregular,” resulting in “undue injury to the government.”

That summary, in less than 20 words, applies equally well to the Mega Pacific contract. The Supreme Court, having taken cognizance of the complaint because of the transcendent importance of the matter at hand, found serious irregularities in the bidding for and the awarding of a P1.3-billion contract for automated counting machines. And yet the Ombudsman, finally stirred to action by a dismayed Supreme Court, found no probable cause to hold anyone, no one at all, to account.

We know it requires an enormous act of dumbing-down to forget what one has learned in law school, and decide cases using extra-legal criteria. But does the Ombudsman think everyone else is dumb too?

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE: Nagmukhang tanga si Winnie Monsod for believing in Mercy Gutierrez. She said Mercy's a "disappointment" raw, but there's no reason to be too upset. Let's "move on" na lang to more "positive news" (and she did segue into that nga, LOL.) The Tribune examines and disects the Malacanang spin on the economy.

I myself am disappointed with Winnie. After writing this article last week where she described the ombudsman's decision on the COMELEC automated machines as a "defining moment" and wondered whether Merceditas gutierrez was "worthy of her salt, or merely a sheep (or a “tuta” -- lapdog) in wolf’s clothing," who'll "whitewash" the case, I thought she'd be just as furious (or even more) than Dean Jorge Bocobo or the Inquirer Editorial after the Ombudsman came up with a lutong makaw decision.

Akala ko ba malaking bagay yan, Winnie? Hindi pala.

It seems that all this talk about good government coming from her was just moral posturing. No wonder she's able to shrug off the gloriagate scandal with ease.

How to steal an election using an automated voting machine

From Gizmodo:

Some Princeton researchers made a demonstration video of how it's possible to steal an election with a Diebold voting machine in under a minute. Anyone with physical access to the machine can put in malicious software to steal votes—such as election workers who have unsupervised access to the machines before elections. All they have to do is open up the machine with a key (or pick the lock), remove the old memory card, stick in your own memory card, boot the machine, and it automatically installs any software that was on the memory card.

At the end of the demonstration election, the poll machine prints out the incorrect "stolen election" result. The internal memory card also stores in the incorrect result. Every piece of evidence of how the election actually went reflects the "wrong" result. And, after the election is over, the vote stealing software can delete itself. There's no evidence left that the vote has been conducted incorrectly.

Like I said before, I'm not worried about hackers from the outside trying to manipulate the election results. What I'm worried more about are dagdag bawas INSIDERS who have unsupervised access to the machines.



Sabi ni David Bear, Diebold Spokesperson back in May 12, 2006:

David Bear, a spokesman for Diebold Election Systems, said the potential risk existed because the company’s technicians had intentionally built the machines in such a way that election officials would be able to update their systems in years ahead.

“For there to be a problem here, you’re basically assuming a premise where you have some evil and nefarious election officials who would sneak in and introduce a piece of software,” he said. “I don’t believe these evil elections people exist.”

Maybe you haven't been to our country, Mr. Bear.

Sabi ni Instapundit:

While I think that most of the "stolen election" claims are a mix of sour grapes and conspiracy theory, I think that we'd be much better off going to a more secure voting method, in order to forestall such corrosive charges. This isn't perfect, as there are other ways to steal an election, but it can't hurt.

It may be easier and faster to count the votes using automated, but it's also easier to rig elections from the inside without getting caught if the administration is determined to do it.

True electoral reforms will only happen once Arroyo is gone

If I were to run, it will require a major political effort on my part. But since I’m among the principal figures in the divisive national events for the last two or three years, my political efforts can only result in never-ending divisiveness.

On the other hand, relieved of the burden of politics, I can devote the last year and half of my administration to the following:

First, strengthening economy; to create more jobs and to encourage business activities that is unhampered by corruption and red tape in government.

Second, healing the deep divisions within our society.

Third, working for clean and honest elections in 2004.

- Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Dec. 30, 2002

Back in December, Joker Arroyo called for the resignation of COMELEC officials, but it's not because of the GLORIAGATE election fraud scandal.

It's over the COMELEC's anomalous handling of it's election modernization program.

Joker ARroyo's Senate Blue Ribbon committee, where he is chairman, is not interested in investigating the election scandal or the wiretapping cases on ISAFP. The guy in fact has called for ending the GLORIAGATE probe.

The Black and White Movement has picked up Joker's recommendation and is now asking for the COMELEC commissioners resignation:

A Truth Forum on ELECTORAL REFORM sponsored by

The Black & White Movement

On January 13, 2004, the Supreme Court released its decision nullifying the contract signed by the COMELEC with Mega Pacific eSolutions, Inc., directing the Office of the Solicitor-General to exert all efforts to recover the money and the Ombudsman to “determine the criminal liability, if any, of the public officials (and conspiring private individuals, if any)” involved in the subject contract.

The Supreme Court decision is now two years old, yet nothing much has happened. The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee has released Report No. 44 which recommends the resignation of the commissioners. The report further suggests that should the commissioners not resign, they can nonetheless be charged criminally by the Ombudsman.

Time is running out. If we want clean and credible elections and ultimately automate the process, then the COMELEC commissioners must resign. For as long as the present Commissioners remain, there is no hope for credible elections.

