Reflections on the Bangsa Moro

© by Datu Jamal Ashley Abbas

 

 
In a speech in Wisconsin, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said that he is running for the US presidency because, quoting from Martin Luther King, of the “fierce urgency of now.”

 

Indeed, there is a fierce urgency for the US to change its foreign policy now. Bush’s adherence to the “Clash of Civilization” scenario is alienating America from international communities like most of the Muslim world, the truly non-aligned countries and even the still powerful Russia and the awakening giant China. Even tourists have shied away from the US.

 

Domestically, the “Clash of Civilization” mindset is pitting the so-called Whites – those of European descent – against their hyphenated co-citizens – the Blacks (African-Americans), Hispanics or Latinos (Mexican-Americans et al),  Asians (Indian-Americans, etc.) and of course, the Muslims (Arab-Americans, etc.).

 (See Clash of Civilizations post )

 

 

 
IN THE PHILIPPINES

 

The Senate hearings have highlighted the fierce urgency for change now. The country is fast sliding to become a failing or failed state.

 

THE PRESIDENCY

 

First, the legitimacy of the Presidency is in question. The “Hello Garci” tapes and all other evidence of fraud in the 2004 elections is enough to convince any doubting Thomas that Ms. Arroyo could not possibly have won over the ever popular Fernando Poe, Jr.

 

CREDIBILITY OF ELECTORAL PROCESS

 

Second, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) has no credibility at all. The involvement of the COMELEC Chair in the current ZTE-NBN scandal is proof positive that there was fraud in the 2004 and even in the 2008 elections. The mind-boggling “commission” allegedly asked by the Chair from the ZTE-NBN project is an indication of the magnitude of fraud perpetrated by the COMELEC in the last two elections. The COMELEC Chair was simply calling in the chips. As Mr. Joey de Venecia said, it was the Chair’s "last hurrah" before retiring.

 

With the COMELEC in such a situation, how could the Filipino people trust the outcome of future elections?

 

There is a fiercely urgent need to implement computerized elections. The computer system to be chosen should be able to greatly minimize cheating in the counting of ballots.

 

BLEEDING THE GOVERNMENT DRY

 

Third, the gigantic amounts of “commissions” allegedly being asked or given by government officials is hemorrhaging government coffers. These kickbacks are loans to be paid for by the Filipino people. The Philippines already has massive debts inherited all the way from the Marcos administration.

 

What would the common tao think of people getting kickbacks of US$ 70 MILLION or P 3.5 BILLION (at P 50 : $ 1) or even just US$ 10 MILLION ( P 500 MILLION) to “back off” from a project? These are HUGE AMOUNTS.

 

And more kickbacks of that magnitude will soon be exposed. The Southrail project allegedly involves a minimum of US $ 70 MILLION DOLLARS kickback. The Cyber Education project cost is around 26 BILLION PESOS. Surely, there are MASSIVE commissions hiding there. After all, as somebody said in the Senate hearing, it is just like doing another “Knowledge Channel”.

 

The government should not be a milking cow for a few people. The hemorrhage of government coffers should stop now before the Filipinos are burdened with insurmountable debts.

 

MILITARIZATION OF BUREAUCRACY

 

Fourth, the militarization of the bureaucracy is becoming more apparent. Every Army and Air Force General Tom, Police General Dick and Admiral Harry, who retire from the service, is immediately given a government post. In the ZTE-NBN-Lozada scandal alone, former generals are involved — from Department of Transportation and Communication Secretary Mendoza to Airport Asst. Gen. Manager Atutubo . Even Jun Lozada’s former patron was a former general – Gen. Victor Corpus. The head of the Cabinet – the Executive Secretary – is a former general.

 

Civil Service Commission (CSC) chair Karina Constantino-David, in her valedictory speech, said that more than 90 former military and police officers are now enjoying top government posts. She asserted that these people are "not necessarily qualified."

 (See Civil Service chief: Govt needs to sack 20-30% of workers)

 

It is unfortunate that Ms. Constantino-David only found the courage to publicly speak up when her term was already up. The Civil Service Commission is an independent constitutional body. She was not there for the pleasure of the president. She could have spoken up while she was still incumbent and she should have initiated reforms in the Civil Service.

 

There is an urgent need to stop the militarization of the bureaucracy.

 

BLOATED AND MEDIOCRE BUREAUCRACY

 

This brings us to the fifth item, the bloated and incompetent bureaucracy. In the media report cited above, the former CSC chair said that “Around 20-30 percent of government workers should be removed from the service because of the excess number of employees being employed by the state.”

 

She further said that “4,000 qualified personnel were not appointed to executive posts because these positions were filled up by people close to the President. She said that of the 6,000 managerial positions in the government, 3,500 were filled up by presidential appointees instead of career officials.”

 

Like all politicians pandering to the government workforce, she gives the impression that career bureaucrats are necessarily qualified and competent. That is a non sequitur. In the first place, a great majority of so-called career civil servants got their jobs not because of competence or qualifications but because of padrinos who are either politicians or people within the bureaucracy. And a great majority of these bureaucrats get promoted depending on how good they suck up to the powers that be.

 

In fact, these bureaucrats act and think that they own the government. They call the political appointees like Secretaries and Undersecretaries as “transients.” These civil servants could not care less about the people. They certainly do not think they are servants to the people. In fact, most of them do not even act in a civil manner to the public.

 

In an office I used to work, the Undersecretaries and Assistant Secretaries were even afraid of the Treasurer or Cashier! This woman civil servant had the “power of the purse” and her superiors bowed down to her!

 

These career people get a lot of perks, too. They get to go abroad and even study abroad for free and at the same time still get paid their salaries. What is worse is that these people are sent to seminars or conferences abroad even when they know absolutely nothing about the topic of these seminars. The bureaucrats call these foreign travel “junkets”.

 

These countless junkets cost the Filipino people millions of US dollars a year. The bureaucrats get a clothing allowance and a per diem of US$ 200 per day for accommodation and at least US $ 100 a day for meals. This does not include the airline expenses and seminar / conference fees.

 

Once I went to such a conference. The topic was well within my field of expertise. I attended all the conferences and meetings, and gave a comprehensive report afterwards. I even gave back around half of the per diem because the hotel gave me a 50 % discount on the room accommodation as requested by the host organization. It is rare for a government employee to give back part of the per diem money.

