Boom

When we consider the strategic impact of the administration’s infra program, Pampanga most often comes to mind. The booming province is fueled by developments in the Clark zone, the modern toll road systems and the rail routes now being built.

There is a second province booming because of infra investments. Batangas has become a boomtown because of improved accessibility. The port now handles more passengers than Manila. The expressway made access easier.

Economist Bernardo Villegas, often called the “Prophet of Boom,” put out a 3-part series titled “Batangas: The Next Metro Manila.” He notes how improved roads, a bustling seaport and the construction of industrial zones are driving investments in the province.

Companies native to the province are now benefitting from the boom. One example is Abacore Capital Holdings, a holding company with interests in mining, real estate, financial services and tourism.

Over the past 40 years, Abacore has been accumulating land in Batangas. During the past five years, the company has been cashing in on its land bank, riding what it calls the “Batangas wave.” Property prices have been rising spectacularly during this period.

Batangas is now only an hour’s drive from the Makati business district. Investors are locating in the province, attracted by comparably cheaper property prices and a skilled labor force.

To catch the wave, Abacore is developing ABA Energy Hub. This is a 103-hectare energy industrial park near the seafront. Two hectares of the park will soon host a liquefied natural gas facility.

The company also entered into a joint venture by the Bay of Batangas, contributing land to the partnership. An asset management company based in New Zealand will build a resort-like condotel property on the land.

In a recent disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Philstar Development Bank (a subsidiary of Abacore; no relationship to this paper) reported approval of the sale of a 40 percent stake to a new investor. The stake was valued at $6 million. The entry of a new partner indicates investor confidence in the future of the regional bank.

Apart from its comparative advantages and excellent infrastructure, progressive local officials who are constantly conscious of economic trends and investment opportunities have led the province. They have adopted a disciplined business attitude in warmly welcoming investment inquiries. As a result, the province has been benefitting from a higher share of investment inflows the past few years.

Keep an eye out for booming Batangas. From a backwater province isolated by bad roads, it will be an important node of growth. The projected southern railway line running through this province towards the Bicol region will add to already existing infrastructure assets.

No hack

It is a wonder the Senate even devoted time to hearing already discredited claims about the Comelec being hacked. This is not prudent use of legislative time.

The allegations about Comelec computers getting hacked were discredited from the start. The screenshot provided by supposedly “well-intentioned” hackers to show vulnerabilities in the Comelec system purported to show data that the poll body says have not even been encoded, much less uploaded. The PINs and passwords of vote counting machines also supposedly breached were not yet inputted at the time of the alleged hacking.

The NBI tested the Comelec’s system. They found no evidence of hacking. The system cannot even generate the data that were supposed to have been accessed by hackers.

The Comelec, for its part, repeatedly insisted that the technology vendor’s role is limited to providing the automated elections system. The vendor has zero access to information that could affect electoral outcomes any which way.

Several IT experts have told us the data that was supposedly hacked are non-sensitive and could not be used in the actual voting process. Alex Ramos, an IT expert representing Partido Federal in the Local Source Code Review, asserts the supposedly hacked data was “completely irrelevant.”

If the alleged hacking of the Comelec computer system is entirely without basis, why does the controversy continue to persist months after the hacking claims were disproven?

Perhaps overzealousness is to blame. People want to be reassured again and again. To a lot of people, computer systems are such opaque and mysterious things and should not be fully trusted. Some of them are always ready to believe the most far-fetched claim the automated electoral system will fail us.

All of us are suckers for conspiracy theories. We think some people are smarter than us and could steal elections from under our noses. In the case of the alleged Comelec hack, we are not even given any inkling about who could possibly break into the automated electoral system to steal our votes.

This has been a particularly bitter electoral period. It should not be surprising that there is abundant fear the electronic counting process might be tampered with.

Add to this the fact that the Comelec’s integrity has been repeatedly assaulted. Its credibility is in such fragile state. This needless controversy only undermines the poll body’s credibility even more.

All known facts do not support the claim the Comelec computer system has been hacked. There is therefore no need to prolong an unfounded controversy. Doing so further undermines our institutions. It invited an unwholesome situation where citizens reject the automated count. That will certainly bring us to a profound constitutional crisis.

We should all be vigilant, to be sure. At the same time, we should not be eroding the credibility of the electoral process on the basis of unfounded allegations.