A parallel manual count for the 2013 polls?

The Freeman headline yesterday was “BOPK to file Poll Protest” questioning the proclamation of mayor-elect Michael Rama and vice mayor-elect Edgar Labella. I fully support their move simply because of that old saying that in elections in this country, there are only winners and no losers. To be totally honest about it, if it were the other way around, I still would support any moves to protest the elections for the simple reason that I have always suspected that the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) could easily be manipulated by “operators” whom we suspected made tons of money during the 2010 elections and made more money in the 2013 elections.

Of course, I don't blame those people who are wondering why defeated mayoralty candidate Tomas Osmeña would file a protest when most of the BO-PK, including his own wife Margot, won handily their reelection bids. More so that they are part and parcel of the ruling Liberal Party and therefore should have benefited from the massive vote buying that happened during the elections. Naturally, the Comelec would dare us to present evidence to prove what we're saying. But just think about this, those who got “paid” in this elections were so proud to tell their friends how much they got in last week's elections because the amounts were more than P1,000 per vote!

Finally, a friend of mine whispered in my ear “Did the BOPK councilors junk Tomas? How come they all won and only Tommy lost? Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, methinks that my friend is just sowing intrigue within the BOPK. The truth is, most BOPK councilors cannot bring votes for themselves alone, and they needed the magical name of Tomas Osmeña. But somehow, that magic has began to wane, or perhaps those councilors can truly stand on their own.

One BOPK councilor who truly stood on his own is Councilor Nestor Archival who grabbed the number one slot in the North District. Another person that could get votes on her own is Barangay Lahug Captain, now Councilor Mary Ann delos Santos. Of course one BOPK stalwart who shouldn't have run in the 2013 elections because of a constitutional prohibition, Councilor Jun Pe, didn't win his bid to run for the South District. Perhaps it was the people's way of telling him to “pahuway” already.

Meanwhile, we should get back to work as we leave the poll protests to either the Comelec or the judiciary. At this point, I join the chorus by the Tanggulang Demokrasya (Tandem) and Automatic Election System (AES) watch for a parallel manual count in order to prove once and for all that the PCOS can give us a reliable and honest count. I say that we should have done this during the 2010 elections but the Comelec refused fearing that the PCOS may prove to totally defective.

If the Comelec refuses to do so, then let's all go to court like what former Compostela Mayor Richie Wagas did for the 2010 elections. A parallel manual count of the 2013 elections will prove once and for all the reliability of the PCOS machines so we can be prepared for the 2016 Presidential elections. This is a crucial moment in our political history so we must do it!

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Despite all the propaganda deployed by the Aquino rah-rah boys, the fact remains that in the international or diplomatic front, the Aquino government is a dismal failure. Early in his first year as President, we encountered problems with Hong Kong when eight tourists were killed by a deranged, albeit highly-decorated police officer. But because Pres. Aquino refused to apologize for that mishap (which was shown via CNN), and our tourism prospects with Hong Kong suffered.

Then came our row with China on the Bajo de Masinloc or Scarborough shoal, which remains unsolved until now. China also refused to send their tourists to our shores. Then the latest international trouble is the one we had with Taiwan when the Philippine Coast Guard fired at an unarmed fishing boat, purportedly in self-defense. I really don't know why Malacañang refuses to agree on Taiwan's request for a joint investigation on this incident as it would have resolved issues very clearly.

So now, the Aquino Regime is asking Filipino domestic workers to lie low because of recorded incidents of Filipino bashing by angry Taiwanese. What a dilemma for PNoy. If there is any Filipino bashing in Taiwan, it can be traced to our insistence not to conduct a joint probe on this incident. So we ask, “What are we trying to hide here?” If indeed, we have a bunch of trigger happy Coast Guard, don't you think we should check this out?

While Taiwan may not be a member of ASEAN and we embraced a One China Policy (Taiwan according to China is their renegade province), one can therefore say that this flashpoint will spread to mainland China. At this point, let's just bring back our Overseas Foreign Workers (OFW) in Taiwan home, lest they get victimized by angry Taiwanese. What a problem!!!

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