But I saw officials from other Philippine state institutions who mostly played golf and didn’t even bother to attend the conference.

 

Also, it is very common for example, for a Treasurer or Cashier to be sent to a seminar in Europe on say, Petroleum Engineering or Geophysics, subjects which they have absolutely no knowledge of. This I know through personal experience.

 

The problem with our bureaucracy is not just the political appointees. The problem is MEDIOCRACY. Our bureaucracy is full of mediocre people.  And because of their mediocrity, they become “mendicants”, as Mr. Lozada puts it, to the powers that be.

 

The Senate hearings revealed the extent of mediocrity in our civil service. A multimillion dollar feasibility study used a TABLOID as source of important data. Also, the former NEDA chief said that his staff tried to research on the INTERNET but could not find sources. This same NEDA chief had to ask a friend to evaluate multi-million dollar projects without any contractual obligations or accountability to NEDA or the government.

 

The fierce urgency of change in the Civil Service is obvious. A mediocre civil service invites graft and corruption.

 

 

RULE OF (WO)MEN, NOT LAWS

 

Sixth, while administration officials keep on trumpeting that they are for the rule of law, they keep on violating those laws. People are picked up by military or police without arrest warrants. And if they are unlucky like the son of the late Jose Burgos, they do not return. No less that a United Nations report concluded that extra-judicial killings are happening in the country.

 

Even congressmen are arrested on warrants issued decades ago and are already superseded by subsequent government policies.

 

Only in the Philippines one could find several congressmen / women seeking sanctuary in the halls of Congress because they would be arrested if they ventured outside the premises of Congress. Congressmen are supposed to be the law makers. Yet the government’s police force has no qualms in arresting them based on trumped up charges.

 

Senate subpoenas are not honored by the President’s men despite any Supreme Court ruling on the matter.

 

Arrest warrants issued by the Senate are ignored by the police. In fact, Police Chief Avelino Razon told the Blue Ribbon Senate Committee hearing that the police do not recognize arrest warrants by the Senate outside Senate premises despite any Supreme Court ruling.

 

Journalists are arrested without warrants and without grounds whatsoever. And they were arrested without being read their Miranda rights.

 

We must bring the prosper respect for law now before impunity becomes the norm.

 

SUPPRESSION OF FREEDOM

 

Seventh, basic human freedoms are suppressed. The right of the people to assemble and seek redress for their grievances, which is guaranteed by the Constitution, is undermined by the ‘no permit no rally’ rule of the government.

 

The freedom of the press is curtailed as evidenced by the arrest of journalists after the Trillanes episode at the Manila Peninsula hotel. The government has issued guidelines which the Press should follow in pain of punishment, such as revocation of the organizations’ media franchises.

 

And the most basic of all, freedom from want. Millions of Filipinos are without jobs, without homes and even without food.

 

As one American hero once said, “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death.”

 

 

EXTRAJUDICIAL KILLINGS

 

The Asian Human Rights Commission in 2007 concluded that “The continued failure to prosecute and punish the perpetrators of extra-judicial killings, forced disappearances and other grave violations of human rights, illustrates how deep the problems concerning human rights are today in the Philippines. Despite repeated assurances, commitments and pledges by the government that it would take action, investigations are cursory at best and legal remedies for the victims and the families of the dead remain beyond reach. In reality, the perpetrators of these killings - whether they are the police, military or paramilitary groups - are not yet being held to account.”

 

The report continued with “United Nations Human Rights Council’s Special rapporteur on extra-judicial killings, Philip Alston, visited the Philippines in early 2007 and concluded that the military are responsible for a large number of the political killings taking place in the country.”

 

Jonas Burgos, son of Press Freedom icon Jose Burgos, was kidnapped allegedly by the military and is still missing. I believe he was a victim of extra-judicial killings.

(See my post IPS INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISM AWARDEE JORGE BURGOS’ SON KIDNAPPED)

 

Jun Lozada would have been a number in the statistics in the extra-judicial killings had he not taken precautions by telling his relatives and friends that he would be coming that fateful day and so the media and Senate people were waiting for him at the airport.

 

Nothing demands more urgency than the cessation of extrajudicial killings.           

                                                  

EXPLOITATION OF WORKERS

 

Ninth, nowhere in the world are the workers more exploited than in this country. The minimum wage cannot feed a family of five. The minimum wage is just enough to pay rent for a decent apartment, the electricity and water bills. Most minimum wage earners either live with their parents or relatives or become squatters.

 

Most of these minimum wage earners have no insurance or health care. Worse, many are hired on a “casual” basis every 6 months. I know people who work for the government as “casual” for 20 years!

 

Even having education is not enough. Most fresh graduates are hired on a minimum wage. The money spent on 4 or 5 years of education – tuition and other fees, books, allowances, etc. amount to practically nothing. A fresh Accounting graduate can get as much as a janitor.

 

For on-the-job training of students, the students work in companies either for FREE or a minimum allowance (just enough for bus fare.) Worse, some companies even ask the student TO PAY to work in their prestigious firms. Where in the world can one find anything like these?

 

When I had my practicum in Germany, I was paid 800 Deutsche Marks a month. When I had my on-the-job training at ARAMCO in Saudi Arabia, I was paid US 1000 (one thousand) dollars a month.

 

I once met a Malaysian who was the Country Manager of CITIBANK. He did not even have a college degree! Aside from his high pay, he lived in an expensive condominium in Makati.  It is unconscionable for a government to allow its college degree-holders earn salaries 1000 times less than those earned by non-degree holders from other developing countries.

 

The exploitation of workers has to stop now.

 

NO PEACE NO WAR

 

And tenth, in Muslim Mindanao, there is no peace but there is no officially declared war. But it is teeming with soldiers, including American soldiers.

The money spent on troop deployment, war materiel and other war expenses reach billions of pesos. Meanwhile, there is no development in Muslim Mindanao.

 

Even Christian populated places in Mindanao suffer because people are afraid to invest. Foreign investors are loathed to come to Mindanao, what with the regular negative travel advisories of the foreign countries and embassies.

