This is a blatant attempt to retain the rigged elections.
When you control the guns you control the votes.
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What the house of representatives is trying to do, is pose conditions on the Commission of Elections (Comelec) before releasing the budget for automation. Basically, they are saying that go ahead with automation, however, they will still use the manual system. The manual system is always manipulated, ballot boxes swapped out with rigged votes. They have confessions from ex-military men and video footage of the swapped out ballot boxes in the 2004 elections.
If this amendment is passed, it would mean only 26 of the thousands of government positions would be compelled to use the automated system. What would be the point of automation?
These politicians are so brazen they do not even attempt to hide their criminal intentions.
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SAYS NOGRALES:
Poll automation bill has ‘companion’
By Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 18:01:00 02/26/2009
Filed Under: Congress, Legislation, State Budget & Taxes, Elections,
Eleksyon 2010
MANILA, Philippines – After passing on second reading the P11.3 billion supplemental budget of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the House of Representatives is crafting a “companion bill” that will guide the poll body on how the counting machines will be used in the May 2010 election, Speaker Prospero Nograles said Thursday.
Speaker Prospero Nograles said he has formed a special task force headed by deputy speaker Pablo Garcia to come up with the “companion bill” on automated elections.
The draft bill, he said, would be ready by Friday and would be taken up on the floor Monday.
“We will approve both of them [supplemental budget and companion bill] at the same time,” he said in a text message.
Nograles said that lawmakers agreed to give the nod to the supplemental budget subject on certain conditions, to be contained in a separate measure, to ensure that the voting and counting of votes would be fast, easy, and free from fraud.
Nograles also said that some lawmakers also raised the possibility of using the machines only for voting and counting of votes involving positions at the national level such as president, vice president, senators, and party list candidates. Those involving local positions can still use the manual system because counting of votes in these levels will be easier, he added.
“There are many options available, let’s wait for the draft bill,” he said when asked if this would be included in the “companion bill” that would be submitted.
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UPDATE 2 26 09
They openly admit the scheme is designed to protect votes and favor the cheats.
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House wants hybrid polls
By Jess Diaz Updated February 27, 2009 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Speaker Prospero Nograles indicated yesterday that the House of Representatives would insist on a hybrid or partial automation of next year’s general elections.
“Hybrid may be a compromise at least for this election. Partial automation is better than none at all,” Nograles told The STAR.
However, Nograles could not give an explanation for the insistence of his colleagues on partial computerization – automation for the election of president, vice president and senators, and the old, manual, fraud-prone process for local officials, including congressmen.
“Our congressmen may have a fear of the unknown. Personally, (I feel that) the fears are purely speculative,” he said without elaborating.
Nograles also said the House would approve the proposed P11.3-billion poll automation budget on March 3, its last session day before Congress goes on a month-long Lenten break.
Congressmen passed the budget bill on second reading on Wednesday night. After it is approved on third reading, it will be sent to the Senate for its own approval, which could take place when Congress resumes session on April 12 after the Holy Week.
Senators cannot vote on the budget measure until congressmen have finally approved it. Under the Constitution, appropriation bills originate from the House.
Last week, the House proposed to the Senate that the Lenten break be deferred for two weeks so that the two chambers could work on urgent pending measures.
However, the Senate rejected the proposal.
Sen. Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Senate committee on finance, has assured Comelec that the Senate would pass the supplemental budget without any restrictions.
Angara also supported Comelec in its position against implementing a hybrid system of elections next year.
“We have to be assured of the safety and accuracy of the system more than the cost, because we cannot allow another gross national anxiety over an election which is tainted by fraud. Passing the appropriation bill and consequently automating the elections will spare the public from fear and doubts in the new leadership. And this is what we don’t want – a crisis of confidence,” he said.
The Senate committee held its second public hearing yesterday to flesh out the P11.3-billion proposed outlay for the poll automation.
The supplemental appropriation is on top of the P5.3-billion allocation of Comelec as part of the proposed P1.415-trillion General Appropriations Act.
Angara was supported by Senators Richard Gordon and Juan Miguel Zubiri, who issued their respective statements supporting Comelec.
“The Senate will not agree to a hybrid system. I am against it, and (even) Senators Angara, Gordon and (Aquilino) Pimentel are against it,” Zubiri said.
Pimentel also shared the concern that a hybrid system will only sow confusion in the counting of ballots.
Senators Loren Legarda and Pia Cayetano agreed on the need to pass the supplemental budget for full automation.
“Full automation is the ideal and must be funded to avoid a repeat of 2004 (elections),” Legarda said.
Cayetano, for her part, said a hybrid scheme would be prone to fraud.
She stressed the situation would only further confuse the voting and counting processes, pointing out the tedious task of supervising manual and automated elections.
No compromise
Melo, along with other Comelec commissioners, told the senators during the hearing that it would be difficult to reach a compromise with the proposal of congressmen to hold a hybrid type of elections next year.
Melo warned of the possibility that the country will have to contend with manual elections if the timetable is not met.