The Ombudsman must release their report and must elevate the case to the Sandiganbayan. NOW!

The Black and White Movement means well, but their reason for calling the COMELEC commissioners' resignation is insufficient, IMO. Walang serious na electoral reform na mangyayari if guys like Joker refuse to deal with the bigger issue of election rigging during the 2004 elections.

And by just focusing on the failed handling of the election modernization program, they're letting Arroyo and her commissioners off the hook on COMELEC's role in the massive dagdag bawas operations.

And we will not learn our lesson kasi kung akala lang natin na by using the automated machines, ayos na tayo, aba eh nagkakamali kayo diyan. Pwede ring dayain ang election using the counting machines kung gugustuhin talaga ng administration. Garbage in, garbage out.

Or kung ipapag-resign lang natin ang mga COMELEC commissioners without getting to the bottom of the GLORIAGATE operations--who were the COMELEC officials involved from top to bottom, how did they get away with it, who from the admin assisted the rogue COMELEC officials in rigging the elections--then the Arroyo admin will just appoint new partisan COMELEC officials who supports using the Automated Counting Machines, then Arroyo will call that "reform".

Isa-sakripisyo lang ni Arroyo yung mga commissioners niya at papalitan ng mga bagong Garcillano, Abalos at Barcelona.

But I guess this is what Joker wants. Suggesting cosmetic electoral reforms to get Arroyo off the hook, while refusing to go after all the COMELEC crooks and administration officials involved in the election rigging scandal.

Nice one Joker, but not so fast.

The only way really to have serious reforms in COMELEC is to boot out Arroyo and her COMELEC commissioners, and all those lower-ranking COMELEC officials involved in the GLORIAGATE operations.

A promise to the Filipino people

Ito dapat ang i-promise natin sa mga Filipino voters. Very simple and doable po ito.

1) New Elections ASAP after Arroyo is gone. Let the voters decide kung sino ang gusto nilang mamuno na presidente, hindi si GMA, FVR, de Venecia, Abalos and of course, si Mr. Virgilio Garcillano.

2) Remove all the COMELEC commissioners and replace them with credible ones who are easily confirmable sa Senate.

3) Punish all those who are responsible for GLORIAGATE. If any official is involved in the actual GLORAGATE operations or were involved in the coverup, then dapat tanggalin sila sa pwesto.

Long term goal is to institute major reforms in the COMELEC so that a repeat of 2004 election fiasco will not happen in any future (like the cha-cha referendum and the 2007 elections.) Of course it's not going to happen overnight, but rest assured Filipino voters that all those responsible for the GLORIAGATE cheating scandal will be punished.

More here.

From PCIJ, on the search for options:

Special Elections Under Senate President — This scenario was presented by Gus Lagman of Namfrel who explained that in the event the President and Vice President are ousted or resign, the Senate President takes over and special elections have to be held within 49 to 70 days after the resignation, as provided for in the constitution. But many Filipinos have become skeptical of another round of elections given the track record of the Commission on Elections. Hence, under this scenario, the campaign for special election would have to come with:

- the replacement of Comelec chair Benjamin Abalos and the appointment of credible and trustworthy commissioners to fill the vacancy that will be created by the expiration of the terms of two more commissioners in February;
- the possibility of automated elections
- putting together a broadly acceptable political platform
- putting together a framework for the first 100 Days

I don't think Noli should resign or be ousted. AFAIK, hindi naman siya nandaya. So we will hold elections for the position of president lang.

As for the possibility of automated elections, that's cool kung pwede nga yan. But it's not necessary since we're voting only for the presidency, so mabilis ang bilangan dito -- unlike in the past where kasama rin pagboto sa VP, 12 Senators, Congressman, Governor, Mayor, Vice Mayor, Councilor etc. etc.

Probably within 2-3 days tapos na ang bilangan. And if anybody is dumb enough to cheat in this election, mas mabilis silang mahuli.

Isa pang suggestion: Let's invite the UN to monitor the elections.

Let's make it as transparent as possible.

More from JB BAYLON.

More reactions on the Ombudsman ruling

Let's start with Winnie Monsod to show us what's at stake here. Her column last saturday:

CALL it a defining moment. Call it A moment of truth. But that’s what Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez faces. The Supreme Court set a Sept. 30 deadline (today) for her to report her findings on the possible liability of government officials and private parties involved in the election counting machines contract of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) which the Supreme Court voided and nullified. By this time, she will have to decide whether to adopt or repudiate the recommendations made to her by her own Field Investigation Office (FIO) on the matter.

A copy of those recommendations has been provided to me by former Sen. Jovito Salonga, which I share with the readers, so that it can be compared with whatever Gutierrez has submitted to the Supreme Court. We can then judge whether the ombudsman is worthy of her salt, or merely a sheep (or a “tuta” -- lapdog) in wolf’s clothing.

I say tuta. But Garcillano defender ComelecAKO agrees with the decision, tho. No surprise there. :rolleyes:

The Bystander is sickened by the ombudsman decision.

And here's the money quote from an email from the Black and White Movement:

"This is a travesty of justice! This is like saying a rape was indeed perpetrated, but there was no rapist", declared Enteng Romano, lead convenor of the Black & White Movement. "The Ombudsman has committed grave abuse of discretion, not even bothering to point us in the right direction. Who shall we hold accountable?"

