Poll Fraud Whistle Blowers No Proof, Comelec Investigates

There are claims that there are some people who manage to cheat in the May 2010 national election. A whistle blower came to ABS-CBN saying that his group was able to manipulate the results of votes for some candidate in exchange of money from politicians. He said that for every vote for a national candidate cost P20.00 while for the local level it costs P10.00. He also narrated how their illegal activities worked. Based on the interview, they claimed that they were able to transmit election returns to the central server of the comelec.

Although these were mere allegations, the whistle blower did not want to be identified nor want to testify in hearings if the congress and the comelec will look into the accusation.

The congressional hearing stopped the presentation of the video of the whistle blower named robin since what he says are all hearsays.

Even if these were just some gimmicks of some loosing politicians, the comelec should still investigate this. The allegation that Mayor Jejomar Binay was one of their clients is a big concern for us.

We don't want to have another set of illegitimate leaders.

It is a fact that the comelec and smartmatic have so many flaws in the conduct of the May elections. Right now the comelec created a body investigating the recovery of some compact flash (CF) cards in a junk shop in Cagayan De Oro City.

Automation is good however, some safeguards were removed or not implemented. This makes the process open to fraud, cheating and other forms of illegal activities that benefits some politicians.

9 Senators Proclaimed by Comelec

New Senators proclaimed by Comelec

Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.
Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada
Miriam Defensor-Santiago
Franklin Drilon
Juan Ponce-Enrile
Pilar Juliana Cayetano
Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Ralph Recto
Vicente “Tito” Sotto III

At the time of their proclamation as winners in the senatorial race, there are still 7 percent of votes not canvassed. According to Melo this will not affect the standing of the 9 proclaimed senators. The remaining seats are closely contested by Sen. Lito Lapid, former Senator Sergio Osmena, Rep Riza Hontiveros Baraquel, Rep TG Guingona, Joey de Venecia, Brig Danny Lim, Rep Ruffy Biazon, and Sonia Roco

Vote Buying in Election and Other Related Violence

This is the day where local campaign leaders are busy not for campaigning their candidates but checking the lists of voters who are on their vote buying list.

It is a sad thing for Philippine politics that vote buying during election becomes a tradition and worst becomes the culture of the Filipinos. That is why corruption will be very difficult to eradicate because of huge amount spent on vote buying. There are some politicians who do not rely on advertising, public debates, campaigning since they know that there are some or a lot of people who can bought before the day of the elections.

The amount of money ranges from P50 up to P5,000 depending on the position of the candidate. At the local level, candidates for mayor and congressman starts from P1000 per head. A local candidate in a municipality even gives 1 sack of rice as an additional incentive to voters who will shift their support.

Violence and threats from opposing groups or supporters are also common. There are times that supporters of a candidate will harass voters who are known to support their rivals.

As of this moment, there are already some reports that attempts to steal ballots and PCOS machine were made in some provincial areas.

We just hope that on May 10, 2010 elections, we will have an orderly and peaceful elections.

Religious Endorsement: Can It Help Candidates Win The 2010 Elections?

Here are some of the endorsements or support promised by some religious leaders and organization. Candidates are still trying to win the support of as many religious sects hoping that it will bring them more votes in the May 10 elections.

Senator Noynoy Aquino - Iglesia ni Cristo

Senator Manyy Villar - Brother Mike Velarde, El Shaddai

Defense Secretary Gibo Teodoro - Pastor Quiboloy

Brother Eddie Villanueva - His own church , Jesus is Lord


Some of these religious groups have been known to vote as a block, so lets wait on Monday if this will translate to actual votes for the candidates.

May 2010 Elections in Peril Due Wrong Configuration of CF Cards

It is a very big question why the Comelec and the smartmatic-TIM was not able to foresee the possibility of an error in program configurations when they alter the format of the printed ballots. It was already explained by their IT experts that it was due to program installed on the CF cards why the errors in the tally for the local level occurred.

The CF cards was previously programmed to read single spaces in the ballots(that is why there was no reported error in the national level candidates)but at the back of the ballots which is for the local candidates, the printed part is double spaced thus the program will not be able to read it correctly.

Again people are asking why is this scenario happening. Is this done with a purpose? Or they just overlook it.

There are so many possible scenario that may happen if the May 2010 elections will become a failure.

It will create chaos, uprising, affect our economy, and the extension of the term of the current President.

We just hope that the COMELEC and SMARTMATIC will be able to fulfill their promise to the Filipino people- a clean, honest and orderly elections.

Since there are only a few days left before the elections, the COMELEC people and the SMARTMATIC should work 24 hours a day to make the poll happen.