Defective machines

When we had the first ever automated election last May 2010 under the Poll Automation Law (R.A. 9369), most of us Filipinos expected that we would finally have an honest and credible one; that the candidates who won in the voting would not lose in the counting and the canvassing of votes unlike what happened in the previous elections. The prevailing consensus was that we would have the first ever genuinely “successful” election where the results would truly reflect the vox populi, the voice of the people. Many of us “automatically” believed that the machines to be used known as the “precinct count optical scan” (PCOS) machines would be reliable especially with the safeguards provided by R.A. 9369. Most of us did not mind the warning of the IT experts on the possible glitches in the PCOS, out of disinterest or ignorance of such highly technical matters.

Moreover, the political situation at that time rendered us oblivious of any defects in the PCOS machines. We were more interested in ensuring that Gloria Arroyo who had been in power for 9 years will not stay a minute longer as President especially with so many reported anomalies and corrupt practices allegedly committed during her term. At that time, Cory Aquino had just died after a lingering illness and people really missed her apparently “unblemished” record as president and as “icon of democracy” who took over the reins of power after the EDSA people power I revolution. Her death suddenly catapulted her son, Benigno Simeon Aquino III (PNoy) into the limelight as the “white knight” in shining armor. Even though he had a so-so performance in the Senate, he apparently became the best choice for the presidency considering that the other candidates either had no chances of winning or were also traditional politicians who would only perpetrate the same corrupt practices.

And when the PCOS machines indeed showed that he won the election by an overwhelming vote as also reflected in the poll surveys, the country readily accepted him as president, riding on the crest of the emotional outpouring over her mother’s death and on his catchy slogan of walang corrupt, walang mahirap sa daang matuwid”. There was that euphoric feeling once again as if another successful people power revolution had happened this time through the ballots. People did not mind any more the many glitches and defects of the PCOS machines used, especially after the results were known in record time and the losing contenders graciously conceded. They overlooked and ignored the following facts:

1. There was no certified source code ensuring that the ballot of each voter will be read properly, that the votes will be counted correctly by the PCOS machines, that the results transmitted are not tainted with fraud and that the compact flash (CF) cards in the PCOS machines will accurately record the data.

2. In fact the Supreme Court even required the Comelec to furnish the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) with the said source code pursuant to R.A. 9369, but it was never complied with. The reason for this failure became clear only when incumbent Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes finally admitted in a recent forum that the Dominion Voting Systems (DVS) which owns the system used in regulating the PCOS machines supplied by Smartmatic for the 2010 elections, refused to issue the certification or approve the issuance of the certification by the Denver based SLI Global Solutions which conducted a review of the source code for the 2013 elections, due to the suit and countersuit between them pending in the US court;

3. In the May 3, 2010 final testing and sealing (FTS) of the PCOS, it was discovered that the 72,000 CF cards contained erroneous data and had malfunctioned. But the real reason and magnitude of such malfunctioning had not been known or disclosed because Comelec ordered the burning of said CF cards. There was also no accurate information on whether the new CF cards were correctly reconfigured to insure the correct counting of votes and how many of these cards reached their destination before the election. It was not also known whether FTS were conducted in the 76,340 clustered precincts nationwide

4. There was also no complete and accurate information on whether the random manual audit had been conducted in the designated clustered precincts pursuant to the Automated Election law as a way of finding out whether the PCOS machines correctly counted the votes, the magnitude of the PCOS breakdowns and the actual number of PCOS machines that successfully transmitted the results;

5. Other incidents indicating irregularities or rigged election results are: the failure to fully cleanse the voter’s registration lists, with many legitimate voters de-listed from their polling precincts and many others unable to vote; the highly irregular storage of 67 PCOS machines in Antipolo and the recovery of election returns in a Cagayan de Oro junk shop; the incomplete utilization of the P30 million worth of UV scanners; the Comelec website revealing only summarized election returns instead of the digitally signed consolidated returns from clustered precincts from which the accuracy of the ERs can be verified; former Comelec Chairman Jose Melo already reading the first transmitted result at 6:30 pm when the polls were supposed to close at 7 pm; and the highly excessive number of voters (153,902,003 against the actual figure of 51 million) registered by the Smartmatic machines at the national canvassing center.

With all these irregularities, glitches and defects in the PCOS machines, more doubts now abound whether the results of the 2010 elections are correct. But more alarming here is the Comelec’s decision to use the same machines again in the coming 2013 elections despite the lack of the certified source code. While the machines were field tested last January 26, 2013, outsiders and media were even barred. With such lack of transparency, AES Watch said that we will never know whether or not the PCOS machines can be fed with pre-programmed CF cards showing data of manipulators and not of the voters. Even the Comelec’s assessment of a “successful” mock election yesterday despite several glitches found in the machines does not inspire confidence that “a pillar of democracy” is not now in grave danger of being eroded by defective machines.

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