 

More importantly the number of displaced people in Mindanao keeps on getting higher and higher. And of course, countless deaths of Moros and government soldiers simply add to the worsening situation in the land.

 

The "no peace no war" scenario in Mindanao and Sulu affects the whole country. Military spending is sky high, productivity in affected areas is practically nil, and development in nearby areas is hindered by fear of investors to come in. And the reputation of the country is impaired.

 

And pretty soon, the poverty of Moroland, discrimination against Moros’ development, militarization of Mindanao, wanton disregard for Moros’ rights, continued exploitation of Moro resources without benefits going back to them, continued Bush-like rhetoric against Muslims, etc. will finally take its toll. And when the Moros’ will feel that their backs are against the wall, they will have no choice but to rise again just as they did in the early 1970s. And like before, Malacanang’s cronies will not be able to help the administration.

 

It must be remembered that the Moros won the 1970s battles but they lost the war in the negotiating table.

 

The Mindanao conflict needs to be solved now. When the Bangsa Moro people(s) strike back, the Abu Sayyaf menace would be remembered as the good old days.

 

 

PANEM ET CIRCEM

 

Marcos and Imelda used the panem et circem strategy to the hilt. The cronies’ pockets were full but they were in the shadows not in the limelight. Inflation was low, employment was high, the peso was high and stable, and the people (except for Moros and communists) were generally well-off financially.

 

And the people were fed with circuses – the Miss Universe pageant, the Manila International Film Festivals, the constant media hyped parades, etc.

 

This time, like in the Erap administration, the circus is on TV – the Senate hearings. And the spotlights are on the cronies. They are the clowns. And the people get to see how much bread (commissions, kickbacks, bribes, etc.) are thrown the oligarchs’ way. Meanwhile, much of the people are suffering. The OFWs may have some money but they suffer socially – separation from families which causes so many dysfunctions such as break-up of these families.

 

 

NOT A DEMOCRACY

 

It is now internationally acknowledged that the Philippines is not a democratic country. We never were. We have always been ruled by demagogue politicians and their supporters – the rich oligarchs. Our form of government is plutocracy – rule by the wealthy.

 

The New York-based group Freedom House de-listed Philippines from a “free” country to a “partly-free country.” According to Freedom House “a partly free country is one in which there is limited respect for political rights and civil liberties. Partly free states frequently suffer from an environment of corruption, weak rule of law, ethnic and religious strife, and often a setting in which a single political party enjoys dominance despite the façade of limited pluralism.” (See Tony Lopez’s column at Manila Times.)

 

NOW IS THE TIME FOR CHANGE

 

Before sliding further into chaos, the Filipinos are again called on to stand up and act. The act of granting independence to a country does not make that country a nation. So many nations-states created after World War II have now disintegrated. Kosovo has just declared its independence this week from Serbia, which was itself once part of the nation-state Yugoslavia created after World War II.

 

The process of nation-building is long and eventful. Nationhood cannot be taken for granted. After EDSA 1986, the Filipinos had the opportunity to correct all the wrongs done to it by the Marcos administration and his new oligarchs. But the people were not vigilant. The old oligarchs simply came back to power. And later, the old and the new oligarchs joined forces and cut the Philippine pie among themselves.

 

We do not have the luxury of having an Obama for a leader. But we can lead the change ourselves – each of us advocating for truth, transparency and accountability from the government. Sovereignty resides in the people, not in governments. The people must assert its rights – the right to a free press, the right to assemble, all the basic freedoms, especially the freedom from want, and the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

 

There is a “fierce urgency of NOW”. Before it’s too late, we must all act. We can all become co-creators of a new Philippines- a pluralistic, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural equitable society that is based on Freedom, Justice, Truth, Knowledge and Merit.

 

The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) is starting its canvassing of the Maguindanao votes today despite the obvious, transparent, clear, palpable, evident frauds committed by the powers that be in the May 14 elections there.

 

Teachers / Chairs of Board of Election Inspectors had come out to say that they were abducted and forced to sign already filled Election Returns and Certificates of Canvass (COCs). One such Maguindanaon teacher was gunned down. Maguindanao Provincial Election Supervisor Lintang Bedol could not produce the municipal certificates of canvass (COCs), statements of votes (SOVs) and other election documents because he claims that they were stolen from his office.

 

Yet now, the COMELEC is still counting the copies (not the original) of the Municipal COCs.

 

In the initial count reported in the media, Chavit Singson topped the Maguindanao vote, which gave the administration candidates a sweep of the top 12. Now, even that has changed. Zubiri now is number one. How very convenient!

 

Garapalan na! The COMELEC appears to have thrown delicadeza out of the window to insure one more vote in the Senate for the administration.

 

Personally, I do not want Mr. Pimentel to win because his father is already in the Senate. There is simply nothing extraordinary for father and son to deserve two seats out of a mere 24 seats in the Senate. It is the same for the brother-sister team of Pia and Alan Peter Cayetano.

 

However, insisting on counting tainted COCs is simply too horrible for my taste. After all that had happened, there is nothing in the world that could convince a right thinking mind that the Maguindanao COCs are “genuine”.

 

Koko Pimentel should not have insisted on the exclusion of the Magundanao votes. Disenfranchising a whole province on mere assumptions is quite draconian. He should first show that there really were no elections held there. The ERs and COCs are tainted and allegedly illegally and fraudulently filled up. He should have insisted on opening the ballot boxes and counting the ballots themselves. But the ballots are the ORIGINAL documents. The ballots can show if elections were really held in Maguindanao last May 14. Or, it could prove that the ballots have no correlation with the numbers in the ERs or COCs.

 

Of course, Pimentel would not be sure what the ballots really contain. But it would be a better strategy since the Justices or the lawyers for the administration could not raise the defense of disenfranchisement.

 

From logic and experience, it could be surmised that most Maguindanaons did not even vote for 12 senators, while some probably voted only for local candidates. Also, Pimentel’s (father’s) name is quite known in Maguindanao which means he had the advantage of name recall. There is a great chance that Zubiri would not have a very big lead over him, which would still make him (Pimentel) win over Zubiri in the over-all count.

