The CBCP NASSA takes a stand

It has been difficult for the Church to take on something as important as the stealing of the election last May 13.  Some bishops and clergy hesitated about taking the step less it be accused of retaliating against the Aquino government because of the RH bill. 

But it finally did. CBCP’S NASSA (National Secretariat for Social Action) came out with a statement last May 28 questioning the 2013 election.  Here are excerpts from the statement:

“The recent mid-term national election makes a mockery of our democracy. Reports of rampant and large scale vote-buying, disenfranchisement of voters, malfunction of precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines, corrupted Compact Flash ( CF) cards, transmission failures and the non-compliance on the election laws by the Commission on Election (Comelec) which is mandated to manage and protect the electoral processes, create public mistrust among the Filipinos, thus making questionable the authenticity of the result of the 2013 automated election.

“Even before election, the refusal of Comelec to allow interested parties to review the source code, as well as to install the necessary safeguards on the PCOS machine, as provided by law, including the proper implementation of the random manual audit, cast doubt about the sincerity of the Comelec to conduct a transparent and authentic election…

“We could not understand why Comelec sacrifices accuracy and truthfulness over “speed.” Almost all transactions and decisions of the Commission are characterized by speed, especially in conducting bidding and the buying of the PCOS machines…

“We question Comelec in proclaiming, on an installment basis, the 12 senators without factual or legal basis. It is a violation of election rules relating to winners to be proclaimed only after all ballots are officially canvassed (Comelec Resolution Nos. 9700 and 9700-A).

“Comelec, however, acted suspiciously when it proclaimed the first six winning candidates for senators on May 16, with only 72 out of the 304 certificates of canvass (COCs) accounted for, representing only more than 13 million of the country’s 52 million registered voters.

“We ask: why did Comelec proclaim the “winning” candidates without factual evidence?

“The Comelec and its deputies, as well as other stakeholders who subvert the will of the people, should be made accountable for their actions.

“We join the Civil Society watchdogs in demanding accountability from Comelec. We call the responsible agencies for a thorough investigation of election irregularities and incidents reported, and challenge all the faithful and people of goodwill, to break the culture of impunity.

“We as citizens should speak now…

“How can we obey and respect our leaders if we are not sure whether they are really elected by the people? “

Such a comprehensive assessment of what happened in May 13 did not get the indignation it deserved either from the general public or other church authorities (no mainstream media to take it up either) who should have known better.

Nothing was heard from the new Cardinal Tagle in whom so much hope and promise was placed because he was “young” and “dynamic.”

Fake election in the guise of automated election through Smartmatic PCOS is the name of the game. It is the same as dictatorship. It transfers the only expression of the people's sovereignty to machines. It is clear that with 2010 and 2013 we are no longer free to decide whom we want to elect. Even something as obvious as the percentages of 8-3-1 was done to give a semblance of competition where there was none.

Through the years and more so after the 1986 People Power revolution Filipinos looked forward to democratic governance under the rule of law. That is not easy to achieve although reforms could have been approached incrementally. Instead whatever was left of institutions are being destroyed and there is no infrastructure in sight that can stop the impunity that is plaguing the country. Unless it is stopped the impunity will pervade and spread to all sectors of society not just in elections but in business, peace and order or in the course of daily life. The assumption underlying this approach is that it will be possible to contain the effects of this drastic way to reform. No thought is given to the implication that it will destroy more than just democracy, it will also destroy the country.   

The question that faces us today is how did it happen that we seem to have reached a point that despite the growing lawlessness and the reckless destruction of institutions there have been no widespread protests.

If we had fought dictatorship because we believed in democratic governance how come we are not doing that today?  The answer it seems to me is an old fashioned one — instead of declaring martial law or revolutionary government  â€“ it is being done stealthily. It is a dictatorship in the guise of election (even if it is fake one!).

It is no different from a “wolf  in sheep’s clothing” to fool everyone. The intent is to lull more intelligent and knowledgeable people into believing the swan song that if it is automated therefore it must be accurate.

Indeed as I have repeatedly mentioned in this column, the federal republic of Germany as well as other developed countries did not bother to track down examples of how an automated electoral system can go wrong. It simply decided that it was wrong. If the voters do not understand the process of automated elections then it is unconstitutional and ought to not to be used.

Meanwhile, the slaughter continues with reports coming in from all over the country of questionable elections results.

One report comes from Baybay City mayoralty candidate Malot Veloso Galenzoga vs. former Rep. and reelectionist Mayor Carmen Cari of the heavily entrenched dynastic clan of Cari-Petillas (to which DOE Sec. Jericho Petilla belongs).

Malot is filing for failure of elections, perhaps one of the very few such cases before Comelec, on very strong grounds. Moreover she was victim of assassination attempt and every dirty trick in the trade used against her. As of May 30, 2013, her that request has request for failure of election has not been acted on.

From AES Watch comes a report from Justice Sampurna that in Zamboanga del Norte apart from Comelec fraud there were â€œmilitary/police human rights violations, media black out on consecutive murders, arrests and detentions.”

He said that Hokos PCOS was very blatant here.  Some Liberal candidates who had never been seen in the campaign period all won landslide in the entire province of Zamboanga del Norte.

“Here all Liberals won, and nothing left for UNA.  And the worst was Comelec proclaimed them even though only 43% of ER was transmitted.“