Elections

Melo made the statement in response to the Locsin committee’s findings that a systematic form of cheating occurred in the last elections but affecting only the local level and not the national positions.

Comelec insists on buying PCOS machines, despite AES likely death Systematic cheating marked the 2010 automated polls, the chairman of the House of Rerpesentatives committee on suffrage and electoral reforms yesterday said in a TV interview, stressing that he will be proposing for Congress to junk the automated elections in 2013, given the many instances…

SPORADIC cheating in the country’s first automated general elections last month appears to be confined to local races, the chairman of the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms has concluded.

New voters will have a chance to register with the Commission on Elections from July 1 to 31.

Responding to reports claiming that the Commission on Election’s (Comelec) computerized voters list (CVL) could have between 700,000 to four million illegal double or multiple registrants, officials of the Smartmatic-TIM joint venture are proposing changes—additional technology—in the automated election system (AES). They are introducing the idea of biometric machines that will store an image of…

AS far as Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr. of Makati is concerned—and his feeling, attitude and findings during the hearings of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms seem to be shared by most Filipinos—there is no evidence that fraud has been committed with the use of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS)…

The Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) congratulates the teachers, media, watchdogs, and the Filipino people, for their collective efforts at vigilance and dedication to national interest during the May 10, 2010 national and local elections. Although there should yet be no judgment on the overall failure or success of this electoral exercise, these…

Commissioner Rene Sarmineto of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) admitted that a lot needs to be improved in the automated election system (AES) used in the May 10 national and local elections despite it being “generally successful.” He spoke to The Manila Times in lieu of Comelec Chairman Jose Melo who declined to be interviewed…

In a sign of bad faith, Smartmatic, the technical provider and partner of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), failed to disclose that its precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines had console ports or “secret backdoors” which anyone could open without the need for passwords or usernames to gain complete control over the units’ operating system…

Even with a high profile public relations offensive by Smartmatic officials to counteract the growing allegations of electoral fraud, and hiring the 2008 Miss Universe, a Venezuelan, as Miss Transparency for Smartmatic, and despite the Commission on Elections (Comelec) claim of the country having held the first successful nationwide automated elections, computer experts took the…

An anti-graft and corruption group on Monday urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to refund at least P3.7 million worth of filing fees paid for 37 unresolved electoral-protests cases filed since 2007. In a statement, the Center for Anti-Graft and Corruption Prevention Inc. (The Center) said that the law obliges the Comelec to return the…

COMELEC, SMARTMATIC NOT OFF THE HOOK YET Just when the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and its supplier Smartmatic were about to breathe in relief after exhaustive probes into the conduct of the automated polls last May 10, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. sought the continued impounding of the 60 precinct count optical scan (PCOS)…

Questionable, ridiculous election spending statements from some candidates—Comelec The incoming Aquino government appears to be starting with the practice of lying, or perjuring itself, based on some of the statements on campaign expenses submitted by both winning and losing candidates that have been found to be highly questionable.

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House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms chairman Makati Rep. Teddyboy Locsin yesterday backtracked on his earlier statement clearing Smartmatic on the allegations of poll fraud saying it is too early to absolve the PCOS machines supplier from any wrongdoing.

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will tap volunteers to audit the statements of contributions and expenditures filed by winning and losing candidates in the May 10 polls, an official reported yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines—The holding of automated elections on May 10 was “mismanaged” because the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and its technology partner, Smartmatic-TIM, did not follow technical requirements, including security features, mandated by the automation law and the terms of reference of the bidding for the automated system.

Smartmatic’s counting system blamed; debugging urged At least 57 provinces as well as cities of the National Capital Region (NCR) were found to have erroneous certificates of canvass on account of these being the CoCs based on final testing and sealing (FTS) returns, not the May 10 returns.

Erap lawyer objects, Binay lawyer pushes compact discs count The National Board of Canvassers, despite clear irregularities marking the provincial election officials’ documents in the ballot boxes, such as the absence of electronically transmitted Election Returns (ERs), double Certificates of Canvass where the figures were conflicting, and no CoCs, went on with the canvassing yesterday,…

A Commission on Elections (Comelec) official came under fire on Wednesday after it was discovered that he had “blanket authority” to control issuance of computer flash (CF) cards and card burners, two features of the country’s first automated elections held on May 10.

The government’s own statistics office confirmed what the Palace has been trying to dispute which was election spending as the main driver of the relatively high 7.3 percent growth in the first quarter.

Neither the many congressmen who went to the Smartmatic plant in Sta. Rosa, Cabuyao, for a testing of the precint count optical scan (PCOS) machines under controlled surroundings, nor the camp of former President Joseph Estrada were impressed or convinced that the automated election system, as programmed by Smartmatic, has yielded accurate results, and was…

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.

Dr. Giovanni Tapang, chairman of the well-respected organization AGHAM, the Samahan ng Nagtataguyod ng Agham at Teknolohiya para sa Sambayanan, which was founded in 1999, wrote extensively in his The Manila Times column the serious vulnerabilities of the Commission on Elections-Smartmatic Automated Election System. Below is his assessment of how the AES fared.

Chairman Jose Melo of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and his fellow commissioners are satisfied that the first Automated Election System (AES) experience of the Philippines has been a success—they are now deciding whether top purchase the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines or just lease them from Smartmatic- Total Information Management (TIM) in the…

The consensus among Filipinos seems to be that the recent automated and electronic counting and canvassing and transmission of results of our May 10 national and local elections were a good step toward the right direction. Though E-voting (electronic voting) is relatively new to the Philippines, it has been around since the 80s.

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As multi-snafus of Comelec, tech provider are bared Errors galore by the technical provider as well as the poll body’s incompetence marked the presidential and vice presidential canvassing yesterday, stalling the actual canvassing of votes.

Appearing before the hearing of the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms, former Assemblyman Homobono Adaza yesterday bared that a cabal of seven persons, four of whom are regional directors of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and who are in control of at least 14 out the 17 regions in the country, have connived…

MANILA, Philippines – The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), are facing a split as a result of the recently-concluded national and local polls.