For those of you who wish to preserve Cebuano music and culture. On November 8, 2014, exactly a year after super typhoon “Yolanda” (international code name, typhoon Haiyan) made landfall in Guiuan, Samar and struck Tacloban City, while also hitting Northern Cebu and Panay, the country braces itself for another super typhoon that will make its landfall at Park Mall, along Ouano Ave., Mandaue Reclamation Area, Cebu.
Tropical Cyclone Max Surban, or SuperBagyong Max, the 30th named storm of the 2014 Pacific Typhoon season, intensified into a typhoon Monday morning with maximum sustained winds of 220 (LPS) laughs per hour. This super typhoon free concert will bring a howl into the night beginning at 7:00 in the evening to feature island novelty and love songs from his new album, SuperBagyong Max.
With zero Pork Barrel allotment, Max Surban initiated his own rehabilitation efforts, with the help of guardian angels from Gothong Southern Shipping and Virginia Foods, Inc., if only to rehabilitate people’s minds and hearts with a deadly overdose of laughter. Everyone who knows anyone directly or indirectly hit by typhoon Haiyan is invited to get free mental rehabilitation at a concert – on first-come, first-served basis – at the Park Mall, along Ouano Ave., Mandaue Reclamation Area, Cebu. Show to start at 7:00 in the evening.
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Yesterday I read online the headlines of Manila Times that a group of Information Technology experts is seeking to file a temporary restraining order against the Commission on Elections from bidding out the procurement of additional Precinct Count Optical Scan machines. I immediately called my good friend, Biliran lawyer Glenn Chiong who was my recent guest on my talk show “Straight from the Sky” and he validated this story because the Comelec is poised to have this bidding done as soon as possible.
As we already wrote before, a petition was already filed before the court to nullify the 2013 elections, claiming that they were electronically manipulated through PCOS machines provided by Smartmatic. That petition was filed by Atty. Chiong together with the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, which presented the SC evidence to back their claim that the electronic tabulating machines credited votes to more candidates than what were actually shaded in the ballots cast by voters.
Indeed during my interview with Atty. Chiong, he pointed out in a PowerPoint presentation that the machines did not count the actual votes indicated in the ballot. Atty. Chiong also earlier testified at the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee hearing on vote discrepancies and “digital lines” resulting from the Smartmatic-issued PCOS machines.
In line with this development, another IT expert, Mr. Hermenegildo Estrella Jr., wants Smartmatic excluded from the bidding for additional PCOS machines, saying “There are sufficient grounds to disqualify and blacklist Smartmatic from participating in the forthcoming bidding for 2016 election requirements,” Mr. Estrella, was a former management systems analyst of IBM and advisor of Ayala and Citibank and therefore apolitical.
These IT experts should fast track their petition before the Supreme Court because this week, the Comelec will start the bidding for more than 40,000 PCOS machines that will be used in the 2016 polls. Yesterday, the Comelec already called for their pre-bid conference. This is happening to our country because despite the massive electronic Dag-Dag Bawas, the ordinary Filipino on the street doesn’t realize that his vote was no longer counted. But does he care? No sir! He already got paid for selling his vote.
It is for this very reason why Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes, Jr. was emboldened to go into another bidding with Smartmatic despite all those deficiencies we already cited in so many previous columns where we quoted those IT experts. This is why we hope that the Supreme Court would grant a temporary restraining order against this bidding by the Comelec until it has come up with their en banc decision on the previous case filed before them on the grave misuse of the PCOS machines to cheat the 2013 elections.
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Are we finally seeking cracks in the Aquino Cabinet? It seems that Health Secretary Enrique Ona has lost the trust and confidence of his boss Pres. Benigno Aquino III. Earlier it was reported that Health Secretary Ona went on a leave of absence due to an allergic reaction of his hair dye. But when PNoy was asked on whether he still had his trust and confidence in Sec. Ona, the President replied, “The answer will come after the results of the answers to the questions on the immunization program of DOH, which Ona needs to answer.” Could it be that Sec. Ona realized that the immunization program would end up sterilizing Filipino children? Abangan!