Retired general Eliseo Rio and colonel Leonardo Odoño are upset. Comelec handed them not the transmission logs but the reception logs of Election 2022 results.
“Deception!” they decried the act. Reception logs are records of what Comelec’s Transparency Server received then broadcast last May 9, 2022. Transmission logs are records of what 106,174 precincts’ vote counting machines individually sent to the TS.
Transmission and reception logs should match, said Rio, 78, and Odoño, 80. But they suspect that results were fabricated to project 20 million-plus votes within one hour from 7 p.m. precinct close. A winning trend was concocted for president and VP to condition the public mind.
Rio is one of the Truth & Transparency Trio with ex-commissioner Gus Lagman and Finance Executives Institute ex-president Franklin Ysaac. They petitioned the Supreme Court in November to compel Comelec and telcos Smart, Globe and Dito to release the transmission logs. Told by SC early March to reply within five days, Comelec sought one-month extension till Apr. 2.
On Wednesday, March 29, Odoño (PMA ’64) wrote Comelec Chairman George Garcia:
“Subject: Deception of the Filipino People by Comelec in the Matter of Transmission Logs.
“Mr. Chairman, you announced that Comelec will release the transmission logs we have been waiting for more than 200 days. That to my mind was an attempt to temper growing public impatience with Comelec’s withholding of proof of transmission of the questionable 20 million votes. I had the impression you were dissuading me from going on with my impeachment initiative against you and four commissioners by removing a possible impeachment ground.
“Replying to my March 10, 2023 final demand that Comelec provide the transmission logs in seven days, you on March 20 asked me to come to your office on March 23 and pick up the ‘transmission logs’.
“On March 23 Gen. Rio and I received in good faith the ‘transmission logs’. That night Gen. Rio started analyzing them. Only for him to find out yesterday, March 27, they were not transmission logs. They were reception logs put out by the Transparency Server, which supposedly received votes transmitted by precinct VCMs countrywide.
“We were expecting transmission data that were the basis of the ‘Accumulated VCM Transmissions’ graph that Comelec showed the public in an Oct. 18 forum. That graph showed that VCM transmissions peaked at the second hour after transmissions started. The Comelec spokesperson confirmed that ‘Second Hour Peak of VCM Transmissions’.
“Mr. Chairman, didn’t you deceive Gen. Rio, me and the public into believing that we were to get transmission logs last March 23, not anything else? If you did, and I believe you did, why?
“Please explain:
“(1) The graph you presented at the Ateneo University forum Oct. 18, from official Central Server results, showed that vote counts reached 12 million in the first hour then peaked in the second hour. The graph of your ’transmission logs’ received and put out by the unofficial TS quick results showed a peak of 20 million votes in the first hour.
“Saan po nanggaling ang eight-million vote difference? Hindi po kaya pre-loaded ‘yon? The two sets of data came from Comelec.
“(2) The reception logs showed the TS started to receive at 7:08 p.m. May 9. How could that have happened when printing eight copies of Election Returns and other administrative tasks that had to be completed before VCM transmissions took 30 minutes?
Katuwiran ng Comelec na pwede mabilang at ma-transmit sa TS ang 20 million votes in one hour kasi ‘yong ibang presinto raw nag-close ng voting before 7 p.m. ‘Di ba bawal ‘yon under our election law na kayo mismo ang nagpapatupad?
“Could these have resulted from software programming flaws as revealed by Namfrel, or mere typo errors as Comelec wanted us to believe? Why did Comelec ignore Namfrel’s warnings of cheating?
“We and the public demand to know if servers’ reception logs tally with VCM transmissions logs. The people hope Comelec comes clean.”
* * *
Excerpts from Rio, former secretary of Information-Communication Technology and AFP deputy for Research and Development:
“What we’ve been asking for since July 2022 are transmission logs – data transmitted by VCMs to the Transparency Server. What Comelec gave March 23 are reception logs, data the TS received from VCMs. We are precisely questioning these data received by the TS because of the unbelievable 20 million-plus votes at 8:02 p.m. May 9, just an hour after voting closed. And in that first hour, Comelec required that teacher-members of precinct electoral boards to first accomplish nine major tasks. Longest of those was to print eight copies of the precinct Election Returns before any VCM transmission.
“Comelec has the transmission logs. Those were the basis of the graph ‘Accumulated VCM Transmissions’ that Chairman Garcia presented Oct. 18. That graph showed that VCM transmissions peaked at the second hour after transmissions began, in stark contrast to the TS count that peaked at the first hour.”
* * *
Excerpts, Manifesto of Support, Philippine Military Academy graduates:
“We stand in solidarity with Cavalier Leonardo O. Odoño, a distinguished member of PMA Class 1964, in his quest for truth in alleged Election 2022 irregularities. We support his filing Articles of Impeachment in Congress against the Comelec chairman and four commissioners, and criminal/administrative cases before the Ombudsman against non-constitutional officials.
“Cav. Odoño, a patriot, is exercising his constitutional right of access to information of public concern under the Freedom of Information. We believe it is his duty to do so, and commend his courage and commitment to the truth.
“We urge Comelec to comply with Cav. Odoño’s request for the truth on the supposed 20 million votes. Public officials have responsibility to uphold the principle of transparency in governance, and accountability to the people. Denying Cav. Odoño’s right violates the Constitution, and undermines public trust and confidence in our electoral system.”
* * *
Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8 to 10 a.m., dwIZ (882-AM).
Follow me on Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/Jarius-Bondoc