What happened in the May 10 elections?

There are Filipinos who do know what happened but they are not talking. Media has not helped either. From the start when it was suspected that something funny was happening in the Smartmatic-PCOs, it was treated as only an inside page story, if at all.

The reaction to something as big a news as a probable failed election was to downplay it. We had high officials in fact who said openly during the joint session tabulating the votes. Something to the effect that “you do not know what can happen if there is no president on June 30” castigating legislators to stop objections or questions. They just had to get on with it no matter what was suspected.

While watching the proceedings on TV, I recalled something that has puzzled me during the discussions to select the Comelec chairman. In the initial discussions, Justice Melo was considered as the candidate of then President GMA, therefore he was unacceptable to the NGOs and civil society. But towards the end when we had to meet the deadline for appointing one, we received a letter from the PPCRV that said their candidate was also Melo. I asked during a session how that could be? There were several theories advanced. Mine was that since Melo will be selected by the Committee anyway, the opposition might as well make him also their candidate and say he was their candidate that is why he got the position. The inference was the opposition and “civil” society got what they wanted. The puzzle stayed in mind but I, too shelved it in the backburner until a time came when it would have to be explained.

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Truth does have a strange way of revealing itself. I have since written several columns on Smartmatic-PCOs.

It is a notorious firm and any one who knows how to use the internet can google and find that out. It has suits in several countries where both citizens and officials were unwilling to be victimized by a firm allegedly selling electoral systems as a business. I found it strange that a firm with such worldwide notoriety should be selected to handle the first automated elections in the Philippines. But the events that followed immediately after the elections supported that misgiving.

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There have been so many strange stories that it no longer shocks if instead of local election results, a compact flash (CF) card used in one of the precincts in Pikit North Cotabato should be the results of the elections in Colombia. After all, Smartmatic was selling its electoral systems expertise in several countries. It may be that a clerk might have committed the mistake. Is that how we will be holding automated elections in the future? If it is, then we did not have elections at all. Elections are not only about voting correctly, it is also about counting correctly. That seems not to have happened.

On discovering this “irregularity” former North Cotabato Governor Manny Piñol decided to file an electoral protest against former Representative Emmylou Talino-Santos who won the race for the governorship of North Cotabato by over 30,000 votes. I admire his optimism that the electoral protest will get anywhere. But I would persuade him to go ahead and get the details of the report done. If we were to follow each of the revelations and what has happened since then, the Comelec did not seem to have the will nor the desire to investigate.

The data containing the results of Colombia’s election were found after the CF card was decrypted.

It was a shocking discovery by Pinol’s lawyer Ata.

In the complaint, Pinol’s lawyer also said in the “Omnibus Manifestation and Urgent Motion” that there were mislabeled ballot boxes. For example, “ballots used in the initial precincts reviewed measured 8.5 inches in width and 25 inches in length which were shorter than the official ballot size of 26 inches,” it said.

He also wrote that “mixed ballots were found inside the box for CP 33 in Barangay (village) Salat, President Roxas.”

“The half-torn ballots, rejected ballots, and minutes of voting (MOV) found inside pertained to CP 33 but 558 ballots which were supposed to be physically counted pertained to CP 21 in Barangay Simone, Kabacan which bore ballot ID 4713021.

There were also missing copies of Election Returns, Statement of Votes, and Minutes of Voting. No copies of ERs were found in the ballot boxes of 22 clustered precincts which is 39 percent of the total initial 56 precincts subjected to recount, no Statement of Votes were submitted for 14 CPs and no copies of MOVs were found inside the ballot boxes for 14 CPs.”

But the most shocking discovery were the election results from Colombia in South America. It must not be unexplained and there must be good reasons instead of being brushed aside.  

To many who have continued to search for truth about the Smartmatic-PCOs it may be the clincher to all previous accusations on the reputation of Smartmatic PCOS.

What were the votes from Colombia doing in the town of Pikit where I lost by almost 20,000 votes?” Piñol asked.

All the CF cards within the next two weeks will be investigated. More from Colombia, South America? It is not enough to leave it to regulatory business to explain this.

There are enough concerned citizens who should band together and ask the Comelec to provide them with copies of the election data received on the day of the elections by the Comelec Central Computer server. That would be the only way “to determine whether these are consistent with the votes canvassed locally and the images stored in the CF cards.” I personally think that this is no longer the issue with the discovery of the votes from Colombia. The issue is the reputation of Smartmatic and how it handled the 2010 elections.

Political observers described Piñol’s loss as one of the biggest upsets in the 2010 elections.