Tatad considers move to nullify poll certificates of canvass because the “The Comelec, in its own admission, questioned
questioned the hasty delivery of
results
PMP BARES PROOF OF
MASSIVE FRAUD
05/16/2010
The camp of former President Joseph electronic poll fraud.
“Erap” Estrada showed documents
yesterday which it will use to
support allegations of massive
electronic fraud in the country’s first issued a statement Friday urging the
automated elections held last May 10 poll body to stop destroying the
some showing pre-programmed
votes that are dated way ahead of
election day.
At a press briefing held at Estrada’s
Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP)
headquarters in Mandaluyong, party
campaign manager Ernesto Maceda
presented photo copies of election
returns signed by members of the
Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs),
but were dated before the May 10
polls.
Maceda said the documents,
furnished to him by former Manila
Mayor Lito Atienza, showed election
returns in Manila dated not May 10
but April 28, May 4 and May 9, to
support allegations of poll pre-
programming.
PMP senatorial candidate Francisco
Tatad added the May 10 elections
involved a scam so enormous it
could make the “Hello Garci”
scandal of 2004 a mere child’s play
as it involved electronically pre-
programmed results, prompting him
to call on all the candidates, winners
and losers, to join him and file a
petition for a constitutional action
with the possibility of seeking the
nullification of the election results.
“I am calling on all losing and
winning candidates to join me for the
possibility of filing a petition for
constitutional action for the a
possibility of nullifying the election
results,” said Tatad citing a
precedent in Germany wherein the
German High Court declared
unconstitutional the E-votes cast.
Tatad said that he would file an
impeachment case against Comelec
for the deliberate actions done to
prevent voters from acquiring
valuable information with respect to
their votes.
Maceda also claimed receiving
reports of anomalies from various
provinces.He said in Compostela
town in Cebu, the tally in the
Certificates of Canvass did not
match 34 election returns.
“The integrity of the PCOS
machines have been compromised difference of 200 votes was
because it has produced falsified
electronic documents such as: the
tally of the ERs did not match with “And this is probably the reason why candidate. I feel that my rights as a
the COCs, and there were
incomplete print logs,” Maceda
said, quoting Compostela mayoral
candidate Ritchie Wagas. Maceda
noted that the first falsified
electronic documents were
discovered in Compostela, Cebu,
wherein he said the election returns
in several precincts did not match the on Elections (Comelec) had not done
flashcards were tampered. said that 195 clustered precincts,
covering 150,000 voters, had faulty
Malacañang, meanwhile, said it will transmissions involving faulty flash
be the Commission on Elections’
(Comelec) discretion on what to do
cards,” said Maceda. “And while it
had done practically nothing to
with the controversies hounding the resolve the issue, Comelec chairman
agency related to the alleged Jose Melo was quick to on TV and
announce the results as if he was the
one mandated by law to proclaim the
The Center for People Empower-
ment in Governance (Cenpeg) also winners,” he said.
Maceda also expressed alarm over
reports that the Comelec had
defective compact flash cards as started destroying flashcards from
these were deemed valuable in certain areas. “If the Comelec so
assessing the recent poll exercises. much as attempts to destroy the
flashcards, which will be the key to
Deputy Presidential Spokesman
Gary Olivar said thee Palace is determining these anomalies, they
would be the principal suspect in this
deferring to the poll body’s
discretion in answering all questions massive electoral fraud,” Maceda
said.
being hurled to its officials by the
agency concerned. Olivar, however,
said insofar as Malacañang is Maceda stressed the importance of
concerned, it was satisfied with how the random manual counts now that
Comelec officials handled the recent these reports of discrepancies in
poll automation. results are surfacing.
Maceda said that even Cebu “The slow pace in the delivery of the
Governor Gwen Garcia who was results of the random manual counts
expecting a winning margin of not is highly suspicious. It is almost as if
less than half-a-million votes but they are hiding something,” Maceda
managed to win by only around said.
