'Palace, losing presidential bet behind Koala Boy'

MANILA, Philippines - A Palace insider was behind “Koala Boy,” the masked man who surfaced recently to claim involvement in massive cheating in the country’s first automated elections, according to Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr.

Malacañang immediately denied the accusation.

“I know who you are. Do not provoke me to name you, you SOVs – that’s ‘Statement of Votes,’ as Congressman (Roilo) Golez suggested I say,” Locsin declared at the resumption of his committee’s hearing on allegations of election fraud.

In the hearing the previous day, Locsin blew his top and called Smartmatic executives “sons of bitches.”

While Locsin saw Malacañang’s hand in the surfacing of the alleged whistleblower, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said a losing presidential candidate was Koala Boy’s handler. The Comelec also advised losing bets to just file formal complaints with the poll body instead of grandstanding before lawmakers investigating the alleged poll irregularities.

The House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms, which Locsin chairs, is conducting the investigation. Malacañang said the Comelec, not the House, should investigate allegations of fraud.

Reacting to the Palace suggestion, Locsin said, “That is surely rich coming from people who are behind the koala bear gimmick, designed to throw into total discredit the superb leadership of the Comelec, which tried, not always with success, to prevent embedded operators and syndicates from capturing the new electronic election system,” he said.

It was Locsin who first called the unidentified self-proclaimed whistleblower Koala Boy, because his mask gave him the comic appearance of a koala, a marsupial endemic to Australia.

“You should have hired a stylist before floating that marsupial with the big black nose so as to give him the credibility you are telling me he deserves,” Locsin said. “Well, until he removes his fur, I will not credit him with anything but a very good impersonation of a New Zealand creature.”

Locsin defended his committee’s investigating the alleged irregularities.

“We are addressing a real, valid and pressing political concern,” he said, adding that even some winners have raised complaints.

“We are here to plug the loopholes that have appeared in the automated system, such as the inability to perform so rudimentary a function as a bundy clock faithfully and flawlessly recording what happened when,” he said.

Locsin also berated the alleged handler of Koala Boy for not letting the latter testify openly.

“You say he is afraid and wants security. You, who abducted Jun Lozada, should know about security better than anyone else. Give him security and let him speak in the open,” he said.

He was referring to NBN-ZTE whistle-blower Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada, whom some officials allegedly tried to kidnap to prevent him from testifying before the Senate on the multimillion-peso anomaly.

“I will vindicate the automated election system or I will stand condemned with it. These hearings are addressing a real and pressing political need to clear the air before the advent of a new administration so it will not be clouded by the kind of doubt that shadowed the past one,” he said.

There was a rather comic sideshow to yesterday’s hearing when defeated Quezon City mayoralty candidate and outgoing congresswoman Annie Rosa Susano showed Smartmatic representatives two compact flash cards in her possession.

“Where did you get that, ma’am? The procedure is that these backup cards are supposed to be left inside the PCOS (precinct count optical scan) machines that will be delivered back to the warehouse in Cabuyao (Laguna), where they will all be accounted for,” Smartmatic president for Southeast Asia and the Pacific Cesar Flores told Susano.

Susano refused to say how the cards ended up in her possession. “That’s not my problem. That’s your problem,” she said. “You are not from here and you make a mockery of the elections.”

Flores replied: “That’s a breach in the chain of custody. There’s a procedure that needs to be followed in handling these cards. I won’t take that. I cannot touch those cards. She has to tell where she got them, or turn over the cards to officials.”

‘Unsubstantiated, illogical’

Malacañang called Locsin’s claim “unsubstantiated and illogical.”

Deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar said linking the administration to this issue made no sense “considering that its own standard-bearer, former Defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr., has expressed concern about the alleged cheating.”

“Locsin like Teodoro is a Harvard trained lawyer and should know he hasn’t said enough yet for the Palace to respond so we shall await his follow up to his initial statement if and whenever it’s forthcoming,” Olivar said.

Olivar said that Locsin’s outburst last Thursday was understandable since he was the principal author of the automated election system law in the House of Representatives.

“What is important is for all outstanding issues to be impartially and expediently processed so the transfer of power on June 30 can take place on time and unclouded by doubts,” Olivar said.

For losing administration bet Teodoro, the allegations made by the alleged whistleblower should also be looked into.

“The allegation of electoral fraud made by the alleged whistleblower demands no less than a serious investigation as to the veracity of his statements,” Teodoro, who has already conceded defeat, said.

“In the interest, therefore, of transparency which is a standard that we cherish in governance, I request all concerned to take the necessary steps in order to determine the truth of the allegations made by the whistleblower because if proven correct, they seriously affect the integrity of the election,” Teodoro said in a statement.

“I make this statement not in the interest of myself as a presidential candidate but in the interest of the truth in order to reinforce our sacred right of suffrage, which is the cornerstone of our democracy,” Teodoro said.

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines president Nereo Odchimar, for his part, said the elections might not be perfect “but I would just recommend to those who are having these objections, allegations to come out and back their accusation with solid proof.”

File complaints

The Comelec, meanwhile, has appealed to losing candidates to let the poll body act on their complaints.

“Every complaint will be answered. But I hope there could be minimized grandstanding and maximum emphasis on facts, completeness and accuracy,” Jimenez said.

“A lot of the noise that has been created now is being created by those who lost. Not to say that they are sour graping, but really because they are overwhelmed by their emotions, they are not thinking too clearly. They are causing a whole lot of problems,” Jimenez said.

“When you have invested as much as they have in an exercise like this, it is only fair that they will exert all effort to vindicate themselves and we do not begrudge them that,” Jimenez said.

Some of the losing candidates who showed up the House hearing were Antipolo mayoral candidate Angelito Gatlabayan, Manila mayoralty candidate Lito Atienza, and re-electionist South Cotabato Vice Gov. Manny Piñol.

PNP probe

The Philippine National Police (PNP), for its part, said it is ready to investigate the discovery of more than 60 PCOS machines in the house of a Smartmatic technician in Antipolo City but is awaiting a go-signal from the Comelec.

“If we have a directive from the Comelec we will comply,” said PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina.

Earlier, Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said an investigation should cover the unauthorized disassembling of some PCOS machines by losing presidential bets Jamby Madrigal and Nicanor Perlas last week. The two forced open the machines purportedly to check if they had been used for fraud.

“The probe will include all individuals involved. If it happens to be those you see on TV, then so be it,” Larrazabal said in a press briefing.

The Smartmatic personnel explained that he decided to keep the machines in his house for safekeeping after the local Comelec office refused to take custody of them after the elections. The Comelec has since cleared the Smartmatic employee of wrongdoing.

The discovery of the machines had sparked tension between the supporters of Antipolo mayoralty candidates Nilo Leyble and Gatlabayan. With Marvin Sy, Helen Flores, Christina Mendez, Jaime Laude, Cecille Suerte Felipe, and Evelyn Macairan