Political cash transfer?

Our senators appear to be the target both of pressure from and emotional manipulation by defenders of and apologists of the controversial P21-billion conditional cash transfer (CCT).

Palace messaging czar Ricky Carandang recently announced with a hint of jubilation that visiting former United States President Bill Clinton had told President Noynoy Aquino that he supports the CCT – as if Clinton is some kind of moral authority in this country and that we should do as the former US president says.

The chief beneficiary of the P21-billion CCT largesse, Hyatt 10 stalwart and Social Secretary Dinky Soliman, on the other hand, appears to have resorted to emotional manipulation. She reportedly obliged a radio interview while crying profusely and accusing those opposing her P21-billion dole-out fund of being anti-poor.

One spiel being used to pressure our senators to approve the P21-billion Soliman dole-out fund is the alleged “success” of a similar concept called “Bolsa Familia” implemented by Brazil. Under the program, the Brazilian government doled out billions of dollars to some 27 million of its poor citizens through direct deposits to their bank accounts.

Our senators are scrutinizing Soliman’s P21-billion dole-out fund. We suggest they look into the woes that the Brazilian CCT fuelled in that country’s political arena.

Many Brazilians view “Bolsa Familia” as one of the most potent political tools used by Brazil President Luiz Lula. One such study by Princeton University professor Cesar Zucco actually examined how the massive dole out program caused the dramatic shift in Lula’s voting base “away from the more developed regions of the country and into its poorest areas” which benefited from the generous cash grants.

Zucco’s study apparently proved that in addition to improving economic conditions, the cash grant program “has significant electoral effects”.

In other words, Lula’s political staying power and expansion of political base benefited much from this cash grant program “for the poor”.

Soliman must have thoroughly studied Brazil’s cash dole out to the poor because she has been using Brazil’s “success” in this scheme. It may be safe to presume she has also seen how this scheme has helped Lula’s political fortunes.

This is something that our senators might wish to ask Soliman: who will benefit politically from the massive cash dole out program she wants to implement using taxpayer money?

The problem is Soliman has a reputation as a shrewd political person. She does political maneuvers. And we are afraid that this P21-billion dole-out fund is part of another Soliman-engineered political maneuver.

Global model

Fresh accolades from abroad plus the litany of old-styled snafus that marred last month’s barangay and Sanggguniang Kabataan (SK) elections should be enough to convince Malacañang that the automated elections system (AES) is the way to go for the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the 2013 midterm polls and onwards.

Upon his from the US where he observed the recently concluded midterm balloting, Comelec commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal declared that the Philippines has become a model for computerized polls, as officials from other countries whom he had met during that trip expressed their desire to come to Manila to learn how Comelec conducted a “great job” in the May exercise.

These interested countries include some European states along with Kenya, Nigeria and Liberia.

Sustained international interest in, and support for, the AES system that the Comelec implemented last May in tandem with global infotech giant Smartmatic International and its local partner Total Information Management Corp. (Smartmatic-TIM) has served to cement global acclaim for the Philippine-style automated balloting, which drew support last summer from the diplomatic community.

These rah-rah diplomats who had lauded the country’s first-ever automated polls included US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton; European Union (EU) Ambassador Alistair MacDonald; Ambassadors Wilhelm Donko of Austria, Josef Rychtar of the Czech Republic, Heikki Hannikainen of Finland, Christian-Ludwig Weber-Lortsch of Germany, Xenia Stefanidou of Greece, Luca Fornari of Italy, Valeriu Gheorghe of Romania, Luis Arias Romero of Spain, and Stephen Lillie of the United Kingdom; and Deputy Heads of Mission Rene Peeters of Belgium, Didier Ortolland of France and Anita van de Haar-Conijn of The Netherlands.

In contrast, foul-ups in the manually held polls last Oct. 25 were so widespread that balloting was suspended-and held later-in some 2,000 barangays nationwide.

In fact, President Aquino himself appeared so enraged that he had wondered aloud to the media why the Oct. 25 didn’t go as smoothly as the May 10 exercise when the barangay and SK balloting was just a “simple undertaking” compared to last summer’s national elections.

Comelec chief Jose Melo himself had similarly expressed dismay over the poll outcome.

Alongside the delay in the delivery of election paraphernalia and feuding over the allowances of teachers serving as inspectors-canvassers, the October polls saw a repeat of rampant poll-rigging complaints plus other slip-ups that were common fare in all manual electoral exercises.

Civil society had demanded a full-dress investigation, and such a call was led by groups like the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, the Comelec’s citizens arm whose chairperson Henrietta de Villa is a strong advocate of automated balloting.

The Oct. 25 irregularities sent a loud and clear message that the Comelec will never be able to get rid of poll-relatedmisdeeds unless future ballotings are automated.

And second, there were no widespread or major glitches during the May 10 polls-judging from subsequent public reaction-even if it was just the first time that local balloting was computerized via some 82,000-plus Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines, which Comelec had leased from Smartmatic TIM.

The dismal outcome of the Oct. 25 polls in sharp contrast

to the international and domestic acclamation reaped by last summer’s automated elections – should sway government to dismiss once and for all the absurd ranting of sore losers and other vested interest groups that have not ceased peddling their trumped-up charges of poll anomalies during the May 10 elections.

Instead, the Aquino administration would be advancing the national interest by seriously considering the acquisition of all PCOS machines leased from Smartmatic TIM, to save precious taxpayers’ money and ensure the integrity and success of future elections via the use of the same AES technology.

And by buying these machines, the Aquino government would be spending just about P4 billion to P5 billion (for services) in the succeeding polls, as against the P11 billion spent in the May 10 polls. It would also save on training costs for election personnel as these people have already been well-trained by Smartmatic TIM and their skills tested on the job.

As assured by Smartmatic TIM officials, these PCOS machines would not become obsolete because they would resort to software improvements to keep future hackers or cheaters off guard. 

And because Comelec people have already been well trained on the technology provided by Smartmatic TIM, there will be no need for long learning curves in future automated elections.

Imagine the huge expenses that the government would incur were it to return the PCOS machines it leased from Smartmatic TIM, and conduct yet another public bidding, not only for the machines to be used nationwide, but the automation technology as well for the 2013 elections. As they say, “if it ain’t broke, why fix it?”

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