Siguro "lapse of judgment" ng COMELEC lang yan Enteng.

And this PCIJ article says it all: Ombudsman ignored own investigator’s report holding Comelec officials liable

AFTER a two-year-long investigation, the Office of the Ombudsman yesterday finally released its findings on the P1.3-billion poll automation deal, absolving all officials involved in the controversy of any wrongdoing.

In a 52-page resolution, the anti-graft body cleared the Commission on Elections (Comelec) chair Benjamin Abalos, five other poll officials, and executives of the Mega Pacific eSolutions Inc. (MPEI) of any criminal and administrative liability.

Many were surprised with the ruling as it was a complete turnaround from the June 28, 2006 report, which recommended the indictment of Comelec officials and eight Mega Pacific officers and that impeachment charges be filed against elections commissioner Resurreccion Borra.

But what may not be known to many and what newspapers failed to report, is that on September 4, the Ombudsman’s Field Investigation Office (FIO) submitted a report to Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, recommending “all sitting Comelec officers” at the time the anomalous contract was signed, a Department of Science and Technology official, and six Mega Pacific incorporators and stockholders, “be held criminally, administratively, and civilly liable in connection with the voided contract.”

“The report was totally opposite (from yesterday’s ruling). The question is, what happened to that report? Was Gutierrez aware of it and what was her decision?” raises former Comelec commissioner Christian Monsod. He says Gutierrez must be “very transparent on the findings of the opposing panel.”

I smell whitewash. I smell a coverup.

Read this report too from the Malaya:

Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano (NP, Taguig-Pateros), a deputy minority leader, said the Arroyo administration "has mastered the art of cover-up, making it appear that it is but a regular policy of the government."

"Nuong eleksyon, may dayaan pero wala naman daw nandaya. Sa fertilizer scam, may overpricing pero wala naman daw nag-overprice. Ngayon naman may kaso pero walang kriminal. This is the government’s best entry to Ripley’s Believe It or Not," he said.

Sen. Joker Arroyo said the "outrageous" ruling was either part of a cover-up or of a collusion.

"This has never happened in the past," he said. "What is sacrosanct about the Comelec? This was a compromise to save the souls of Comelec officials," he said.

Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel warned that the Ombudsman might have inflicted a "mortal wound" on itself.

Pimentel said it is outrageous and unthinkable that the Ombudsman would come up with a decision on a patently flawed transaction that exonerates the Comelec and Mega Pacific executives who were responsible for it.

In a 52-page resolution, the anti-graft body on Monday reversed its June 28, 2006 ruling that recommended the indictment of five Comelec officials and six incorporators of Mega Pacific eSolutions for graft and the filing of impeachment charges against Comelec Commissioner Resurreccion Borra.

The latest ruling is also in sharp contrast to the June 23, 2005 resolution of a panel of Ombudsman graft investigators that recommended the filing of impeachment complaints against Chairman Benjamin Abalos and Commissioners Borra, Mehol Sadain and Florentino Tuazon on the grounds of graft and corruption and betrayal of public trust and held retired Commissioners Luzviminda Tancangco and Pablo Ralph Lantion liable for two counts of graft each.

I think Mike Arroyo's classmate should resign. But that will never happen because this partisan is so useful to this administration.

re the partisan nature of the current ombudsman, eto sinabi ni Manong Ernie:

The Ombudsman is the agency that is tasked by the Constitution to be the principal check against corruption and wrongdoings by public officials.

Its decision clearing all Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioners in the celebrated automated computerization contract declared void by the Supreme Court (SC) is sure to encourage all those conducting procurement or public bidding to violate existing laws on the matter.

Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez has effectively thrown into the waste basket the provision of the anti-graft law making it a crime to enter into any contract that is “disadvantageous to the government.” It also gives the supplier an excuse not to refund P1.3 billion to the government. She just threw away P1.3 billion.

It is difficult to accept the Gutierrez decision to reverse a clear finding of the SC. This is in sharp contrast to the hasty decision to charge opposition mayors Wenceslao “Peewee” Trinidad and Jejomar Binay.

It now confirms and validates all fears that Gutierrez, a close friend and classmate of First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, was appointed to the Ombudsman job to protect administration allies.

The Comelec clearance certainly is a step backward in the GMA administration’s announced drive against corruption. It looks like the millions given to the Ombudsman recently to step up its anti-corruption cleanup is a waste of money.

Read this MLQ3 roundup: A Crime but no Criminals

Dean Jorge Bocobo on Mercy Gutierrez:

ROGUE OMBUDSMAN: I can only describe MERCEDITAS GUTIERREZ at this point as a complete and utter disgrace to the Office of the Ombudsman and the legal profession with her WHITEWASH of Ben Abalos and the Comelec Commissioners responsible for what the Supreme Court condemned in 2004 as a "glaring grave abuse of discretion by the Comelec" in illegally awarding a P1.2 billion peso contract for an automated counting system that did not meet the Comelec's own bidding and technical specifications. By completely absolving Abalos, Garcillano, et al, and the Tansipeks (or whoever their stinking, crooked cronies are in this MegaPacific Consortium), the Ombudsman is undermining the legal, moral and juridical authority of the Supreme Court. She is acting as a Rogue of Impunity and challenging the Court to do something. What the Supreme Court does about this atrocious slap-in-the-face and dirt kicked in for good measure, may determine the fate of the Rule of Law in this ill-fated jurisdiction, where it seems, there can no longer be any counting upon the usual expectations of a nominally civilized and orderly society, where a two-bit political appointee of an illegitimate, lying, cheating, President gets to diss the Supreme Court and throw its Decision back in its face, with a spit and a click of her heels.