 

Because the Supreme Court practically sided with COMELEC, this will now set another precedent in the electoral process. Coupled with the Garci tapes, the legacy of this year’s Maguindanao vote can only be one thing –  dirtier elections next time around. Next time around, there would be no holds barred. All the election special operators of the land will sell their services to the highest bidder because they would never go to jail anyway even if they would be caught.

 

Trillanes: Zubiri a cheat

 

Senator-elect Trillanes should not have called Zubiri a cheat. He was not the cheater. Others cheated for the administration. He is simply the lucky / unlucky guy who would benefit most from the cheating.

 

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COMELEC declares Failure of Election in Maguindanao

 

Lintang Bedol, Lilian Radam, and Yogie Martirizar “Missing”

 

 

***********************

 
The results of this year’s elections should give President GMA a reason to pause and ponder upon her next moves. Her spokesmen can shout to the high heavens that the results were favorable to her, but the people can see otherwise.

 

Only two of her candidates so far made it to the winning senatorial slate, with one of them (Joker) known for being independent-minded. The people voted 9 candidates opposed to her including one of the presidential candidates in 2004 (Lacson), one VP candidate (Legarda-Leviste), two people she had put in jail (Honasan and Trillanes), a son of former President Cory Aquino (Noynoy), and two young men (Cayetano and Escudero) now famous for spearheading the two impeachment attempts with one of them (Cayetano) perceived as victim of a demolition campaign by GMA’s husband, Mr. Mike Arroyo. These people are known as steadfastly anti-GMA. Only Senate President Villar is seen as quite neutral. Senator Pangilinan is with the Liberal Party who asked for GMA’s resignation before.

 

The other GMA candidate who won was former Senate President Angara. But he used to be with the Opposition. He was President Estrada’s adviser and was the head honcho in Fernando Poe Jr.’s campaign in 2004. The only reason he was not in the opposition slate was presumably because Lacson would not want to be his running mate. There was a lot of bad blood between Lacson and Angara in 2004.

 

If Pimentel would win over Zubiri, GMA would not have any real ally among this batch of 12 senators. It would be a complete shut-out against GMA.

 

If the senatorial election is to be gauged as a referendum on GMA, then the verdict is loud and clear. The President should take heed.

 

TWO IMPORTANT LOCAL ELECTIONS

 

There are two other local elections that could be seen as a referendum on GMA – the Pampanga gubernatorial race and the Manila mayoral race.

 

Pampanga is the President’s home province. Two of the three gubernatorial candidates were her known political allies. The other was a priest who decided to challenge the goliaths of his province. The people of Pampanga had spoken – in favor of their priest and against their once favorite daughter.

 

Manila is the country’s capital. The mayoral candidate is the son of the incumbent mayor who was one of the staunchest allies of the President. Mayor Atienza even tried to destroy the Liberal Party by claiming to be its legitimate president. But the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Drilon wing of the Liberal Party. And the young Atienza was beaten by former Manila Mayor Lim, who was the Liberal Party’s presidential candidate in 1998.

 

Gauging by these two contests – Manila and Pampanga –, it looks like the President truly had lost the people’s mandate.

 

It appears that the only province that delivered for the President was Maguindanao. Unfortunately, her subalterns there overdid it. The votes for the senatorial candidates in that province may not even be counted. But counted or not, the Maguindanao vote has already given the President a big black eye in people’s perception.

 

DEMOCRATIC – NOT STRONG – REPUBLIC

 

The President should stop trying to be the strong(wo)man of the Strong Republic. Rather, she should act as the President of a working democratic republic. Even her idols George W. Bush and Tony Blair have learned their lessons. Blair was forced to retire early and Bush is now a lame duck president.

 

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo still has time to remedy the situation and leave a legacy that her descendants would be proud of. But first, she should get advisers with a vision and not those interested only in petty politics.

 

According to news reports, “(Sonia) Roco, wife (sic) of the late senator Raul Roco, said she had no regrets joining the elections but expressed disappointment that the present system did not allow a new-comer like her to be in the Senate.”

 

The system is not to blame. The survey firms – SWS and Pulse Asia – are to blame.

 

People always vote newcomers to the Senate – from Ninoy Aquino to Ramon Revilla to Lito Lapid to Gringo Honasan to Lt. Trillanes. But the survey firms nowadays make it difficult for newcomers to win as senators unless one is already popular, like a movie star.

 

More than a year before senatorial elections, the survey firms already take polls on who the people would vote for. Since there aren’t any candidates yet, the people will choose from among the re-electionists, the congressmen, the movie stars, the news anchors or the Cabinet members. Or, the pollsters would give the people a list consisting of the same kinds of people.

 

The pollsters did not expect Trillanes to run so they did not include him in the choices. Later, the SWS and Pulse Asia predicted that Trillanes would not make it. He was No. 16 in the April and May surveys.

 

SWS and Pulse Asia are the new political gods. They can make and unmake potential candidates. It would truly be for the good of everyone if these pollsters would refrain from making any surveys of voter preference for the Senate until after the candidates had filed their certificates of candidacy.

 

The pollsters can take polls anytime but they should not be allowed to publish them until the start of the campaign period.

 

This way, newcomers can have a fighting chance. There is a great need to put people in the Senate other than those already there or comedians or movie stars or news anchors or basketball players or children of senators.

 

COMELEC declared Failure of Election in Maguindanao this Wednesday, June 6 while it proclaimed 10 out of 12 winning senatorial candidates.

 

The Maguindanao votes are very controversial because they can make a difference in who will be the 12th winning senatorial candidate – GO’s Koko Pimentel or TU’s Migz Zubiri.

 

According to COMELEC, there is a failure of election because there are no municipal certificates of canvass and statements of votes.

 

Pimentel wants the Maguindanao votes to be excluded from the count while Zubiri claims that that would effectively disenfranchise the people of Maguindanao.

 

The COMELEC’s action is very problematical. How can there be a failure of election when the COMELEC had already proclaimed Maguindanao’s governor, congressman, mayors and other local officials?

 

It is indeed illogical that the province’s election results for governor, congressman, mayors, etc. are valid yet the results for the Senate are not. (Actually, in practice, this is very possible; but, in theory, it is not logical.)

 

Since COMELEC cannot “un-proclaim” the local candidates, it should not be able to call the May 14 election in the province a failure.

