Countdown to the day of infamy

The Ateneo Blue Room in Rockwell was standing room only by the time I came for the launch of the two books Hacking our Democracy by Rene Azurin and Was Your Vote Counted? by AES Watch/CenPEG Books.

These are important books that give the background why computer experts and transparent election advocates reject Smartmatic-PCOS. So it is important to read them for carefully studied reasons. Most come from the experience of May election in 2010. There are others who have an additional basis for rejecting the automatic electoral system being peddled by this group around the world. Other countries that have tried it know from experience that it is a worthless product that does not fulfill the objectives it promises about clean transparent elections.

To me the most important is the German experience that embodies a simple principle: since elections are public every voter must understand the process through which he votes and how his vote is counted. On the other hand, automation requires specialized knowledge. The two contradict each other. There is no way to track how the votes have been counted.

What is alarming is how the Comelec and allied departments in government completely ignore the facts and just goes merrily along with preparations for May 10 that is less than a month from today.

According to the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) regional office in Legaspi there is no way the “Precinct Count Optical Scanner (PCOS) machine can be tampered or manipulated.”

“The PCOS machines are very reliable and accurate,” says DOST 5 regional director Tomas Brinas. That is the word being spread around to the voting public. He calls questions and doubts on the machines as “baseless.” Where has this man been? Is he a scientist? A technician? He can begin by reading a catalogue of assessments from other countries that used it or even better all the cases last May 2010 that prove it can and has been used fraudulently.

So it is not about proving it can be used for fraud in 2013. It has already been used for fraud in 2010. Not a single case with evidence has been accepted by Comelec. The question now is what should the voting public do in the face of Comelec’s intransigence? It is time for a count down to the day of infamy.

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By coincidence the launch occurred a day before Araw ng Kagitingan, or the Day of Valor. It was touching that the emcee at the launch remarked how many in the audience were related to the heroes of the Death March. By my side was a cousin, Lolita Adea Valdez whose father, Daniel Adea, was with the unit led by Eleuterio Adevoso. Both he and another uncle, Lt. Col Luis Adea were in the march and experienced the horrific trek of about 145 kilometers to Camp O’Donnell in San Fernando. Thousands of those sick and wounded died during the Bataan Death March even before they could reach the camp. It was family lore that my grandmother acquired her asthma from fear and worry about her sons in that march. Luckily they survived to tell the tale of suffering and heroism of Filipinos who responded to the challenge. That is why the recollection of the Bataan Death March in a meeting on defending democracy through the sovereign vote was poignantly appropriate. Perhaps the Bataan Death March bravery will be demanded of Filipinos once again.

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Children of veterans are working so that their heroism is properly commemorated. Raffy Evangelista whose father was a veteran, is the current president of the Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor (DBC).

Katherine Fernandez writes about the campaign. There are some veterans still alive but they are now in their nineties. They tell their stories about the war and the march but their memories are dimming and these need to be documented as a legacy to many generations of Filipinos to come.

“Evangelista’s advocacy is to explain to the Filipino youth that it was the Filipino soldier, not the American, who was the extra brave warrior in the battles fought on our own soil.  

To this day, hardly any recognition is given to these men, whose families have not received compensation for their contribution to fighting for our freedom and laying down the foundation for the nation building we do today.” writes Katherine.  

Evangelista explained “that much of history was written to glorify the US as the savior of the Philippines; little credit was given to our own countrymen who killed more enemy soldiers, using bolos and substandard artillery, than the Americans were able to kill using their state of the art equipment.” As for that day of bravery, make that day today. Winston Churchill aptly put it, “...the Filipino soldier is second to none.”  

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Diplomatic pouch: For booklovers here’s a treat from the Instituto Cervantes — the Dia International del Libro (International Book Day). In their feed to this column they write that they are bringing this special day “to the streets of Manila.”

“It is celebrated annually by Instituto Cervantes centers all over the world but this year, it is shifting the event to Bonifacio High Street on April 20, from 1p.m. to 8 p.m.

Dia del Libro has its roots in the centuries-old Catalan tradition of exchanging books for roses. For every book purchased, each buyer will receive not only a 20% discount but a long-stemmed rose courtesy of the participating bookstores.

It is widely believed that Dia del Libro was originally celebrated every third week of April to commemorate the death of two of Western literature’s most well-known writers — William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes, author and creator of the most iconic character in Spanish literature — Don Quixote de la Mancha. It is said that not only did these two die on the same year (1616), they also died on the same day — April 23rd.

Apart from books, visitors will also be treated to poetry recitals, music and a dance performance by a Spanish contemporary dance duo.

Participating in the book market are some of the country’s most popular bookstores such as National Bookstore, Powerbooks and Fully Booked as well as specialized bookshops such as the Ortigas Foundation, the National Historical Commission of the Philippines and the La Solidaridad Bookshop.