How could 10 to 12 million votes be missing?

First off, tomorrow May 18 to 19 is the 18th Divine Mercy Convention to be held at the University of Cebu SRP campus. As Bro. Stanley Villavicencio told me, registration, convention kits and snacks are free for all who will attend this convention where some 5,000 delegates from all over the Philippines are expected. I hope you also have time to join us.

I have been attending the Divine Mercy Convention for years now. The message of our Lord Jesus Christ that he imparted through his “secretary,” St. Faustina Kowalska, is the same or has not changed, that if we pray the Three o’clock Prayer, God will show his unfathomable Divine Mercy to your soul no matter how grave is your sin. It also means that you must confess your sins to the priest, as what our Lord Jesus Christ said when he cleansed the lepers in Luke 5: 14 “And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”

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As the old folks always say, “It ain’t over until it’s over!” Well, it’s four days already since the May 13 elections and despite the uncanny counting speed of the PCOS machines, I find it really strange that suddenly the quickest count ever has now snarled into a crawl. PCOS in trouble again??? News reports from all over, especially in the social networking sites show that some 12 million votes are still missing.

Allow me to quote one news report that stated, “Since Tuesday morning, May 14, the percentage of precincts nationwide have not yet been received by the Comelec’s Transparency Server. These precincts account for 15.4 million voters or almost a third of total voters nationwide. Based on our own calculation or current average precinct turnout of 76%, this means that the system is still missing some 11.9 million votes from Filipinos who went out to vote on May 13. We based this on data from the Comelec-Rappler Mirror Server, which comes from the Transparency Server.”

While the Comelec-Rappler Transparency Server may not be considered official, however they are similar to a parallel count and therefore the Comelec must explain why 12 million votes are still considered missing. While I agree that it may no longer affect the top eight Senatorial bets, it can still shift the rankings in the 11th or 12th slot in the Senatorial race. Meanwhile NAMFREL’s count shows that 10 million votes are still missing, a difference of  2 million votes with the Comelec-Rappler count.  But just the same, these missing votes are a major cause for concern. Na PCOS na sad ta?

I have always believed that something was terribly wrong with our use of the PCOS machines. If we didn’t use the PCOS machines, the votes would still be counted, ever so slowly but surely. Remember the old saying, “haste makes waste”? In my book, the PCOS machines are exactly that… it’s a total waste. Those confounded machines were the principal cause of the long queues during Election Day because the machines would spit out ballots without anyone knowing the reason why. And still no digital signatures!

While the count may be considered lightning fast, if we didn’t use the PCOS machines perhaps more people would have been able to vote. Like what I’ve been saying all along, Canada and the UK have always been using pencil and paper and manually counted, while France, Germany and India shifted to electronic counting machines. However, these countries have since dumped the electronic counting machines because they could easily be manipulated, hacked, tampered and programmed to cheat. I would like to believe that this is happening to us with the PCOS machines.

Meanwhile UNA deputy spokesman, Valenzuela Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian announced to the press. “We are gravely alarmed that a certain Smartmatic personnel named Daton Cerino had manipulated data at the Pope Pius Center around 4:30 PM Tuesday as observed by IT personnel.” So the question being raised is… are they the reason why some 10 to 12 million votes are still considered missing? Abangan!

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If there is anything worrisome about the Philippines today it is that the government of Pres. Benigno “PNoy” Aquino, III has totally failed in matters of foreign affairs. The strafing of a Taiwanese fishing boat that killed a Taiwanese fisherman has caused tension where there was none. Usually, these vessels would just be arrested and returned to Taiwan.

Because of this incident PNoy appointed MECO Chairman Amadeo R. Perez to convey our nation’s regrets to the family of the dead fisherman and the people of Taiwan. But this apology was totally rejected. First it was Hong Kong, then China now we are at odds with Taiwan as well?

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