 

Surely, there are ways to ascertain the real votes other than from the certificates of canvass. There are the Election Returns or PPCRV’s certificates of votes. Failing that, one can always go back to the real McCoy – the ballots themselves. A ballot recount for one province cannot be that expensive or difficult. It is easier and cheaper and more logical than holding another election.

 

In the Gore-Bush presidential elections, there was a ballot recount in some districts in Florida.

 

Whatever happens, the culprit here are the COMELEC and the GOVERNMENT. It is incumbent upon the government to FIRE all those responsible – the municipal, district and provincial boards of canvassers; namely, the election supervisors or registrars, the fiscals and the schools superintendents. These people should be dismissed from government service on the grounds of corruption, negligence of duty, incompetence, etc. And most importantly, COMELEC should admit culpability and urge the Commissioner in charge of Maguindanao to resign immediately.

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OMNIBUS ELECTION CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES

December 3, 1985

ARTICLE I.

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Sec. 6. Failure of election. - If, on account of force majeure, violence, terrorism, fraud, or other analogous causes the election in any polling place has not been held on the date fixed, or had been suspended before the hour fixed by law for the closing of the voting, or after the voting and during the preparation and the transmission of the election returns or in the custody or canvass thereof, such election results in a failure to elect, and in any of such cases the failure or suspension of election would affect the result of the election, the Commission shall, on the basis of a verified petition by any interested party and after due notice and hearing, call for the holding or continuation of the election not held, suspended or which resulted in a failure to elect on a date reasonably close to the date of the election not held, suspended or which resulted in a failure to elect but not later than thirty days after the cessation of the cause of such postponement or suspension of the election or failure to elect.

 ==========

Finally, somebody is asking the right questions! Who voted for whom? How many voters registered and how many voted in the precinct level according to the Election Returns?

 

Former Senator and senatorial candidate Anna Dominique Coseteng has a record of all Election Returns for the just concluded elections (but still counting) and she is asking why the numbers do not coincide with COMELEC official results.

 

Ms. Coseteng’s records show that as of  1:00 pm of June 1, 2007, only the votes of 936,000 voters were counted out of 5 million registered voters in the National Capital Region (NCR) or Metro Manila. Yet, according to COMELEC official results, more than 30 candidates, including Ms. Coseteng herself, got more than 1 million votes from NCR. Ms. Coseteng then asked where all the votes came from.

 

As my Arab friends would say, it came from the air!

 

How many people really voted?

 

Ms. Coseteng says that according to her records, there were 45 million Filipino registered voters, of which only 17 million voted. This is a VERY low turn-out – 38%. NAMFREL announced earlier that turn-out appeared to be around 50 %. COMELEC is saying that voter turn-out is from 65% to 75%.

 

There are only about 80 million people in the country, most of them children. Millions did not bother to go through the hassles of re-registration. And with migrant people all over the country including domestic helpers, drivers, unskilled workers, millions do not vote. And millions more were systematically DISENFRANCHISED. They simply could not find their names in the voting precincts. The Foreign Observers called it “deliberate mismanagement” by COMELEC. There cannot possibly be more than 30 million Filipinos who voted; unless, you count the underage people who normally vote in Mindanao.

 

Just before the elections, there were reports that the in some areas in Mindanao there were increases of up to 40% in the number of registered voters. These probably included the ghosts, the birds and the bees! In fact, right in Metro Manila, during Election Day, many people told TV reporters that their long dead relatives are still in the list!

 

GO lawyers score Shariff Kabunsuan COC

 

According to news reports:

Leila de Lima, counsel for GO bet Alan Peter Cayetano, said COCs from the municipalities of Barira and Kabuntalan did not specify the number of voters who cast their ballots. She said that without it, it would be difficult to determine if the number of votes received by senatorial candidates in the COC was correct or padded.

 

From the same report, the COMELEC’s answer was:

Lawyer Josslyn de Mesa, chairman of the SPBOC, said: "Walang report na binigay ang municipal canvassers kaya wala rin kami maisulat (No report was provided by the municipal canvassers that’s why we could not write anything down)."

 

The COMELEC’s simple answer was quite brief and to the point – They were not provided with the figures so they did not put any. But should that kind of answer be allowed? It should be COMELEC’S job to fulfill all the requirements otherwise the pertinent document should be invalidated.

 

But there are other ways of validating the COC’s. First, there are the ER’s. The ruling party, the Dominant Opposition party (Liberal Party or its coalition, Genuine Opposition)  and NAMFREL should have copies of the ER’s and Statements of Votes. The Comelec’s citizen arm, the PPCRV has Certificates of Votes. The ER’s, certificates of votes and statements of votes contain all pertinent data.

 

According to the Omnibus Election Code:

                                                ARTICLE XVII

Sec. 203. Minutes of voting and counting of votes. - The board of election inspectors shall prepare and sign a statement in four copies setting forth the following:

1. The time the voting commenced and ended;

2. The serial numbers of the official ballots and election returns, special envelopes and seals received;

3. The number of official ballots used and the number left unused;

4. The number of voters who cast their votes;

5. The number of voters challenged during the voting;

6. The names of the watchers present;

7. The time the counting of votes commenced and ended;

8. The number of official ballots found inside the compartment for valid ballots;

9. The number of valid ballots, if any, retrieved from the compartment for spoiled ballots;

10. The number of ballots, if any, found folded together;

11. The number of spoiled ballots withdrawn from the compartment for valid ballots;

12. The number of excess ballots;

13. The number of marked ballots;

14. The number of ballots read and counted;

15. The time the election returns were signed and sealed in their respective special envelopes;

16. The number and nature of protests made by watchers; and

17. Such other matters that the Commission may require.

Copies of this statement after being duly accomplished shall be sealed in separate envelopes and shall be distributed as follows: (a) the original to the city or municipal election registrar; (b) the second copy to be deposited inside the compartment for valid ballots of the ballot box; and (c) the third and fourth copies to the representatives of the accredited political parties. 

 

All the Opposition party should do is present the ERs, statements of votes or certificates of votes of the pertinent precincts and compare the results with those in the Provincial Certificates of Canvass.

 

The fact that the opposition lawyers could not produce these documents mean 1] They do not have them or 2] They do not want to.

