Brillantes coddling ballot thief — in Smartmatic ploy

Comelec ex-chief Sixto Brillantes is harboring a self-confessed ballot thief. It’s so foreign firm Smartmatic can resupply multibillion-peso but flawed voting machines for the 2016 election.

The thief is one Worthy N. Acosta, who claims to have stolen for six harsh critics of Brillantes and Smartmatic. Purportedly he filched the ballots on orders of Baguio City ex-Rep. Bernardo Vergara and Tarlac province ex-Gov. Tingting Cojuangco. He then fudged the ballots on say-so allegedly of Biliran province ex-Rep. Glenn Chong. Next, supposedly with poll experts Gus Lagman, Lito Averia and Mel Magdamo, he videoed the altered ballots to malign the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines that Smartmatic sells and Brillantes promotes.

Acosta’s tale perfectly fits Brillantes and Smartmatic’s desire to silence the pesky critics. Losers in the 2013 election, Vergara, Cojuangco, and Chong cry “hocus-PCOS.” Then-incumbent Vergara landed only third, which even Acosta in his affidavit says is rare in Philippine polls. Cojuangco landed 29th of 34 senatorial bets incredibly in all 82 provinces, 256 districts, and 344,529 polling precincts, even in her Tarlac turf. Chong lost despite soaring results in exit polls. Acosta’s charges hopefully would stop them from lambasting the PCOS any longer.

(Note: Cojuangco, for whom Acosta claims to be chief aide once, is an aunt but critic of President Noynoy Aquino. Her 29th place reflects mathematicians’ findings of a 60-30-10-percent outcome for admin-opposition-independent senatorial candidates nationwide. They call it a “statistical impossibility.” World-famous televangelist Eddie Villanueva landed 19th in all regions, provinces, districts, cities, towns, precincts, even in his Bulacan province, Born-Again Christian barrios, and in the Mindanao Autonomous Region.)

Brillantes and Smartmatic have been unable to rebut Lagman, Averia, and Magdamo’s critiques of the PCOS. They aver that the voting gadgets are vulnerable to internal manipulation; that is, by Smartmatic or Comelec technicians. Info-technologists Lagman and Averia had exposed it since 2009, when the Comelec was still rigging the deal for Smartmatic. Lagman later would become commissioner of the agency, there always to be hooted down by Brillantes and fellow-foes of his cheap, reliable, no-kickback alternative to PCOS. Lawyer Magdamo in 2010 had risked murder by the Comelec supply Mafia in exposing the P800-million “ballot-secrecy folder” scam. In 2013 he bared the Comelec overprinting of millions of ballots, and state scientists’ discovery on ballot images of “mysterious digital lines” that added or lessened votes. Acosta’s rap hopefully would scare away the election automation geeks.

Acosta implicates seven others. There are the Baguio city treasurer from whom he swears to have filched the ballots, and aides of Cojuangco and Vergara. Also, ex-Sen.Kit Tatad, ex-defense chief Norberto Gonzales, Kamil Unda, and Catholic Bishop Ramon Arguelles, all of the National Transformation Council. Formed last year, the NTC is a belated PCOS critic and recent caller for P-Noy’s resignation. Why implicate the four NTC members? Likely for timely effect, as P-Noy’s admin presently is grasping at straws amidst public furor over its Mamasapano debacle. Any attacker of P-Noy’s foes must be his friend; that is Brillantes and Smartmatic’s message, to curry and later collect on favors.

In a separate affidavit Brillantes echoes Acosta’s yarn. He recounts their meetings, debriefings, and his bringing him to Justice Sec. Leila de Lima (his fellow-ex-poll lawyer) to be made a protected state witness.

At noon of Mar. 6 Acosta and Brillantes filed charges before the Comelec law division. Instantly Smartmatic’s PR gave selected reporters a “news feed.” It vilified as “allies” of ex-President Gloria Arroyo more critics of Brillantes-Smartmatic’s PCOS: founders of AES (Automated Election Systems) Watch and me (see Gotcha, 23 Mar. 2015). The next day competitor Inquirer bylined the feed under one Tina Santos. It pretended to quote Acosta’s affidavit. Yet in truth, Acosta mentioned AES Watch and me only as among persons whom Cojuangco and Chong allegedly had met or wanted to meet with. In selective smear, the feed and Inquirer withheld the names of two of the mentioned media men.

The normally slowpoke law division was unusually fast this time. It sought no clarification from the 13 accused by Acosta and Brillantes. It just found them probably guilty, along with seven John and Jane Does. On Mar. 18, in record 12 days from receipt of affidavits, it recommended to the Comelec en banc the prosecution by De Lima’s office.

Does Acosta know this? The Comelec lawyers’ aim is to nail not 13 but 14 in all — including Acosta himself. This was on Brillantes’ advice, for the case hinges on Acosta’s confession of crime. It would be unseemly to pin 13 “cohorts,” yet leave out the sworn criminal. Ballot theft and tampering are heinous offenses, classified as election sabotage, so non-bailable and meriting life terms.

 So it’s now Acosta’s word, spelled “l-a-w-a-y,” against the 13’s. If unable to prove conspiracy, then he alone would go to jail -- forever. But that’s of no concern to Brillantes and Smartmatic. In their agenda, Acosta is expendable perhaps.

There’s one more oddity about this suit. In his 17-page affidavit Acosta details each of the six critics’ attacks against the voting machines. Yet never does he mention the maker “Smartmatic,” or model “precinct count optical scanner.” He does state the acronym “PCOS” — once.

In his 19-page echo Brillantes too never names the maker or model. He also uses “PCOS” but once.

Smartmatic the master puppeteer seems to have outdone itself in dissimulation. Apparently it aimed to distance itself from Acosta and Brillantes’ filings to avoid revealing their ploy. But it hid itself so well that its slip showed.

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Now on exhibit at the Ayala Museum-Makati, till Apr. 12, are the works of Leon Ma. Guerrero III. It marks the birth centenary of the writer-novelist, philosopher, diplomat, and brother of columnist-historian Carmen Guerrero Nakpil.

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