Smartmatic's listed owners/ election watchdog fights

The Comelec expects at worst 5.4 percent of precincts to not have voting machines in time for today’s balloting. Spokesman James Jimenez said in my radio show Saturday 3.3 million voters will be affected, mostly in usual hotspots Maguindanao and Abra. But voting can go on because ballots and pens already have been delivered; counting will come later.

In that case, the poll body should publish a list of affected precincts in which municipalities. That’s so political parties, election watchdogs, and the press can monitor the precincts and canvassing centers. The Comelec is un-purged; the dagdag-bawas (vote padding-shaving) syndicate remains in place. It is awaiting precisely failures of automation in order to manipulate canvasses for multimillion-peso dirty fees from national candidates.

Three million votes drastically can alter the results of close fights. Presidential, VP and senatorial wannabes can win or lose based on links to the syndicate. But by disclosing vulnerable areas, the Comelec brass can show seriousness in curbing poll fraud.

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Once there were three poll watchdogs, whose expertise matched to make elections neat and clean. The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) handled voter education and assistance. The National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) held quick counts of manual tallies. The Legal Network for Truthful Election (Lente), of lawyers and paralegals, prosecuted poll cheats. All Catholic Church-based, they shared field volunteers. At one time PPCRV and Namfrel had Tita de Villa as common chairwoman.

This year the watchdogs are dogfighting. De Villa has resigned from Namfrel, and secured the former’s certification as Comelec citizen’s arm. This entitled PPCRV to the fourth of 30 copies of precinct returns to be printed out by voting machines. It’s crucial since the machine will first print only eight copies (for the Comelec and political parties) before transmitting to canvassing, then resume later. PPCRV’s copy is for the random manual audit required by the automation law and assigned to it by Comelec.

Namfrel applied for accreditation for purposes of the audit as well, claiming it had more experience in counting, and asking for the 27th copy. PPCRV objected, reminding Comelec it already got the audit assignment.

Un-accredited Namfrel shifted to doing a parallel count. It revived ties with PPCRV chapters and requested sharing of copies of returns. De Villa fired off a memo to the field in April that PPCRV’s accreditation is its alone. PPCRV decided to do the parallel count and formally asked Comelec for the 26th copy.

Meanwhile, Lente belatedly and quietly got certified only last week, entitling it to the 29th copy. But there is apprehension that de Villa’s earlier memo virtually instructs PPCRV field volunteers to get all copies of returns reserved for citizen’s arms in the belief that it is the only one accredited.

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It can never be too late to ascertain the true ownership of automation supplier Smartmatic. This has bearing on the accuracy and acceptability of the election results.

A team of Filipino-Americans led by Loida Nicolas Lewis has asked Washington to check the firm’s activities in the US. Allegedly Smartmatic Corp., parent of Smartmatic International Corp. that is automating RP polls, is linked to America’s foe, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. Smartmatic is registered in Florida and Barbados, but owned by Venezuelans said to be Chavez fronts and friends. The Barbados records have vanished, but eight subsidiaries are now listed in Venezuela. Smartmatic Holdings Inc. was put up in The Netherlands to make it look European, but wholly owned by a Venezuelan firm with unnamed founders. In 2004 Smartmatic Corp. bought Sequoia, America’s second biggest automation firm and licensee of the Canadian maker of the SAES-1800 precinct count optical scanner to be used in today’s balloting. US authorities promptly investigated the Chavez connection. Whereupon, Smartmatic withdrew the acquisition to effectively end the probe of its ownership, Nicolas-Lewis said. Smartmatic partnered with local firm Total Information Management to bid an incredibly low P7.2 billion for the Comelec’s P11.2-billion automation.

Smartmatic was involved in the Muslim Autonomous Region’s 2008 election. At that time its local partner was Strategic Alliance Holdings Inc. to supply touch-screen voting machines. In SEC records Smartmatic-SAHI’s incorporators included Filipinos Juan C. Villa Jr., Cezar T. Quiambao, Saviniano M. Perez Jr., Jorge M. Yulo, and Miguel Antonio M. Villa, and Spanish Alberto Castro.

News reports and blogs, quoting IT and corporate sources, have linked the Villas and Quiambao to First Gentleman Mike Arroyo and Interior Sec. Ronnie Puno. Allegedly they are golf and business buddies, along with Ernest Villareal, Arroyo’s pal and one-time head of the Public Estates Authority.

Also SEC-registered is Smartmatic Philippines. Incorporators are the Dutch Smartmatic Holdings, Spanish Alberto Castro, Venezuelans Cesar Flores, and Ruliena Pineta, and Filipinos Ruby Rose Yusi and Aison Benedict Velasco.

Smartmatic-TIM lists among its incorporators Filipinos Juan C. Villa Jr., Nilo S. Cruz, Lamberto F.L. Lorenzo, and Edgardo W. Valenzuela, and Spanish Alberto Castro. They are also among the directors, along with Filipinos Ruby Rose J. Yusi as corporate secretary, Pablo de Borja as assistant, and Venezuelan Ruliena Pinate as treasurer.

Recently Smartmatic-TIM changed its name to 1920 Business Inc. Incorporators are Filipinos Juan C. Villa Jr., Nilo S. Cruz, Lamberto Lorenzo Edgardo W. Valenzuela, and Aison Benedict Velasco.

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 “Volunteer your heart. Then your body will follow.” Shafts of Light, Fr. Guido Arguelles, SJ

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