 

If the reason is the first, the question then is why don’t they have copies of ER’s or Statements of Votes?

 

LACK OF REAL POLITICAL PARTIES

 

After Martial Law, there had been no real political party with nation-wide grass roots membership. UNIDO was a Laurel affair, LABAN was Peping Cojuangco’s group, PDP was Nene Pimentel’s clique, NP and LP were skeletons of their former slaves. Marcos’s KBL simply collapsed after Marcos left the country.

 

I first realized that there was no such thing as a real political party in the Philippines in 1988 or so. At that time, UNIDO was THE political party. Once, I accompanied my eldest brother to a lunch at Vice President Laurel’s house. There were some politicians there including Congressman Jose de Venecia who was trying to be in the good graces of the Laurels after being a Marcos man.

 

The topic of the conversation was the coming anniversary of UNIDO. Doy Laurel wanted the occasion to be held at his Kuya Pepito’s house. My brother suggested that it be held in a hotel so that it would not give the impression that UNIDO is nothing but a Laurel affair. Doy agreed. Doy and Celia then gave instructions on what to do for the anniversary.The others present did not matter. I realized then that UNIDO was Laurel and Laurel was UNIDO.

 

PDP was a small party of Nene Pimentel in Cagayan de Oro which was used by Peping Cojuangco to merge with his LABAN to give the impression that PDP-LABAN was a nation-wide party.

 

By 1992, Pimentel’s PDP split up with Peping Cojuangco’s LABAN. Cojuangco formed the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) while Pimentel joined forces with Salonga, who revived the Liberal Party. Laurel revived the NP and merged it with UNIDO. Peping’s cousin Danding formed the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC). Ramos, who was anointed by Cory Aquino did not have a party. His newly formed party LAKAS was not even registered with the COMELEC. He had to ask Manglapus’s National Union of Christian Democrats (NUCD) Party to endorse him.

 

The clear proof that there is no real political party in the Philippines is this year’s elections. The NP headed by no less than the incumbent Senate President and the LP headed by the immediate past Senate President could not even form their own slates, even if they joined forces. Incumbent Senators were looking for a party to get them!

 

IMPORTANCE OF POLITICAL MACHINERY

 

Senator Coseteng said that a day after Election Day, she received calls asking her if she wanted to have her votes “protected”. When she heard the prices from different places, she said she gave up any hope of winning because, she said, other candidates can pay higher prices.

 

Why would anyone have to pay to have their votes “protected”? It is because the Omnibus Election Code is followed in the breach, not in practice.

 

The Omnibus Election Code’s ARTICLE XIV titled Board of Election Inspectors states:

Sec. 164. Composition and appointment of board of election inspectors. - At least thirty days before the date when the voters list is to be prepare in accordance with this Code, in the case of a regular election or fifteen days before a special election, the Commission shall, directly or through its duly authorized representatives, constitute a board of election inspectors for each precinct to be composed of a chairman and a poll clerk who must be public school teachers, priority to be given to civil service eligibles, and two members, each representing the two accredited political parties. The appointment shall state the precinct to which they are assigned and the date of the appointment.

 

There are 224,748 precincts in the country. This means that the Opposition party must have that number of people to be designated as Board of Election Inspector member one month prior to Election Day.  They need at least the same number to act as poll watchers. That is already around half a million people.

 

ARTICLE XIX of the Election Code titled Canvass And Proclamation states:

Sec. 221. Board of canvassers. - There shall be a board of canvassers for each province, city, municipality, and district of Metropolitan Manila as follows:

(a) Provincial board of canvassers. - the provincial board of canvassers shall be composed of the provincial election supervisor or a senior lawyer in the regional office of the Commission, as chairman, the provincial fiscal, as vice-chairman, and the provincial superintendent of schools, and one representative from each of the ruling party and the dominant opposition political party in the constituency concerned entitled to be represented, as members.

 

Cities, districts and municipalities shall also have their own Board of Canvassers. This means that the opposition party must have at least 81 people, preferably lawyers to be members of the Provincial Boards of Canvassers, 220 people for the District Boards, 118 people for the City Boards and 1,510 Municipal Boards. Plus, the party should also field at least the same number of additional poll watchers.

 

In a 2-party system, fielding BEI and BOC members and poll watchers can be easily done. The local candidates can facilitate matters quite easily. But in a multiparty system where national candidates have practically nothing to do with the local candidates, this can be a huge problem.

 

Besides, in a two-party set-up, there’s an even chance that the government officials manning the various BEIs and BOCs were appointed by the opposition party when they were the ruling party.

 

No current political party has the capability to field all the necessary board inspectors and canvassers and watchers. Coalition of parties do not help. It merely adds to the confusion. Those running for national positions – President, VP and senators — could hardly expect the party representatives in the BEIs and BOCs to protect their votes because these people would prioritize the protection of the votes for their local candidates, except for the ruling party whose people comprise the majority of the BEIs and BOCs.

 

There is one party that can field all the necessary personnel – the Government. The COMELEC fields all the BOC chairs. And the Justice Department fields the fiscals. The Education Department brings in the schools superintendents for the BOCs and the teachers for the BEIs.

 

And if the political parties cannot field their Board representatives, the chairs simply appoint their own people. Or worse, if they don’t like the party representatives, they simply order a substitution for whatever reason they could think of.

 

So why don’t they (Oppositionists) have copies of ER’s or Statements of Votes? The answer is simple, they were not given any. The Dominant Opposition Party or the coalition itself (GO) did not have people in most of the BEI’s. And even in the various BOCs.

 

There were reports that Liberal Party poll watchers were not given ER’s. This means that the LP/GO watchers were not even members of the BEIs. There were also reports that the NAMFREL representatives were not given copies of ERs.

 

Interestingly, in a recent ANC talk show (Crossroads), Sen. Biazon said that there are only three people in a BEI. As quoted above, the Omnibus Election Code states that BEIs are composed of a chairman, a poll clerk and representatives of the two accredited political parties. That makes 4 people. Either the law had been amended or the senator was thinking of the BOCs.

 

But the BOCs are composed of 3 government people and 2 party representatives. If the senator was thinking of the BOCs, then he probably doesn’t know that there should be 2 party representatives.

