As most have suspected there was more than meets the eye with the removal of Chief Justice Renato Corona from the Supreme Court. It was the first step. But with an agenda to fulfill the Aquino government will brook no opposition. Not surprisingly just days after the Corona conviction the President announced his support for the ignominious Smartmatic PCOS machines for 2013. This is step no. 2.
Of what use are elections if government candidates are not sure to win? The story went around that when some senators hesitated to follow instructions to convict Corona, they were told “don’t worry about the INC, we have the PCOS.” With the President putting his name behind Smartmatic’s PCOS, one wonders if he knows the background of the firm.
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Maybe it will be helpful if the President could be informed what Smartmatic did in Mexico. This can be googled in the Internet but I have excerpted parts of the information given in Alec Boyd’s blog.
“In spite of having won contracts worth millions of dollars in different countries, Smartmatic seems incapable of shaking allegations that mar its reputation. And the reason is quite simple: the more business it gains, the greater the lack of transparency. Take for instance what has recently happened in Mexico, where the government is planning to gather biometric data to produce ID cards. A tender was organized by the Mexican government and the following companies submitted bids: LATIN ID S.A. de C.V., MAINBIT S.A. de C.V.; SOLTIC S.A. de C.V.; and, the grand sounding, Smartmatic International Holding, B.V.
Smartmatic won the tender to provide such technology, despite having submitted the highest bid. Smartmatic mislead Mexican authorities, by presenting itself as a Dutch company. I happen to have dug the records of Smartmatic in the Netherlands some years ago, their activities are described as “to purchase, develop and manage property and goods.” There’s nothing about provision of biometric devices in there. As a matter of fact, Smartmatic has no track record of having been directly contracted to provide such technology anywhere in the world. In Bolivia, a province of Hugo Chavez, Smartmatic managed to get subcontracted by a company from Argentina, another province of Hugo Chavez, called NEC Argentina, to gather biometric data destined for the electoral roll. But even that process has been marred with irregularities. The Bolivian press reports that Smartmatic’s initial offering was rejected due to its participation in fraudulent elections in Venezuela.
But Smartmatic irregularities do not end there. Company records show that, just weeks before Smartmatic won its first contract in Venezuela, Antonio Mugica and the late Alfredo Anzola (Smartmatic and Bizta principals), took Bs.300 million ($187,000) from a subsidiary of a Venezuelan government entity called FONCREI. It is this information which would probably have caused the decision by Smartmatic of ‘selling’ Sequoia Voting Systems to avoid a proper investigation from CFIUS into its ownership structure. To this day, Smartmatic is to present credible evidence of having repurchased the stock acquired by the Venezuelan government.
Then there’s is the issue in the Philippines, where, yet again, Smartmatic misrepresented itself in order to win an electoral contract. In addition, it was revealed that Smartmatic technicians remotely accessed servers during a regional election in Mindanao.
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With Corona out of the way and the other justices intimidated by the government, the Supreme Court, in an 11-3 vote last week declared the Comelec’s renewal of the contract with Smartmatic-TIM valid. This paves the way for the 82,000 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines to be used in next year’s national elections.
Chairman Sixto Brillantes claims that most of the “glitches” have been resolved but offers no proof from a competent and neutral body to show this has been done.
Among the problems is the failure to detect fake ballots. This option was disabled in the Smartmatic PCOS because of the high rejection rate of good ballots fed into the machines. With the ruling, the court threw out the petitions filed against the contract by the AES Watch, the Solidarity for Sovereignty (S4S), and the group led by Davao City Archbishop Fernando Capalla.
This is a recipe for trouble.
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The most interesting discovery about PCOS was made in Cotabato. Former Governor Manny Pinol says “republica de colombia” ballots came out of a cf card in Damalasak, Pikit when it was decrypted.”
“After consulting with my lawyers, I have decided to continue the fight. We will file the Motion for Reconsideration on Monday which I expect will be denied given the mindset of the Comelec commissioners who handled my protest.
“Our ultimate objective is to bring this matter to the Supreme Court and get the high court’s position on a very critical issue: in the case of computerized elections, what are the legal basis and parameters in determining whether there is enough ground to entertain a protest?”
He adds that compelling proof of irregularities in the North Cotabato elections came from the PCOS s-logs and audit logs themselves.
“These were obviously pre-filled ballots stuffed into the PCOS within 14 seconds of each other, after 5 p.m. of May 10, on May 11 and even May 12.”
I was initially elated when the revision committee came out with the observations of computer irregularities in the North Cotabato polls because I thought these proofs of computer irregularities would be used in determining whether there was fraud. This was precisely the reason why in the first hearing of the Senate committee on electoral reforms and suffrage, the title of my presentation was: “The computer will never lie.” (CNP: Oh dear!)
He remained silent when the PCOS machine purchase case was being heard in the Supreme Court because it might affect his protest. “But with the SC decision I am offering all the proofs and witnesses I have to prove that the PCOS machines are corruptible and unreliable,” he said.
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I celebrated Philippine Independence Day by attending Travelife Magazine’s “Ang Bagong Harana (The new love songs).”
I sat among diplomats who applauded lustily. I asked them if it mattered that they did not understand because the songs were in Pilipino. Ambassador Mayorga of Chile said “but it was about beautiful music and that is understood by everybody.” How right he was. This is the culture we have not been promoting enough — our music. (CNP: Not Lady Gaga’s).
Christine Cunanan, publisher of Travelife, told me there are so few opportunities to experience top-caliber performances of traditional Philippine culture.