Another Comelec scam in the making - today

Power distributor Meralco is exasperated. Customers to blame it for April’s spike in electricity rates, when it’s the fault of generator.

Meralco’s monthly bill itemize what goes to generators (50 percent), transmission (25 percent), taxes and universal charges (10), and distributor (15). Comparing March and April bills, the generation cost rose 93 centavos per kilowatt-hour (from P5.8417 to P6.7699).

The generators are Napocor, independent producers, and the WESM (wholesale electricity spot market). All have increased charges. Worsening things are nature and man. El Niño has reduced power production of hydroelectric plants. And WESM anomalously bases its price not on actual generation cost but on last transaction — which leads to price collusion by sellers.

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Joey de Venecia, the lone IT expert among senatorial candidates, has long been opposing the Comelec’s ultraviolet lamps. The gadgets, he says, constitute a pointless, perilous human intervention in the poll automation. Electronic balloting is supposed to lessen intrusion of election officers in the process. But automation supplier Smartmatic failed to embed secret U/V marks on the correct corner of ballots. To prevent the voting machines from rejecting misplaced marks, it disabled the U/V reader. Comelec is resorting to 77,000 U/V lamps for 76,340 precinct clusters. On Election Day precinct inspectors will check ballots under the lamp for genuineness before handing over to voters. This is where the risk lies, Joey has been warning. Bribed or coerced inspectors can declare ballots bogus to thwart known voters for the other side. Or they can issue fakes, which the machines will reject. Whichever, it will disenfranchise voters.

No one at the Comelec is listening to Joey. A quick scan of the poll body’s website will show why.

Comelec is conducting a re-bidding for the U/V lamps. Previously OTC Paper Supply supposedly won with the lowest bid of P28 million. But the agency was criticized for rushing to award it as consolation for earlier canceling OTC’s P700-million unsolicited proposal for needless ballot-secrecy folders.

Now the Comelec has upped its order to 80,000 lamps. Price ceiling: P30,151,200. For P10,000 bidding documents may be purchased, 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Apr. 24-28. (Hey, today’s the last day.) Submission of Applications for Eligibility was 8 a.m.-2 p.m., Friday, Apr. 24.

A Pre-Bid Conference was to be held at 2 p.m. last Monday, Apr. 26, at the Comelec head office in Intramuros, Manila. Deadline for submission of bids is today, Apr. 28. Bids will be opened and a winner declared at 2 p.m. Very tight purchase schedule — only five days, including Sunday, from Apr. 24 to today.

Here’s the catch: the 80,000 lamps must be delivered to the Comelec by tomorrow, insiders say. This is to give the poll body ample time to deploy these to the 76,340 precincts by May 7, three days before D-Day.

Since cheap U/V lamps usually are imported from China, this can only mean that the units are already in RP. This means the bidding is a sham. A winner has been pre-ordained. The Notice of Bidding was posted on the website only on Apr. 26, although the process began on Apr. 24. Somebody wanted to shut out other bidders.

One source is betting 100:1 that the winner won’t be OTC, but another of the nine frequent Comelec suppliers. He even knows the name, beginning with the letter “N”. Since the source has been mostly accurate, I’m not calling his wager.

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Janisah Mala-Lao is sending another S-O-S in behalf of her son. Six-year-old Alessandro Yoshiko (Yoti) is to undergo chemo and radiotherapy at the UST Hospital, Manila, on May 20. That is, if he can raise the P30,000 for workups and 12 sessions. If this drastic “gateway” treatment works, Yoti can move on to the maintenance phase, for which he’d need some more donations and prayers.

Yoti at his tender age is suffering from T-Cells Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. He has been in and out of hospital for emergency treatment and therapy. Mom Janisah had to quit work to take care of him and a second son, only a year old. Dad Chito works as restaurant server, with income barely enough to feed the family. If Yoti passes passing the three-year maintenance phase, he will be a certified cancer survivor.

For details and photos, check out his Facebook account: Alessandro Yoshiko M. Lao. Or YouTube videos labeled “Janisah”.

Janisah can be reached at +63917 6060853, +63927 5271126, or (02) 4973247. Donations can be sent to Alessandro Yoshiko M. Lao, Metrobank Account No. 0703 0701 85211.

Yoti’s condition can be confirmed with Doctors Galang and Mendoza, hema-oncologists and pediatrician. Costs, with the UST Hospital Benavidez Cancer Institute, tel. nos. (02) 7313001 local 2615, 2658 or 2309.

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After the past two weekend’s full house, Willie Nep performs one last time on Friday, Apr. 30, the show that happens only once every six years: “Presidentiables Gut Talent.” Inimitable Willie impersonates wannabes for the highest post in the land, at Music Museum, Greenhills Mall, San Juan. For tickets, call Ticketworld (02) 8919999, or Music Museum (02) 7216726 and 7210635.

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“Millions of people are suicidal; they commit their lives to the pursuit of the material — at the cost of the spiritual.” Shafts of Light, Fr. Guido Arguelles, SJ

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