Sen. Dick Gordon’s challenge to Philconsa

The other day, former Senator Richard “Dick” Gordon apparently issued a “Challenge to Philconsa” regarding the way the Commission on Elections (Comelec) conducted the last two elections wherein the troubled Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines were used in the year 2010 and 2013. I just got my copy of Sen. Gordon’s powerpoint presentation that he gave during Philconsa’s monthly meeting. But since it’s quite lengthy let me go straight to the most damaging case that Comelec just simply ignored… the complaint filed by Dominion Voting Systems vs. Smartmatic in the Delaware County Court. Surely with this legal case our Justices can very well see why the Comelec committed so many violations of its own laws!

In their complaint, Smartmatic alleged and recognized that Dominion failed to deliver a fully functional technology for use in the 2010 presidential elections. That Dominion failed to provide timely technical support during the elections and failed to provide Smartmatic with information related to the licensed technology, including new developments to the licensed technology. Lastly, Dominion failed to place in escrow the required source code, hardware design and manufacturing information.

We’ve written tons of columns about the so many problems plaguing the PCOS machines and Comelec’s highly-questionable behavior. Sen. Gordon pointed out “With all these clear transgressions committed by the Comelec, the Philconsa should be at the forefront of a noble crusade to help cleanse the election process. That Philconsa should help restore public trust in the electoral process and help enhance our credibility as a democratic society. Philconsa should fight for what is right.

Then Sen. Gordon got a quote from ACLU founder Roger Baldwin who said, “So long as we have enough people in this country willing to fight for their rights, we’ll be a democracy.” I dare say that if PHILCONA fails to accept Sen. Gordon’s challenge, they will fail the Filipino people, and worst, doom whatever is left with our democracy into the dustbin of history.

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When Akbayan Party-list Rep. Walden Bello first exposed the so-called “Sex-for-Flight” as chairman of the House committee on overseas Filipino workers affairs, one would immediately suspect what was his motive in exposing this without any evidence to support the allegations. But thankfully this week, three OFWs visited Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario where they gave their written testimonies in order to make their case stand up in courts of law. So now, let’s bring the accused to the courts.

Meanwhile, our article about Filipina OFWs used as “comfort women” by Philippine government officials in the Middle East got me a ton of emails from our readers all over the world. While I reply to all the emails sent to me, I will reprint one from Dante B.  Yglopaz of UP Diliman Campus… [email protected].

Sir; It is no longer big news, having discovered the sexual exploitation of our women OFWs in Saudi Arabia. I had worked as a consulting engineer in Saudi for 10 years (1979 to 1989) and have known this practice ever since in our embassy in Saudi especially in Jeddah. From the janitor to the top level of the embassy are doing this.

I have met several close relatives of these women who told stories about how they were given “shelter” kuno at the embassy in exchange for sexual pleasure. This practice has been going on for the last 4 decades now. This is no longer new. Breaking this news now is just a political gimmick to destroy the image of the present administration. Thank you and best regards Dante B. Yglopaz.”

At this point, I would like to believe that when this case gets to our courts, it might just be too easy for the suspects to get out on bail. Perhaps Congress should come up quickly with a law that penalizes this type of crime perpetrated by a government functionary, using the powers of his office for sexual pleasure or profit. Many people believe that this is a heinous crime and let’s see if Congress will move to help our beleaguered OFWs.

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Joke Time: Some friends have suggested to me that we should inject some jokes in our columns as we’ve been tagged as too serious about our work. I fully agree… but only if we have a joke worth printing in this corner. This was sent to me by my good friend, Bingen Mendezona called “marijuana marriage.”

“For those who haven’t heard, Washington State just passed both laws — legalized gay marriage and legalized marijuana. The fact that gay marriage and marijuana were legalized on the same day makes perfect Biblical sense, because Leviticus 20:13 says: ‘If a man has sexual relations with another male as he would with a woman, both have committed a repulsive act. They should both be stoned.’ We just hadn’t interpreted it correctly before.”

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