Sarcasm from the Malaya Editorial:

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez got it right when he said the poll agency was vindicated with the Ombudsman report.

"This is what we have been saying all along, that there is no irregularity (in the acquisition) of the ACMs," Jimenez said.

There is it, folks. THERE WAS NO IRREGULARITY IN THE ACQUISITION OF THE MACHINES.

It then follows that paying P1.3 billion for those idled machines was perfectly regular. Nobody was unduly benefited. There was no loss to the government.

The irregularity was only in the minds of the members of the Supreme Court and of Senate Blue Ribbon committee.

And Gloria Arroyo is the most truthful, honest and upright president this country has ever had

Heh. No amount of whitewashing will ever shore up Arroyo's partisan COMELEC.

Late Wednesday roundup:

-- Ellen Tordesillas is having a hard time coping with her asthma problem after 6 days na walang kuryente pa rin sa bahay nila.

-- Washington Post: Don't try to censor a blogger.

-- Tribune Edit: Enough is enough

-- Conrad de quiros: "There is one point about the killings that seems to escape the notice of foreign journalist organizations that have rightly condemned the atrocity. That is the fact that most of the victims have worked outside Metro Manila. That is the case in particular with the journalists. There seems to be an implicit taboo on the killing of journalists in Metro Manila. Nearly to a man or woman, the journalists have been killed outside the capital.

It’s not hard to see where that taboo comes from. It doesn’t come from the would-be assassins’ healthy respect for the national media, it comes from the would-be assassins’ healthy fear of international opinion. If the killers have nothing to do with government, they stand to be tracked down resolutely with the flailing of the international press. If the killers have to do with government, the government stands to be reviled passionately with the driving of the international press.

The confinement of the murders to the countryside is surprisingly true as well for the activists. Though a few activists have been murdered in the fringes of Metro Manila, most have been felled well outside of it. The people of the Bayan Muna party-list group that I’ve talked to at least have told me they still felt relatively safe -- such as any dissenter can still feel safe in the Philippines -- in Metro Manila. But that was before the recent murder of Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay’s security aide, Pablo Glean. If that is a political killing, and it looks every inch so, it is a scary pass. It ups the ante on the mayhem."

-- The proliferation of gambling and casinos was one of the issues why erap was booted out. Pero bakit tahimik na lang ang mga usual suspects at moralists ngayong mas malala pa ang proliferation ng gambling under the arroyo admin?

The US Congress has approved legislation imposing severe restrictions on on-line or Internet gambling. For such broadminded and permissive Congress to pass this legislation is a recognition of the evil effects of on-line gambling on the general population, especially the youth.

For a conservative Catholic country like the Philippines, the GMA policy of allowing and opening up all forms of gambling to the public is certainly deplorable. It further impoverishes a great majority of the population.

I do believe that outside of Las Vegas, we now have more casinos and gambling parlors than any other country in this whole wide world.

If only for this reason, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and Muslim Ulamas must unite to demand a reversal of GMA’s open country policy on gambling.

Nah, the bishops like their PAGCOR (and jueteng?) money too much to protest.

Get rid of COMELEC crooks, Nene Pimentel dares Melo

Good luck with that. If he won't even acknowledge that the Garci-led operation to rig the elections is real, like some of the COMELEC people we know, and that Garci couldn't do this all by himself without the help of other officials within the COMELEC, then Nene is just whisling in the dark.

If Melo decides to sack a few COMELEC officials for show, it'll probably be for the botched MEGA Pacific automated deal.

But no COMELEC official will be punished or be made to tell the truth on the Garci operations in 2004.

MORE: They shouldn't only remove crooked COMELEC officials, but PARTISAN ones too. Remember, these are the same COMELEC that allowed Mike Arroyo's nuisance candidate to fight for Cayetano's votes.

Here's what i thought of the 75 yr old Melo's appointment.

Money Quote from the Daily Tribune:

There have been changes in the Comelec leadership in the past seven years of Gloria’s reign. The same praises were given to these then new appointees, but were there any changes by way of cleaning up the poll fraud operations that mark every election year, not to mention a genuine cleaning up of the voters’ list?

The usual civil society groups hailed the appointment of Benipayo as Comelec chairman, just as they did in the appointments of Justice Felix Brawner, Rene Sarmiento and Nicodemo Ferrer. Did anything change? There certainly was cheating even with them there.

The year 2004 was certainly marked by electoral fraud, but the then Comelec didn’t put its foot down, and even aided in creating the impression that Gloria had won even before the National Board of Canvass started its canvassing.