60,000 votes over her rival, has Tatad questioned, among others the
declared the election results to be disabling of the built-in ultra-violet
unbelievable.
detection capability of the PCOS
In Davao City, Speaker Prospero which was meant to prevent the use
Nograles, who ran for the mayoralty of ballots without the proper UV
race, claimed the election was markings; the disabling of a feature
rigged. that allowed the voter to see that the
machine was reading his vote right
In Quezon City, losing mayoralty when the votes are cast and the
candidate, Rep. Annie Rose Susano
Comelec’s general instruction to the
and winning congressional bet Jorge Board of Election Inspectors (BEI)
Banal reported cases of pre-shaded
not to digitally sign the data to be
ballots. transmitted from the PCOS machine
In Angono, Rizal, the Tribune because the digital signature
personally witness pre-shaded generated by Smartmatic for the
ballots in favor of Liberal Party inspectors was, according to the
(LP) standard bearer Senator Comelec, already encoded into the
Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III machine, effectively putting the
being distributed to voters. function of the digital signature
generation, transmission and
“The same complaint was aired by confirmation in the hands of one
former congressman and entity, Smartmatic, without any
congressional candidate Jacinto independent body to check it.
Paras in the first district of Negros
Oriental; among other candidates,” Tatad, describing the elections as
Maceda added. ‘Hocus PCOS’, expressed his
frustration as a candidate and called
In Antipolo City, Maceda said 60 on all other candidates who feel that
precinct count optical scan they were likewise cheated as well as
(PCOS) machines were in the those who may have won but know
custody of a technician while nine that the votes they garnered are not
other PCOS machines were probable, to join hands in this effort
reported missing in Maggao. Iloilo. to unfurl the massive electronic
In Manila, Maceda said Atienza had electoral cheating that just happened.
also been claiming that the random Tatad clarified, however, that he was
manual audit had shown huge speaking not as an Estrada
discrepancies with the PCOS representative but for himself.
printout. In one precinct alone, a
“I want to make it clear that in this
credited to Mayor Alfredo Lim. effort I am not representing President
Estrada but speaking as an aggrieved
Erap lost heavily in Manila, candidate have been trampled upon,”
particularly in Tondo which is one of Tatad said. “My problem now is not
his strong bailiwicks,” Maceda said. whether to claim victory or accept
“And who would imagine Erap defeat but my problem is how to
losing in San Juan?” he added. understand what happened.”
The PMP campaign manager said he “This Hocus PCOS makes the
is still at a lost why the Commission Garci scandal look like child’s
play,” he said.
anything to resolve the issue. In the same press briefing, Estrada’s
lawyer George Garcia also
reconfigured flash cards the week
prior to the elections as logistically
improbable.
“Were the 76,000 flash cards really
returned and reconfigured or were
the so-called substitutes already
prepared and ready for delivery in
the short period of three days?”
Garcia challenged. “And if there was
really nothing irregular going on,
why is it that the Comelec did not
allow the presence of media and
party watchers during the
reconfiguration?”
Garcia also put into the question the
participation of Venture Link Int’l,
saying they must also be held
accountable for the irregular
flashcards.
“Did the Comelec know and approve
the subcontracting by Smartmatic to
Venture Link of the reconfiguration
of the flashcards that failed in the
tests?” he said.
Garcia said Smartmatic must be held
fully accountable for the
malfunctioning and misuse of the
PCOS machines, which caused the
disenfranchisement of over 10
million voters.
Garcia appealed to Congress to see
to it that the flashcards used in the
elections are stored to be made
available to Congress when needed.
“Congress will be the last bastion to
ferret out the real votes cast. We
urge Congress to require the
submission of the flash cards as well
as manual counting in a certain
number of municipalities to establish
the veracity of the counts,” said
Garcia.
However, when asked if they would
push for a manual recount of all the
votes should huge discrepancies be
discovered, Garcia said it would be
up to Congress to decide.
“The Palace supports whatever
decisions the Comelec wil render
concerning this issue. It has always
been our position that the Comelec is
the only one authorized to answer all
issues relevant to the conduct of
elections,” Olivar said.
Olivar reiterated that Malacañang
feels vindicated with the recently
concluded poll exercises for it was
able to disprove longstanding
allegations by some quarters on NO
Elections (Noel) and Retain Arroyo
through failure of elections (Rafael)
scenarios. “Our firm position (in
favor) of the Comelec’s competence
during those critical periods makes
us feel vindicated,” Olivar said.
“And so, given that, we see no
reason why we should change our
position (on the matter) if ever there
are still some issues that are yet to be
resolved,” he added. Olivar stressed
that their trust and confidence to the
poll body will never waver whatever
against all the issues it is facing.
The Daily Tribune
http://www.tribuneonline.org/
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