He stressed the time frame is already very tight because Congress will have a five-week Holy Week break. Regular session resumes on April 13, which Angara is targeting for the bicameral conference.
“It would be difficult for us to reach a compromise on that (hybrid) proposal. There is a big possibility that nothing would be agreed on and we will end up full manual again,” Melo said.
According to Melo, it will take about four to five months to conduct the bidding, awarding and installing all the 80,000 polling machines nationwide. There is also a provision of one and a half months from the passage of the bill to awarding the contract, he pointed out.
“Providers may not be able to fill the 80,000 machines that we have to place in each polling precinct if we get the budget late. That is because they still have to customize the machines and this needs time,” Melo said.
Melo revealed that Comelec has a back up plan in case Congress fails to release the budget on time.
“We’re now toying with the idea of having 50 percent of the country going manual while the rest will be automated, especially the sensitive areas like the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao,” Melo told reporters.
Melo said the Comelec is studying if a partial automation would not go against Republic Act 9369, or the Poll Automation Law that mandates the computerization of the 2010 elections.
Middle ground
Malacañang ((The P.I. "Whitehouse"))urged Comelec and lawmakers to hold dialogues over the implementation of automated polls in 2010.
Deputy Presidential Spokesman Anthony Golez said the primary issue should be the proper implementation of the law on automated polls as well as the conduct of orderly, honest and peaceful elections.
Malacañang also prodded Congress to immediately pass the supplemental budget to finance the modernization of elections next year.
Palace officials, however, were non-committal on calls for President Arroyo to authorize a special session of Congress to pass the supplemental budget.
“The President has certified as very urgent the proposed bill (supplemental budget) so the discussions are now in Congress on how can this be passed. What the President wants is automated polls. This is part of the agenda of the President,” Golez said.
“The Palace stands firmly for automation,” Golez stressed when asked about the debate between Comelec and lawmakers over the implementation of partial or full automation.
“What is important is we reach the objective of full automation. We hope and pray for the wisdom of the Comelec and Congress to enable them to come to terms,” he said.
Golez said Mrs. Arroyo has not indicated whether she will call for a special session to allow lawmakers to have more time to pass the supplemental allocation.
“I think we have sent a lot of signals already and the strongest one is the certification that it is urgent,” he said.
Vice President Noli de Castro, for his part, expressed support for full automation of the 2010 elections.
“The schedule is imperative in order to be able to have time to test the reliability of the poll automation for 2010. We cannot sacrifice the quality of computerized polls if we want an honest, cleaner, faster and reliable election results,” De Castro said.
“If elections will not be fully computerized by 2010, then the automation plan should be scrapped entirely, otherwise, it will only result in more confusion and problems,” he said.
De Castro urged lawmakers to set aside their partisan differences and focus on restructuring the electoral system.
De Castro also urged Comelec to fast-track the conversion process and ensure the proper preparation for the automated system of elections.
Fear of the unknown
Nograles, meanwhile, took exception to the apprehensions of Melo that partial automation of next year’s elections would give rise to another “Garci” vote-rigging scandal.
Nograles hinted that if it happens again, it is the Comelec and not Congress that should be blamed.
“If it ever took place at all, this Garci may have happened solely because it was allegedly an inside job from within – I repeat, from within – and was not caused by laws that Congress passed about honest, orderly and clean elections,” he stressed.
“Garci” is widely believed to be former elections official Virgilio Garcillano, accused of rigging the election results in Mindanao in 2004.
While Nograles cited “fear of the unknown” as the reason for congressmen insisting on having the congressional-local election done manually, some lawmakers like Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño said it is “fear of modern technology.”
Casiño said the apprehensions are coming from those who want clean elections and who want to protect their votes, and those who are inclined to cheat.
He added that in areas controlled by politicians who are warlords, all these politicians have to do to cheat is to instruct members of the board of election inspectors to fill out the ballots and feed them into the machines.
He stressed that the only way to prevent this fraud is for Comelec to complete biometric registration of voters and to install a system that would link the biometrics database to the counting machines to flush out “flying” and unauthorized voters.
Casiño pointed out that fears about automation are also coming from those who are disposed to cheat and who prefer the manual system because they already know how to manipulate it.
The United Opposition (UNO) said hybrid elections in 2010 would only benefit administration candidates.
“Retaining the manual system or even a combination of manual and automated counting will favor the administration candidate,” United Opposition (UNO) president and Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay said.
“Despite the ‘Hello, Garci’ scandal, no serious effort has been made to overhaul the election system. Unless we fully automate in 2010, we will be playing with practically the same rules that led to the fraud-ridden election of Mrs. Arroyo in 2004,” he said.
Binay said the delay in the approval of the supplemental budget for poll automation “works in favor of the administration.”
“If Congress fails to pass the supplemental budget by March, Comelec says it will not be able to automate the counting of votes in 2010. And the delay means using the manual system, which is proven to be very vulnerable to cheating,” Binay said.
– With Christina Mendez, Paolo Romero, Sheila Crisostomo, Jose Rodel Clapano
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