And did the Comelec commissioners clean up the voters’ list, or even ensured that the voters would not be disenfranchised by scrambling the voters’ list in opposition bailiwicks?

Of course, it can always be argued that at the head of the Comelec was Benjamin Abalos Sr., but whatever else can be said about the disgraced Abalos, the fact remains that a chairman merely has one vote and can certainly be overruled that which the chairman of the commission presses, by way of a ruling. There never was any move to do that, given the concurrence in many a resolution by the other commissioners.

Even the 2007 senatorial elections were marred with electoral fraud, and again, the commissioners did nothing to stave off the cheating. They had, in fact, sanctioned the cheating, which was as clear as day.

So did they constitute changes in the poll body?

Read the whole thing. There's more background info on Melo. And Yeah, there was cheating even after Garci, and little was done about it, other than a few slaps on the wrists.

Related:
- COMELEC declares Musa Dimasidsing a failure
- Mama Mary vs Musa
- How COMELEC tried to screw Alan Cayetano.
- COMELEC tries to sneak past a bloated voters list
- Garcillano the Master Operator

How can Melo guarantee clean elections in 2010 if...

He refuses to tackle the biggest stain on the COMELEC?

Not an encouraging start for 75 year old Jose Melo.

Melo said his stint in the Comelec will be all about the success of the 2010 elections.

He batted for the computerization of the 2010 elections but "if not, we should at least have peaceful, credible and honest elections."

Melo said he believes the Comelec would regain the people’s trust in the light of its involvement in the "Hello Garci" scandal, the anomalous purchase of the automated machines and the electoral fraud in Maguindanao in 2007.

"The Comelec has good people. Leadership counts a lot. I just hope to be an example for them to follow," he said.

He said he would adopt a hands-off stand on the re-opening the "Hello Garci" case.

"Personally, I don’t think the Comelec should be handling this matter. It also cannot be given to Congress because it could be politicized. Rather, there should be an independent commission that will handle it that will be given the proper funding and proper power to call witnesses," he said.

How can one talk about reforms and bringing credibility back to the institution if the man who is tasked to restore order in the COMELEC would rather put his head in the sand? If somebody is appointed to fix COMELEC's credibility and corruption problem, I expect that person to ruthlessly go after the cheaters and the dagdag bawas operators.

In ordinary times, when an institution is corrupted and used by the power holders to steal elections, you remove the source of the corrupting influence (Arroyo) and you replace the head of the COMELEC with somebody who is going to get tough in going after the corrupt operators at the COMELEC. The fact that mr. Melo refuses to do it is BS.

But these are not ordinary times. Because Arroyo is still in power. And Melo is not that person to clean up the COMELEC.

I guess it's business as usual, and the cheaters will not be punished.

Oras na ba para I-computerize ng botohan?

Ito ang mga comments na nabasa ko sa blog ni Manuel.

Sabi ni Jon Mariano, about computerizing our voting system:

It’s really time for computerization. If we try to simplify things, we can see that without computerization the voting is rigged. With computerization, the voting might be rigged. Might as well computerize it so that even if the results are rigged we have the results faster! Then we can work on making the computerized system “un-riggable”.

I'm probably the only person who is not advocating for the computerization of our voting system until we do a thorough housecleaning within the COMELEC.

I have to disagree with Jon on this. Kapag computerized ang botohan, mas mabilis nga ang bilangan--pero mas mabilis rin ito dayain.

Kaya nga some people like Glenn Reynolds are advocating paper ballots para sa US elections dahil mas mahirap ito dayain at mas mabilis mahuli ang pandaraya.

A paper ballot encodes lots of useful information besides the obvious. Not only is the information about the vote contained in the form, but also information about the voter. Different colors of ink, different styles of handwriting, etc., make each ballot different. Erasing the original votes is likely to leave a detectable residue. Creating all new ballots with fraudulent votes requires substantial variation among them or the fakery is much more obvious; thats hard work. And destroying the original ballots in order to replace them with fraudulent ones isnt that easy theres a lot of paper to be disposed of, and shredding it, or burning it, or hiding it is comparatively easy to detect. (Protecting the ballots before counting doesnt require fancy encryption, either: just a steel box with a lock, a slot on the top, and a seal.) Whats more, because people are familiar with paper documents, fraud is easy to understand when it occurs. Paper ballots are both robust (resistant to fraud) and transparent (easy to understand). Compare this sophisticated voting technology to that of voting machines. A voting machine captures only the information regarding the vote. Once it has done so, one vote looks like another. Theres no handwriting, no style, no ink, just a simple notation of which candidate was favored. Most voting machines store votes electronically, meaning that if theyre changed, theres no troubling paper residue for fraud-perpetrators to dispose of. And because voting machines are complicated - and because their actual workings are unseen, and often kept secret its much harder for voters, members of the press, and others to identify or understand fraud. Electronic ballots, in other words, are neither robust nor transparent. The fact is, if you could come up with a new technology as simple and resistant to fraud as the paper ballot, people would be pretty impressed.

Kapag computerized ang election, MAHIRAP mahuli ang dayaan. Almost undetectable. Posibleng dayain ka ng admin, pero hindi mo sya mapapansin, dahil "mabilis ang bilangan", at "walang ebidensiya" na may fraud.

