Coloma now spokesman for Smartmatic, PCOS?

READERS REACT to “answerability” of P-Noy, Generals Purisima and Napeñas, etc., for the Mamasapano debacle (Gotcha, 11, 13, 16 Feb. 2015):

Happy Belarde, Cubao, Quezon City: “If FVR and Maid Miriam, who always disagree, this time agree that P-Noy is to blame, then we should all listen up.”

Valentino Cantara, Sun Valley Subd., Parañaque: “If anything can go wrong it will. Murphy’s Law was what happened at Mamasapano.”

Edgardo J. Tirona: “Secretary Deles’ ‘ceasefire mechanism’ didn’t work since the MILF never meant to observe it, as shown in its execution of the wounded SAFs. Her naiveté makes her as accountable as the rest.”

Rocky Nuyda: “P-Noy should have rescued the commandos first before the ceasefire. The damage of lost lives is irreparable, while the damage to the ceasefire is reparable.”

Justiniano Gonzaga Jr.: “P-Noy extemporaneously told wounded SAFs that he learned of the firefight as soon as it erupted early morning of Jan. 25. So it would seem that his indecisiveness caused the loss of 44 lives. If he was decisive, then it was only to sacrificed the men for his peace talks (with MILF). The MILF then executed the wounded SAFs. Only those who pursue peace at all costs understand how P-Noy feels.

Ed Basbas: “From Zamboanga City P-Noy could have told the AFP to reinforce the PNP-SAF. He was there with Secretaries Gazmin and Roxas, and General Catapang to monitor the Mamasapano events, just like Obama in the Situation Room during the Abbottabad raid.”

Ampilo Sevilla: “Why do the AFP and PNP use text messaging, which can be intercepted or jammed, even when lives of policemen were at stake? Upon learning of the trapped cops, did Roxas ask Gazmin or Catapang for military help? If the attack is by a foreign aggressor, will the AFP react this same slow way? During the briefings for P-Noy to target international terrorists, were there security advisers to assess the national implications?”

Rhett K.H.: ”It seems that Roxas, Gazmin, Catapang were afraid to tell P-Noy what was happening at Mamasapano since morning of Jan. 25, so took till 3 p.m. to do so. Of course, P-Noy already knew since morning, and they knew that his best friend Purisima was in on it. Could they have let thing blow up in Purisima’s face?”

Jun Urbano: “The association of restaurateurs has banned General Purisima from all their establishments. They’re losing money because he doesn’t order, but only gives advice.”

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It’s bad enough that pipsqueak congressmen act like salesmen of Smartmatic’s voting gadgets (Gotcha, 3 Dec. 2014). Worse when even the press secretary markets its P300-million midnight deal with the Comelec. Could the shifty Venezuelan firm have clawed its way into Malacañang? If so, its next target would be the President no less.

Sec. Herminio Coloma heckled last week critics of Smartmatic’s precinct count optical scanners: show proof of its vulnerability to fraud. He was reacting to Rep. Neri Colmenares’ plea last week for the Comelec to stop using the “dubious machines.”

Babbled Coloma to reporters: “Allegations against the machines used are serious charges. Those who have direct and concrete proof about this should offer what they know in the proper forum. They should also help in laying down the complete information in order to aid the authorities.”

Coloma’s pitch came from left field. Cong. Neri had not directed his plea at Malacañang to merit a rejoinder from the press-sec; he had meant it for the Comelec, which has its own spokesman. Moreover, the agency is an independent body. Coloma knows and said so: “Integrity of elections is important and it is the job of the Comelec as an independent constitutional body to ensure this.” So why was he yakking at all?

It could only have been a staged question-and-answer, directed by Smartmatic. The President must be told that his factotum is moonlighting for a foreigner, in gross conflict of interest – during a PR crisis at that, the Mamasapano debacle, for which all hands must be on deck for the boss.

Coloma depicts the critics – topnotch info-technologists and social scientists – as remiss with their homework. Yet the experts have been presenting evidence against the PCOS for years.

As far back as the 2009 Comelec bidding they already bared that Smartmatic was not the PCOS developer. That made the firm ineligible to bid, under the poll automation act. They also showed that Smartmatic then had no experience using the PCOS, another ground to debar it. Its website then even called the PCOS “unreliable” compared to its main line, touch-screen voting machines. During product tests Smartmatic’s demo PCOS battery burst into flames. That the Comelec criminally ignored all that, Coloma cannot now blame the critics.

In 2010 the critics decried Smartmatic’s removal of all the PCOS’ security features. They suspected it was not only to cut costs but also for manipulability. True enough, during pre-election test runs the machines spewed out votes for the past admin’s presidential bet although no ballot was cast. Hundreds of thousands of compact flash drives had to be replaced and reprogrammed last minute. That the Comelec went on with the flawed PCOS, Coloma cannot now pin on the critics either.

In 2013 the critics were proven right about Smartmatic’s false claim to the PCOS software. In a celebrated lawsuit, with court papers readable online, the true developer, Canada’s Dominion Ltd., accused the Venezuelan impostor of abusing dealership privileges. In the subsequent balloting the critics exposed a rigged 60-30-10-percent pattern for admin-opposition-independent senatorial candidates in all precincts, congressional districts, and ethnic regions. It defied usual trends, like Bicolanos, Cebuanos, and Muslim Mindanaoans electing co-regionals, or Mega Manilans being pro-opposition. (World-famous televangelist Eddie Villanueva was only No. 19 in his home province of Bulacan and in Born-Again Christian bailiwicks, and ex-governor Margarita Cojuangco No. 21 in her Tarlac, as they were everywhere else.) As in 2010’s nine percent, 2013 result transmissions bogged down 23 percent. Comelec never finished its precinct tally and national canvass.

Despite all that, Comelec continues to hail the PCOS. To date it has spent P13 billion on it: P9 billion for lease-purchase, P4 billion for add-ons and warehousing, all paid to Smartmatic.

Comelec is plunking another P2 billion into Smartmatic’s three-phase inspection-cleaning-upgrading of the 82,000 PCOS units. The firm bragged a year ago that it could do the job in only 20 minutes per unit. That’s P24,390 for each 20-minute wipe and swipe -- clearly overpriced.

The P300 million that Coloma shamelessly is promoting is only for the first phase. It is a midnight deal. Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. signed it just two days before retiring Feb. 2. He couldn’t wait for his replacement to study it first, given that it would bind the agency to the P1.7-billion second and third phases. It is also fraught with graft because grossly and manifestly disadvantageous to public interest. Bratty Junior admitted to signing it to spite the Smartmatic-PCOS critics.

Coloma needs straightening out on one more fact about the PCOS. That is, that not only the private critics, but computer experts at the Dept. of Science and Technology no less, have unearthed flaws. Obliged by law to inspect the voting machines after every election, the state scientists noticed “mysterious digital lines” on the 2013 ballot images. The lines bisected, thus marking, the balloon beside certain senatorial candidates’ names. Meaning, votes inadvertently could have been added. Where the number of senatorial votes then exceeded 12 names, the whole lot could have been invalidated. The fraud likely produced “accidental senators,” they concluded.

Congress still was investigating the anomaly – one-and-a-half years after the fact – when Comelec-Smartmatic inked the midnight deal that Coloma is now marketing.

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