What’s all this buzz about the PPCRV?

I was making my comments on the report that Archbishop Ramon Argüelles, Archbishop of Lipa, apparently severed his ties with the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) when all of the sudden, I heard him being interviewed on this issue by Joe Taruc over DZRH which can be heard in Cebu. Then I got this letter from Fr. Leonido Dolor on the same issue. So I decided to print his letter for the appreciation of our readers because his concerns are very similar to my concerns and the concerns of the electorate throughout the nation. Here’s his letter in full.

“Sir Bobit, I hope you have read/heard the news that the Archbishop of Lipa has severed its working relationship and cooperation with Tita de Villa and PPCRV. The decision came about during the Easter Monday gathering of the clergy of the Archdiocese as unanimously the priests voted to do so.

Aside from our perception of PPCRV’s very soft stand on most of our civil societies, CBCP included, stance on Comelec’s refusal to bring back the three safeguards to ensure the integrity of the use of the PCOS machines, the inclusion of a former Comelec Commissioner in its board and the PPCRV’s penchant to defend and side with the Comelec in its dubious performance like the results of the mock elections where serious flaws surfaced, the last straw was the decision of PPCRV re the 4th copy of the ER.

The priests could not swallow the fact that we in the local PPCRV cannot even peep at its content. How can we keep tab of the results, especially in the local scene, which is really the more important aspect of our involvement? Why deviate from the usual practice in the past where we can scan the ER from the precincts and send them electronically to the national HQ of the PPCRV? Tita claims that’s what the law says. But isn’t the law saying that the digital signature, the UV and the validation should be there, and the PPCRV has been very timid in pushing for these.

How about the tireless efforts exerted by our local volunteers, who on the very Election Day will work non-stop, get that precious ED only to be handed over to the standing-by Air 21 or Mail or more couriers to be shipped to Manila, without the locals knowing the results? Sounds like the familiar Tagalog ditty, “Ako ang nagtanim, iba ang kumain.” However, we will continue our voters’ education and give our 100% effort to ensure the peaceful, orderly, honest and credible election in the province, one in the watch list of the poll body.

These efforts will be continued and supervised by what we call Lipa Archdiocesan Council for Electoral Reforms (LACER), whose chair is Fr. Ilde Dimaano, who was formerly Social Action Director and a veteran in election duties. Fr. Dimaano was the outgoing president of the Catholic Media Network. If the poll body would not accredit us, we have other plans to ensure we help our people guard the sacredness of their votes.

I hope I did not bore you with this account. By the way, I am the media person of the Archdiocese and we’ve met already. I also write in a weekly community paper here in Batangas City, aside from running the churches’ two radio stations (I go on board with my 2-hour public and church affairs program from Monday to Friday). We also have a monthly archdiocesan newspaper called “Ulat Batangan.” Continue to be a vanguard of the Catholic Faith in the field of mass media. There are only a few good Catholic media persons around. For my part being in media since 1970, the younger ones here I try to influence by my presence. Fr. Nonie D.”

Thank you Fr. Nonie for your letter as you have given me and our readers what you folks in Batangas are doing for this coming May 2013 elections. Yes, I was aghast to learn that PPCRV had appointed Gregorio Larrazabal as its national vice-chair. We know too well that when he was with the Comelec… he brokered the deal with Smartmatic. After so many exhaustive research on the issue of the PCOS machines, we have come to learn that Smartmatic was a mere broker or agent who knew next to nothing about information technology (IT), while I maybe tech savvy, I must admit that I only know what’s on the surface of IT.

In hindsight, the Comelec should have made a deal with Dominion Voting Systems (DVS), the real owner of the operating system that runs the PCOS machines. This is why I questioned the Comelec and the Supreme Court for agreeing to the purchase (billions of pesos) of those used PCOS machines that nobody except our stupid Comelec officials wanted. It is for this reason why we are very interested in the case between Smartmatic vs. Dominion Voting Systems who owns the source code for the PCOS machines.

As for Tita de Villa, she is nothing but Comelec’s “deodorant” and has always been. I’m not accusing her of being corrupt… just naïve. Thanks to Archbishop Ramon Arguelles and the priests of Batangas Diocese, you are not only the true shepherds of your flock, but you are true Patriots as well.

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