Tignan nyo yung mga reports ng media at watchdog groups re fraud. Mas mabilis mahuli ang dayaan sa Mindanao di ba? dahil mas mabilis ma-recognize ang manual na "dagdag bawas". Most people know it when they see it.

Eh kung "computerized" yan, mahuli kaya ni ricky carandang ang dayaan sa botohan? Mabilis bang ma-detect ng mga outside computer experts at watchdog groups ang electronic "dagdag bawas" ng COMELEC if they have no (or limited) access to the COMELEC computers?

Problema kasi, walang naparusahan o nakulong nga garci operators nung 2004 eh. Kaya bumabalik ulit ang mga magnanakaw ng boto sa COMELEC.

So Jon, the difference between a "rigged" computerized system and a "rigged" manual system (both under a partisan COMELEC) is that it is easier to catch cheating under the manual system. At mas matrabaho and dagdag bawas sa manual.

re how to make the computerized system "un-riggable"? First step is to remove all the crooks inside the COMELEC. Without that first step, walang kwenta ang automated system na ito.

I'm sure the DJB, who's a physicist, will disagree with me on the voting machines issue.

UPDATE: PDI Editorial: "Who would not welcome poll computerization, unless he or she has a secret agenda for 2010?"

Teddy Boy Locsin is a Tool

Jessica Zafra interviews Teodoro Locsin Jr. on the Automated voting system:

Why is there so much resistance to election automation?

It began in Congress, which passed the law with only one dissenting vote. Then the guys who delivered one million vote majorities to GMA in the House started opposing it. Which makes me suspect they don’t control one million votes.

Funny, I thought your committee report on Hello Garci whitewashed the whole thing.

Five House committees that heard the "Hello Garci" wiretapping controversy have adopted a final report, practically clearing former commissioner Virgilio Garcillano of the alleged rigging of the 2004 elections.

But while the report mentioned an opposition conspiracy to unseat President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, it also briefly questioned the administration's attempt to cover up the scandal.

"Malaca�ang was clearly at an utter loss to explain the tapes and, on at least one occasion, attempted a cover-up," said the report, which pointed to inconsistencies in presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye's statements.

Bunye had said there were two compact discs -- one version spliced and the other original -- that contained conversations between Arroyo and "Gary", initially said to be a political officer of the Lakas party.

In sum, the report said: "A conspiracy clearly existed to topple the President by embarrassing her with the so-called Garci tapes, but on the other hand, the administration could not and would not confront the tapes, and contributed nothing towards arriving at the truth about them, but on the contrary attempted a cover-up."

So, did the 1 million vote padding happen, or did it not? Here's a list of names who authored the report:

The committees behind the report are: public information, under Rep. Emmylou Talio-Santos of North Cotabato; suffrage and electoral reforms, chaired by Representative Teodoro Locsin Jr. of Makati City; public order and safety, under Rep. Amado Espino of Pangasinan; national defense and security, under Rep. Jose Solis of Sorsogon; and information and communications technology, under Rep. Simeon Kintanar of Cebu.

Come back, Mercy!

I forgot to post this kahapon.

-- Maaga pa lang, abusado na ang OIC mayor ng Pasay na si Allan Panaligan.

-- Ebidensya sa areglo inilantad ni 'Nicole'

Ibinigay kahapon ng 23-anyos na Subic rape victim na si ‘Nicole’ kay Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez ang kanilang mga ebidensiya na nagpapatunay na hinikayat ni Department of Justice (DOJ) State Prosecutor Emilie Fe delos Santos ang kanyang pamilya na makipag-areglo sa 4 na US Marines na inakusahan nitong nanggahasa sa kanya.

Kabilang dito ang mga affidavit ng kanyang nakakatandang kapatid na si Ricsan at inang si Aling Susan, kasama ang kanyang liham.

Nabatid sa affidavit ni Aling Susan na dakong alas-singko ng hapon noong Hulyo 14, 2006, kasama niya ang kanyang anak na si Ricsan ng magkita sila ni Delos Santos na kasama naman ang kanyang asawa sa Coffee Bean and Tea Loft sa Olongapo City.

Sinabi umano ni Delos Santos na kung ano ang gusto at nais nilang hilingin ay isulat lamang. Puwede umano kung nanaisin ni ‘Nicole’ na mag-permanent status sa US habang si Aling Susan ay maaring mabigyan ng multiple entry visa.

Hinikayat din umano sila ni Delos Santos na sabihin lamang kung magkano ang salaping kakailanganin sa planong pag-migrate sa US.

More here: Prosecutor offered US migration to settle case — Nicole’s mom

The mother of “Nicole” has reiterated her claim that the government prosecutor handling the Subic rape case had tried to broker a deal for “a new life in America” for her daughter and family in exchange for amicably settling the case.

In a two-page sworn statement for Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, Nicole’s mother yesterday said senior state prosecutor Emilie Fe delos Santos invited her to a meeting at a coffee shop in Makati City last July 17 at 5 p. m. to discuss the proposed settlement.

