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Opinion

Comelec glitch:Magic or miracle?

PERSPECTIVE - Cherry Piquero-Ballescas - The Freeman

May 13, 2019, at 11:25 p.m., I said these prayers:

“Dear God, the results are not yet completely in but thank You for Your will. We remain in full faith and trust in Your plans for our people and our country. Our Lady of Fatima, thank you for your intercession.”

Early next morning, eager to see if God and Mama Mary had granted our prayer (like the Miracle of the Sun in Fatima witnessed by thousands), instead, the Comelec-transmitted results, dubbed as the Comelec or DU30 Magic, showed no Otso Deretso candidates among the top 12.

Up against power, resources, force and more, Otso Deretso bets are enroute to a loss. Time to move on as a united nation.

But wait. Did the Otso Deretso candidates lose in a fair and honest manner? Did the administration candidates win in a fair and honest manner?

These questions derive from the mysterious Comelec glitch that delayed by seven hours the transmission of the early election results. Had there been no seven-hour Comelec glitch, there may have been no need and reason to doubt and to ask these questions.

What happened during those dark 7 hours?

Observers in FB posted:

“In 2016, results started at 5:10 PM, with updates as fast as every 10 minutes. In 2019, results were frozen while the server ‘malfunctioned’ for 7 HOURS, from 6:15 PM until 1:19 PM, despite the Comelec’s P10.16 billion budget.”

“Also, in 2016, only 188 VCMs were reported to malfunction nationwide. In 2019, this number skyrocketed to 400-600 VCMs.”

Transparency from Comelec has since been aired and heard.

Why did Comelec claim that the servers malfunctioned when “Smartmatic, the government's digital contractor facilitating the elections, said that there were no reports of servers malfunctioning?”

More doubts were expressed about the credibility of the Comelec-transmitted results -- with experts asking the poll body to explain why “there was NO PROGRESSION of votes: in the displayed results which suddenly jumped from 0.4% votes counted (at 6:15 pm, May 13) to more than 90% (early next morning)?”

Comelec did not contextualize the transmitted election results. Where did the votes come from? What percent of the total votes cast per province, from what and how many precincts have been reported?

The dark seven-hour Comelec glitch raised questions about transparency and credibility. This unexplained glitch also recalled the commission’s seemingly unfair and sudden policies of disallowing NAMFREL and the genuine opposition inside precinct polls.

The Comelec glitch has since raised doubts whether the administration bets won because of DU30 Magic, or Comelec magic, or even China’s involvement. Can the DU30 bets also confidently and honestly say they won, given the dark seven-hour glitch?

The Comelec has to redeem not only their credibility and integrity but that of DU30 and his candidates. Did they win fair and square? Is the DU30 magic real?

Comelec needs to publicly show which and how many machines malfunctioned, in what way, in what polling places, in what provinces, at what time. Computer and math experts and specialists are ready to check the Comelec glitch explanation.

Do results match with the election data of other observers allowed in the precinct polls like the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV)?

Was the glitch magic or real? Or God’s miracle- His providence, His way to guide all back to protecting and respecting His truth and His people’s genuine choices? How did the Filipino people really vote? Will the truth about the genuine election results come out soon?

OUR LADY OF FATIMA

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