 

The GO coalition is a very loose alliance of paper political parties. They could not possibly have the resources or even the inclination to field in all the BEI and BOC members they needed. Or worse, they may not even know that they were entitled to representation in those BEIs and BOCs.

 

In this 2007 election, it looks like that both political parties or coalitions did not have representatives in most BEIs and COCs. This is understandable because even in the Team Unity, the political parties (KAMPI and LAKAS) were competing against each other.

 

PAST ELECTIONS

 

In the present set-up of the Counting mechanism, the odds are heavily stacked against the Opposition. In the senatorial elections, the opposition senatorial candidates are doubly vulnerable because 1) their parties could not field the necessary election personnel and 2) the local poll watchers and candidates would be more concerned with the local elections such that the window of opportunity for cheating in the senatorial or presidential posts doubles or triples.

 

In the 1987 senatorial elections, there was a sitting President. She insisted that she wanted a clean sweep in the Senate elections for her to fulfill her mandate. Most government personnel had been changed and everybody and his cousin were eying government posts either in the regular agencies or in sequestered companies.

 

The big guns of the Grand Alliance for Democracy like former Senators Tolentino, Kalaw, Almendras, Teves and Lagumbay and former Secretaries and Ministers Ople and Tatad, etc. went down in defeat to the small guns of Cory’s Alvarez, Rasul, Romulo, Lina, Pimentel, Herrera, etc.

 

Out of 24 winning candidates, the government won 22 seats. Only the very popular Joseph Estrada and long-term Defense Secretary / Minister Ponce-Enrile won from the opposition. Ponce-Enrile barely made it to number 24, and that was only because there were threats that if he wouldn’t make it, he would attempt another coup d’etat.

 

I went to some of the GAD campaign sorties and I saw how the people were so crazy about Erap Estrada. Some women were even screaming. I never saw that in UNIDO campaign sorties. I attended both parties’ ‘miting de avance’ and some sorties because my relatives ran for senator under both parties. It was the first time that I realized that the votes in the ERs might have nothing to do with the votes in the COCs or even in the actual ballots.

 

(Recently, somebody said on TV that during the counting at the precinct level, some teachers read out the names by rote; i.e., instead of reading the names written on the ballot, they just shouted out the names of the favored candidates from memory.)

 

Some of the UNIDO senatorial candidates were complete unknowns. How could a person who lost in his/her own hometown or did not top in his/her birthplace garner 8 million or more votes from people who didn’t even know him/her?

 

I remember watching Heherson Alvarez on TV during the early stages of the counting. He was asked to what he attributed his No. 1 showing in Davao. He said he didn’t know. He said that it was perhaps due to their party’s tri-media (press) conference there. He even said that when he spoke, most of the people had already gone so his great showing in Davao was a complete surprise to him.

 

Of course it was a complete surprise to him. It was simply unbelievable. For every person in Davao who knew Alvarez, there were least a thousand who knew say, Almendras. I believe that Alvarez was no. 1 there and in some other places because his name starts with an A and it was first name that BEI and BOC people filled up.

 

During the 1987 campaign, I went to Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro and Davao City. There simply was no outpouring of sentiment for Cory and her team. The EDSA “revolution” was an enigma to those people. Some people even asked me if it were true that during the EDSA event, nuns took off their habits (clothes) to stop the tanks from attacking. They still could not understand how the army tanks could be stopped by people.

 

Movie actress Lani Mercado went to the media crying for help because her father-in-law’s (Ramon Revilla’s) votes were not being counted.

 

If there was no cheating in 1987, why was it that in the next senatorial elections, movie actor Ramon Revilla who was no. 33 in 1987 was no. 2 in 1992, beating all the 1987-elected senators? Were the 1987 voters totally different from 1992 voters? Were they not the same voters, except for the first-timers who could not be more than a million?

 

According to statistics, topnotcher Jovito Salonga garnered more than 1000% of the number of voters in some places. I believe it was even registered in the Guinness Book of World Records.

 

1992 Presidential Elections

 

In the 1992 elections, there was no sitting President-cum-candidate like in 2004. While the administration candidate had the edge because of the government machinery, the people running the machinery could easily be persuaded.

 

The LDP had money flowing, mostly through campaign contributions. It was the biggest party, most organized, and had the most financial backers. It was also supported by the Catholic Church.

 

The LDP was so strong that Senatorial candidate Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo forgot all about delicadeza or common decency and left the Liberal Party for LDP. At that time, her father, the late President Diosdado Macapagal, was the figure head of LP. The old man simply muttered that he couldn’t control his daughter.

 

Just a year or so before, Liberal Party was THE party. It had the most number of senators including the Senate President himself. But just after Salonga’s greatest triumph – the removal of the US military base in Subic, his star suddenly fell courtesy of the pro-US forces that went vehemently against him.

 

The Marcos vote was divided between Imelda Romualdez-Marcos and billionaire Danding Cojuangco who formed the Nationalist People’s Coalition. Danding “persuaded” (reportedly at a steep price) the popular Erap Estrada (another Marcos loyalist) to withdraw from running for president and instead run as Danding’s Vice Presidential candidate.

 

Laurel and his UNIDO / NP were shadows of their past glory. Cory Aquino’s first job as president was to politically emaciate her Vice-President, the man who gracefully gave up his own presidential ambitions in 1986.

 

Laurel had greater chance of being President in 1986 than in 1992. He was at the peak of his popularity and he had UNIDO, the Dominant Opposition Party. Had it been a 3-way affair in 1986, he would have gotten more votes than Cory simply because his party would have been entitled to election inspectors and board canvassers. Besides, Cory would have backed out if she was left without a party.

 

And the surprise of the year was Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who still claims that she was robbed of the Presidency by the administration candidate and eventual winner, Fidel Ramos.

 

There were actually two administration candidates – LDP’s Mitra and NUCD’s Ramos. While Cory’s choice was Ramos, Mitra’s LDP had most of the congressmen and local politicians. The LDP machinery had more than enough money and people to man the various BEIs and BOCs. It was the Dominant Opposition Party while the NUCD was the ruling party.