-- PCIJ: Salonga on Ombudsman ruling: ‘Obscene attempt to cover up the truth’

Ricky Carandang of ABSCBN News notes the existence of a "cognitive dissonance" between the finding of the Supreme Court that the Law was broken by a "glaring grave abuse of discretion by Comelec" and the subsequent finding of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez that there was no Lawbreaker.

Indeed.

How can a Law have been broken, yet there is no Law Breaker to be arrested or investigated?

How can a Crime have been committed, yet there is no criminal to be prosecuted?

Eto pa from DJB: COMELEC: The Ombudmamasan's Legalized Whorehouse

-- Dean Jorge Bocobo on Mercy's decision: A Crime With No Criminals--Making a Jackass of the Supreme Court

-- Inquirer Editorial: "THE Ombudsman’s decision to absolve everyone involved in the anomalous Mega Pacific contract is a terrible blow against the rule of law. It not only insults our intelligence, it not only offends basic decency, it mocks the very justice it seeks to serve.

The decision of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez -- and it is all hers, despite the transparent attempt to let her deputies own it, while she is conveniently out of the country -- brings us to a new low in cynicism; it asks us to believe, against all evidence and experience, in a crime without criminals, an evil deed without evildoers."

-- Amado Macasaet: Pagtatakip ng ombudsman

-- Ellen Tordesillas: Sa pagsisirko ni Gutierrez, nahubaran siya

-- Where's Merceditas Gutierrez? Ask Dennis Villa-Ignacio.

There is something that chief state prosecutor Dennis Villa-Ignacio apparently knows more of than what Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita does: the where-abouts of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.

Villa-Ignacio, during a press briefing, yesterday said Gutierrez had “committed to represent herself in an international con-ference” and “at the time she left, the resolution had been made,” referring to the Ombudsman’s ruling handed down last Monday that cleared all officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) of any accountability in an allegedly graft-ridden P1.3-billion contract that the poll body had entered into with the Mega Pacific consortium for the purchase of automated counting machines (ACMs).

He did not say where the conference is being held.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, for his part, earlier said Gutierrez is on an “official trip” to Switzerland but for what purpose he did not say, except that he was certain such trip has nothing to do with the ACM deal.

The Ombudsman “disappeared” a day before her decision to exonerate Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. and the poll commissioners was made public.

Come back Mercy! Don't worry, may tagapagtanggol ka sa mga administration solons.

-- Amando Doronila on the Arroyos' recent tactics to silence their press critics:

THE shot-gun blast fired by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s husband, First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, at the Philippine press when he laid criminal libel charges against 43 journalists at all levels of the media hierarchy -- from publishers, editors, columnists to reporters -- escalates the grudge warfare she has been waging against the press.

Mind you, the charges did not come directly from the President, but it makes things even more pernicious that the action was mounted by a person, who is personally close to her and who does not hold an executive or elective position, in what is beyond doubt an act of harassment of the members of the press.

As pointed out by Christopher Warren, president of the International Federation of Journalists, the carpet-bombing cases were not only “outrageous,” but were “deeply concerning that the husband of the President, a man of considerable influence and power, can try and hinder free speech by suing journalists to submission.”

Read the whole thing.

-- More anomalies in People's Initiative petition exposed

-- Erap to sue Atienza over video ban

Atienza banned the showing on the ground that the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board has rated it "triple X," which means the video was unfit for public viewing.
.....

Rodriguez said "Atienza’s capricious and malicious order also runs counter to the wisdom behind the creation of freedom parks under B.P 880 to guarantee a venue for the free expression of political dissent."

-- Rudy Romero: "There are different kinds of silence. There, for one, is prayerful silence, as when a person observes silence in order to be able to concentrate on the prayers he or she is saying. Then there is obligatory silence, which is what comes into being when a person received is expected to be silent. There is also deafening silence, which is the awkward situation that materializes when a person is not heard from at all when he should be.

Yet another kind of silence is the kind that is being observed these days by House of Representatives chief Jose de Venecia Jr., this country’s leading propagandist for the parliamentary system of government. The kind I am referring to is embarrassing silence. Jose de Venecia is embarrassingly silent about what has been happening in Thailand, in particular the unparliamentary ouster of the Prime Minister of the country that Speaker Joe holds up as paragon of parliamentary government. It is as though JdV has never heard of Thaksin Shinawatra."

Hao Siao!

Another bullshit lutong makaw whitewash decision from Arroyo's Ombudsman.

From Dean Jorge Bocobo: Ombudsman Junks Supreme Court Decision

ABSCBN 10:00 News reports that Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez has cleared Chairman Ben Abalos and the rest of the Commission on Elections of all liability in the matter addressed by the following January, 2004 Supreme Court Decision, which she has in effect JUNKED (along with their own previous Resolution):

.....
From the sounds of the Ombudsman's 52 page decision, she's now lawyering for the very people the Supreme Court condemned in the above -- by repeating the very arguments rejected by the Court in its original decision. How can it be that the Supreme Court has voided a contract for the nation's automated elections system, charging the Comelec with grave abuse of discretion and other crimes and misdemeanors, and yet the Ombudsman declines to prosecute any of the principal accused?

All I can say is...We must withdraw consent to be so misgoverned, or bear our chains in abashed silence!

Yes, tarantadong desisyon ito.

