Comelec must go back to manual counting

Our special presentation on our talk show in Straight from the Sky, it is my honor and my pleasure to present to you, Mrs. Maricor Mendoza Akol, the founding President of the Philippine National Information Technology (IT) Standards (PhilNITS) established in April 10, 2012.

I have been trying to get Maricor in my show since 2010 as we share something in common… the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS). I have heard of Maricor Akol even before the May 2010 computerized elections because her organization together with the Philippine Computer Society, Inc. all non-political groups were trying to help the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to come up with a fail-safe computer counting systems for the Philippines.

But what her group came up with was a hybrid computer counting system, where there is a manual voting on the precinct level and when the results of the votes are transmitted to the Comelec headquarters, that’s the time they would use a computer. Alas, the Comelec shut them down and opted to get the Smartmatic with the PCOS machines. That’s when the trouble began.

We already know that at the height of the May 2010 elections, authorities apprehended PCOS machines sending signals to “God know where” in Cagayan de Oro and another one in Antipolo. We’ve been asking questions like what results were being transmitted by those bogus PCOS machines or if it was the real thing… who was controlling them? If you ask me…that’s just too many PCOS machines in the wrong hands!

Now it’s only four months until the May 2013 elections and Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes is showing us his “damn the torpedoes” attitude in forcing the voters to once more use the already tainted PCOS machines, with all its discrepancies and problems still unsolved. By the way, the Comelec again came up with an exercise to show to the people that the PCOS machines “still works” according to their plan? What plan is that electronic Dagdag Bawas?

Incidentally, back before the May 2010 elections, the Comelec also gave us a preview of how the PCOS machines work as guest on this talk show and with the Rotarians at the Casino Español. Yet since we had no IT experts... we all thought that the PCOS was a great machine. But we were wrong!

At this point, the Filipino people are already aware that Smartmatic has filed a case against Dominion Voting Systems (DVS) in a Delaware Court because it has stopped Smartmatic from using their operating system (OS). This is akin to Samsung filing a case against the maker of Android because they can no longer use this operating system. With less than four months to go, I don’t think that the US Court would settle anything. Meanwhile, I dare challenge the Comelec to return to the manual counting system before it is too late.

Mind you, Maricor has been appearing in many national TV networks talking about the PCOS machines. So watch this very interesting, albeit crucial interview about the PCOS machines that the Comelec still intends to use despite all its still unresolved problems on SkyCable’s channel 61 at 8:00pm tonight and replays on MyTV channel 30 on M-W-F.

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Today is a Red-Letter Day for me as it is the 1st anniversary of MyTV Channel 30. How time really just flies. It was early October 2011 when Mr. Joen delas Peñas tapped me to handle the Wealth Channel, which has been on the cables with SkyCable for nearly three years. At that time, my talk show Straight from the Sky was already going on its 11th year and I felt that the task of turning around the Wealth Channel was a great challenge for me.

The first thing I did was change Wealth Channel to MyTV Channel, and then we offered religious shows as a way of offering our channel to the service of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we came up with My Catechism with Fr. Lucas Inoc, then there’s My Rotary, to show what Rotary is doing for Cebu. Then we came up with My Pets hosted by Anya Unchuan, the only Pet show in the country. Wealth channel became My Wealth show with Jojoff Escobal.

Of course we also had My Bible, the Men and Women of the Bible with Nilo Domingo and Fr. Jerome Cayetano. Then we came up with our Legal show with My Law 101 with USJR Law School Dean Jonathan Capanas and Atty. Bingo Gonzales. We have My Politics with Ricky Poca and Atty. Eddie Barrita, Voces Amoris for Sunday gospel teaching with Fr. Luigi Martinez and Dr. Glenn delas Peñas. Then we have “Life at the Park” with Cebu Holdings and the famous 888 News Forum.

Of course we continued with Kerygma of Bo. Sanchez, Mary My Immaculate Mother with Fr. John Carlo Rosales and my own show, Straight from the Sky. We expect the Year 2013 to be another great year for us. Thanks to SkyCable and Parasat of Cagayan de Oro for their partnering with MyTV channel. Special thanks also to Mr. Hans Hauri of Marco Polo Plaza for allowing us to use their facilities even at a moments notice. 

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Email: [email protected].