 

This was a truly free-for-all fight. Ramos had the executive government machinery behind him while Mitra had local political machinery. Mitra and Cojuangco had the money and huge financial backers. Imelda and Miriam had personal charisma and popularity. Miriam had some financial backers, too. Salonga and Laurel had no money, hardly any financial backers. They only had the long-suffering Liberal and Nationalista / Unido loyalists. Quite importantly, Ramos and Miriam had good political strategists with them.

 

In one report I heard, a small plane that Salonga was riding had to be pulled (or pushed) to make it start! At least Salonga could afford a private plane. Laurel’s NP was running on empty.

 

In terms of intelligence, charisma and political leadership, it was the best batch of presidential candidates ever. But most of the Filipino people couldn’t care less.

 

1992 and the Senatorial Race

 

Since there was no sitting president, the time was ripe for election manipulators to flex its muscles. And the best field to manipulate was the Senatorial race. The presidential race was keenly watched by avid supporters of all sides, except for those who couldn’t even afford poll watchers like Salonga and Laurel. But the senatorial race was wide open with about 170 candidates. I believe this was the time when many election inspectors, supervisors, board chairs, and other election officials realized that they, too could profit from elections.

 

Ramos was the ruling party’s standard bearer, but his party did not have much money. Their senatorial candidates were on a budget. The LDP, on the other hand, had money overflowing. NPC, too had lots of money. The executive government’s election machinery – Comelec officials, BEIs and BOCs – need only to concentrate on the Presidency. The senatorial field was fair game.

 

It is easy to see that enterprising election officials could make quite a lot of money with the LDP and some NPC senatorial bets.

 

NONE of Cory’s men – her Cabinet members - fared well in the 1992 senatorial race. Only her women did – Ramos’s sister, Leticia Ramos-Shahani and the Moro lady senator, Santanina Rasul.

 

I do not know why Rasul won. She did not have enough resources. My guess was, at that time, a lot of people were confused between Leticia Shahani and Santanina Rasul. Both women have Muslim or Hindu-sounding surnames and Christian-sounding given names. Rasul’s slogan was “Ang Puso ng Senado” (The Heart of the Senate), which seemed quite un-Moro-like.

 

Can anybody explain why the so-called Cory Magic could make 22 senators in 1987 but only 2 in the next election (1992)? Again, were not the 1987 voters the same as the 1992 voters, except for the first-timers?

 

Sixteen (16)  candidates won from the well-oiled ‘opposition” LDP party, 2 from the “ruling” party, 5 from NPC – 4 of them veteran politicians, and one re-electionist senator from LP.

 

This is also the time when entertainers got their big boost for Philippine politics. The top 2 winners were actors – comedian Tito Sotto and action star Ramon Revilla. Joining them was basketball legend Freddie Webb and former basketball team manager and one-time movie actress (she co-starred with Erap in one movie) Nikki Coseteng. They all joined re-electionist senator Orly Mercado, former TV talk show host and TV commercial actor.

 

This was also the time when Special Elections went center stage. Special elections were held in Lanao and other places. Special operation teams were thus formed by some parties to negotiate with election operators.

 

From the Martial Law era up to 1987, institutionalized cheating was one-sided. But in 1992, the cheating was opened to everyone. Of course, not everyone knows the mechanics of it so not everyone could avail of it.

 

SUBTLETY IN CHEATING

 

Cheating should never be done blatantly like in 1978 or 1987 or 2004. Smooth operators know that the best way to add / shave votes was to add votes to your favored candidates while shaving them from candidates belonging to third or fourth parties who probably have no poll watchers and certainly no BEI or BOC members and no ER and COC copies.

 

In the 1992 elections for example, candidates from NPC, KBL, NP and LP candidates were very vulnerable because they did not have election inspectors, Board canvassers and not entitled to ER and COC copies. At least NPC had money. KBL, NP and LP could not even field enough poll watchers.

 

In the 2007 election, there was basically a 2-party fight. The other parties were too insignificant. In this fight, the votes shaved will come from the two main parties. And this is where the surveys will have its role.

 

The more intelligent manipulators will simply shave off votes from the “losing” candidates according to surveys. And with the Media practice of showing only the votes for the top 15 candidates, the lower ranking candidates will be lost in the minds of the people and therefore fair game for the manipulators.

 

Thus, Sonia Roco is justified when she asked how many votes she really got.

 

When opposition lawyer “De Lima also questioned how TU candidates Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri, Sultan Jamalul Kiram and Cesar Montano were able to receive a higher number of votes compared to other candidates in Kabuntalan” (see here), I was quite shocked. Does she want everyone to believe that everybody in this archipelago vote the way Metro Manilans do?  

 

CREDIBILITY OF ELECTION RESULTS

 

Suspicions of cheating can only be cleared if people can get to see how the people really voted. If the votes in say, Bicol or Bohol show that Sonia Roco who is from these places failed to make the top 6, then there is something very wrong about it.

 

The people write their choices in the ballots. How these will be reflected in the Election Returns depend upon the honesty, discipline and even courage of the Boards of Election Inspectors (BEIs). And how the ER results are reflected in the municipal, district, city and provincial Certificates of Canvass depend upon the honesty, courage and discipline of the corresponding Boards of Canvassers. These involve so many people and a lot of time. The margin for cheating is simply HUGE.

 

There can be relatively clean and peaceful voting, but what about the counting? If elections are not credible, then there is, properly speaking, no participative democracy.

 

2007 ELECTIONS

 

Thanks to the Hello Garci controversy, the public and the media learned about some of the mechanics of cheating. There were a number of NGOs or POs like PPCRV, Lente, Kontra Daya, etc. The advances in communication technology (cellphones, digital cameras, videos, blogging, etc. )  made it easier to publicize any form of cheating.

 

The presence of foreign observers, who stayed after Election Day and observed the counting at the polls and the first few days of canvassing also made a difference.

 

The Media did not rely merely on COMELEC and NAMFREL although their Media Count stopped at a mere 8 to 10% of the votes. They gave full coverage to Election issues and the special elections.

 

The fact that the senatorial candidate was a 2-party fight made the DAGDAG BAWAS difficult. Any significant vote-shaving would immediately be noticed by the other party. The third and fourth parties (Kapatiran and KBL) were too insignificant. Besides, Kapatiran’s votes came mostly from NCR where the media and NGOs were most visible.

 

Media presence in the COMELEC national canvassin