OTOH, the US government, Arroyo's benefactor, seems to like what it sees in Arroyo's Ombudsman that it even provided millions of dollars in financial aid (thru the MCA) just recently to help Arroyo "fight corruption" daw.

Merceditas gutierrez going after the corrupt big fish within the administration? What a laugh.

You might as well give that money to Raul Gonzalez's DOJ, Ms Kenney and pray to god it doesn't get "Bolante'd" in their anti-opposition este... anti-corruption campaign.

More here: Merceditas Gutierrez a Big Joke

"When in doubt, go paper, go low-tech."

Election Technology update in Maryland:

A week after the primary election was plagued by human error and technical glitches, Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) called yesterday for the state to scrap its $106 million electronic voting apparatus and revert to a paper ballot system for the November election.

"When in doubt, go paper, go low-tech," he said.

Related: How to steal an election using an automated voting machine

Now, I'm not against using computers to make the counting faster, pero dapat magkaroon muna ng housecleaning at tanggalin ang mga COMELEC dagdag bawas operators (at mga officials na tumulong sa pag-coverup ng operations nila).

Kasi MAS MABILIS dayain ang election, at MAS MAHIRAP mahuli kapag computerized ang botohan at gusto ng admin dayain ito (dahil may COMELEC insiders sila with unsupervised access to the system).

Sa pagkakaalam ko, wala ni isang dagdag bawas operator sa COMELEC or Military noong 2004 ang naparusahan o nakulong. Pati si Garci lusot. Kung hindi lumabas ang GLORIAGATE tapes, malamang Commissioner Garcillano pa rin ang tawag natin sa kanya.

How other countries steal elections (and get away with it)

From Dean's World:

Why Hugo Chavez Must Be Kept Away From U.S. Voting Machines
Dave Price

In an earlier post, Dean mentioned a Venezuelan company linked to Chavez has purchased a U.S. election machine company. This is far more important than most people realize.

MIT mathematicians using Benford's law have essentially proven Chavez stole the last election, in which Chavez faced recall. They calculated that the odds of the voter tabulations given happening without tampering were about 100:1.

Benford's Law is basically a way of looking at the number of things in lists. It's a statistical law that says in a random sample of tabulations, a certain percentage should begin with the number 1, a certain percentage with 2, etc. The Venezuelan election tallies were way out of line with what the law predicts.

Doug Schoen, from Bill Clinton's polling firm, was pretty blunt:

Schoen has little doubt what happened. “I think it was a massive fraud,” he told me. “Our internal sourcing tells us that there was fraud in the central commission.” This was not the first time he has encountered such things. “The same thing happened in Serbia in 1992, by [President Slobodan] Milosevic. He did it again in the local elections in 1996. As a result, hundreds of thousands of people died. Had he been caught [in this fraud] in 1992, this would not have happened.”

How could this happen, when the Carter Center monitored the elections? Well, the answer is in the software. The Carter Center auditors caved into demands by Chavez' people to use their own random number generator to select which voting centers would be monitored rather than the Carter Center's; one can guess the selection probably wasn't actually very random. And the voting machines themselves allowed two-way communication, meaning their totals could be altered from the central computer. This could have been caught by monitors at those machines, but if Chavez' people knew which ones were monitored, they could easily have simply avoided tampering with those particular machines. No fraud was detected at the time, and so the elections were given the Carter Center's stamp of approval. It was only some time later that statistical analysis showed it was extremely unlikely that the election tallies were accurate.

Think about that: not only was the election stolen, it was certified. That's quite an accomplishment, when you consider it. Despots like Saddam Hussein might have won 99.9% of the vote, but none ever managed to win the veneer of legitimacy that Chavez has acquired.

Arroyo is like Hugo Chavez, only without the masa support and the oil revenues.

he adds:

Dean's right. Having this subtle, effective tyrant anywhere near our voting machines is a serious threat to American democracy. We shouldn't take this lightly.

The whole point of electronics and software is to manipulate information. That makes them great tools for lots of applications, but assuring election integrity is not one of them. If you value your democratic rights, demand your election officials use paper ballots that can be manually recounted and whose physical integrity and chain of custody can be confirmed.

Again, I really can't emphasize enough how important this could be. As a software developer, I can tell you there are a million ways to sabotage something like this; very bad things happen merely by accident all the time. Trust me when I tell you that you wouldn't want an absolutely honest programmer anywhere near your election results, let alone ones who may already be complicit in one stolen election.

Whether it's automated or manual voting, I have no confidence in Arroyo's COMELEC to do the counting.

Here's my plan to solve the cheating problem sa presidential elections

Paghiwalayin ang Prez-VP elections sa ibang national at local elections by about two to three weeks.

Meaning, mauna ang election for President at VP, and after the votes are cast, I'm pretty sure within 2-3 days to one week, tapos na ang bilangan at malalaman na natin kung sino ang Presidente at VP.

Then three weeks later, hold elections for the rest (Senator, Congressman, Governor, Mayor, etc.)

Mas maganda sana kung may automated counting machines tayo, pero walang kwenta rin since yung Arroyo admin at ang COMELEC nito ang magsu-supervise ng elections natin.

So in this case, I'd much prefer manual voting for now until Arroyo is ousted and we reformed the COMELEC.