‘Hocus-PCOS not possible’

CABUYAO, Laguna , Philippines  – There may have been no “hocus-PCOS” after all.

A staunch ally of deposed President Joseph Estrada said Smartmatic had successfully demonstrated that it was “not possible” to tinker with the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines to manipulate the results of the country’s first automated elections.

“It (fraud) is not possible. I’m very satisfied. We are satisfied. I don’t see any vulnerability in the system. So far so good. It looks like we have a perfect system,” re-elected Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said yesterday.

Rodriguez made the assessment after joining the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms in an inspection of the warehouse of Smartmatic-TIM Corp., the Commission on Elections (Comelec)’s automation contractor.

The lawmakers, led by committee chairman and Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr., witnessed Smartmatic officials Cesar Flores and Heider Garcia demonstrate the reliability of the PCOS machines.

After the demonstration, Locsin said he would no longer entertain complaints from defeated Quezon City mayoralty candidate Rep. Annie Rosa Susano.

“As far as I’m concerned, it (Susano’s complaint) no longer exists. She doesn’t exist either. I have given her all the opportunity but she refused to avail of it,” Locsin said.

Rodriguez said Smartmatic officials gave a convincing presentation. “The compact flash card reconfiguration is very viable, very feasible. It took just a few seconds,” Rodriguez said.

“If it (CF card) is also altered or tampered with, then it cannot be read by the PCOS machines. There can also be no double or advanced transmission,” he told The STAR.

Estrada, citing possible massive cheating, has refused to concede to president-apparent Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III despite the latter’s lead of over five million votes in the unofficial tally. Rodriguez, the immigrations chief under the Estrada administration, ran under the former president’s Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino.

The disgraced head of state, who was ousted in a people power revolt for large-scale corruption charges in January 2001, said he was trailing Aquino in the tally because of “hocus-PCOS,” a play on hocus pocus.

The STAR reminded Rodriguez of the implications of his statement, but he stood firm. “Ballots from other precincts were rejected by the machines. And transmission can only be done once,” he said.

Automation critics, including some poll losers, have alleged that results of the voting can be altered by replacing the original compact flash (CF) cards with “pre programmed” ones.

Garcia and Flores, however, successfully demonstrated that this could not be possible since the system is encrypted and carried bar codes.

“It (opening of CF card) is the indubitable piece of evidence that any sign of fraud will be seen,” Locsin told reporters after the inspection.

The test also involved the opening of four CF cards found in a junkyard in Cagayan de Oro City in the “memory reconfiguration room.”

Fr. Nathan Lerio, coordinator of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting in Cagayan de Oro City, turned over the CF cards to Locsin, who, in turn, gave them to Garcia, who opened and discovered that all its contents “matched” that of Comelec’s server.

“That’s the ultimate proof of the digital signature (that tampered CF cards will not be accepted by PCOS). What is important is that we were able to show the truth. This is scientific evidence. It is impossible to cheat in the system,” Flores pointed out.

“We hope that they (detractors) were satisfied (with the demonstration). Although I’m pretty sure they (lawmakers) will not apologize (for the wrongful accusations),” he told reporters.

Re-elected Rep. Roilo Golez, a colleague of Aquino in the opposition Liberal Party, said nothing could have been achieved by dumping the cards.

“In other words, putting these in a garbage can would not matter, editing it won’t make any difference,” he said.

Comelec commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal agreed. “If they do that (throwing of CF cards), it doesn’t make any sense,” he said. –Delon Porcalla (The Philippine Star)