The ties that bind

Being the most visible man of the company behind the first automated election system in the Philippines, Smartmatic Asia-Pacific president Cesar Flores has now become a familiar face and name in our country. With such Filipino-sounding name, he would be mistaken as one of us. But his Latin features, of course, shows his true color.

His public appearances before, during, and after the May 10 elections gave him much exposure in media, not because of his good looks but for heading the company that attempted to automate Philippine elections. And he could only thank profusely the Commission on Elections (Comelec) headed by retired Justice Jose Melo as chairman as the real “heroes” of the first-ever automated elections in the Philippines.

“A lot of prayers did it for us,” Melo told me after I congratulated him for the success of the just concluded elections. Melo cited that the speedy proclamation of the election winners from presidential to local officials have proved all doomsayers wrong of the automated elections. But all these “red flags” challenged them more to do their best. Melo also thanked Smartmatic for living up to their commitment to automate Philippine elections the best way they could.

The Comelec signed the contract with Smartmatic for P7.2 billion to lease 82,200 precinct count optical scan machines (PCOS) used in the last May 10 presidential elections. Through the adoption of the automated election system, our country experienced for the first time knowing the results of the election just a few hours after polling precincts were closed.

The Smartmatic chief mentioned the special role played by Sen. Richard Gordon as main author of the Automation Law. Although Gordon lost the presidential race, Flores credited the Senator for leading the way against all odds. Flores likewise paid tribute to the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee co-chaired by Sen. Chiz Escudero and Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin.    

Flores unabashedly praised to high heavens former Philippine ambassador to the Vatican, Henrietta de Villa, chairperson of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), one of Comelec’s accredited election watchdog groups. He described her as the “guardian angel” of the automated elections. As chairperson of the PPCRV, De Villa sits as member of the Comelec’s Advisory Council on Poll Automation with other stakeholders designated by the Automation Law as representatives in this body.   

Flores expressed his deep gratitude to all the people who helped Smartmatic carry out the poll automation project without major election-related violent incidents. He particularly lauded the officers and men of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) that were deputized by the Comelec to secure the PCOS machines. They risked their “lives and limbs” to do this job, Flores stressed.

The Smartmatic chief read a long list of people and organizations he commended in a thanksgiving gathering his company hosted last Wednesday night at the Esplanade in the Mall of Asia complex in Pasay City. Flores properly acknowledged the important roles they played led by their local partner company Total Information Management (TIM) Corp.

At the gathering, dubbed as “Counted into History,” Flores said Smartmatic is proud to have been part of Philippine history. “We are here to stay!” Flores declared.

This reminded me of his previous reported statement where he was quoted as having expressed his readiness to have his Venezuelan passport “screwed” to the walls. This was supposed to guarantee he will not leave the Philippines but will be here to oversee his company’s implementation of their automated polls project.

While Flores speaks good English, his Venezuelan accent somehow distorted his message. What he really meant was he would give to the Comelec his passport “in escrow” and not “screw” as reported.  

While the Smartmatic chief is enjoying his newfound popularity, he, however, intimated to me he is worried on the final report of the congressional hearings conducted on the alleged “hocus-PCOS” and other forms of electronic cheating that tainted the otherwise credible elections that we had. “The truth is brighter than the sun. You cannot hide the truth that you had the most peaceful, the cleanest and fastest elections in history,” Flores stressed.

The charge d’ affaires of Venezuela to the Philippines, Manuel Perez Iturbe, is very happy also with the turnout of the automation project that Smartmatic did for the Comelec. He was obviously pleased with his country’s contribution, through the Smartmatic project that helped modernize Philippine elections.

He noted the strong ties that bind the Philippines with Venezuela that was further enhanced in 1999 when their President Hugo Chavez made a state visit in Manila. It was during the term of former President Joseph Estrada who ran but lost in his comeback bid to the Palace in the May 10 elections.

The Smartmatic also automated the election system in its home country Venezuela. But the oil-rich Latin-American country, however, has much more advanced system with the use of the DRE or direct recording electronic machines. While we used here the PCOS machines where we have to shade the ballots, the DRE uses touch-screen voting.

Iturbe is currently the highest-ranking embassy official here of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. They will observe their country’s 199th Independence Day anniversary on July 5. He told me he has been staying here in the Philippines along with his family for the past four years. Therefore, he has seen for himself the big difference of the just concluded May 10 elections with the last manual election we had in May 2007. 

He was also beaming proud to see another fellow Venezuelan, Miss Universe 2008 Dayana Mendoza at the thanksgiving affair that night. She was flown to Manila on Monday by Smartmatic to act as their “ambassador for transparency.”

Miss Venezuela wished she could pay a courtesy call, even for a brief moment, with our first PCOS President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. However, the busy schedule of our newly proclaimed bachelor President was fully loaded. And that full schedule might included a date with President-elect Aquino’s so-called “First Girlfriend,” councilwoman Shalani Soledad who is his own Miss Valenzuela!