The Impunity of the Pro-Noynoy SWS Survey

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HOW is it possible that, no matter that the current occupant in Malacanang is the son of Mama Cory and Papa Ninoy, he was able to get an amazing 88% trust rating amidst the HOCUS PCOS brand of poll fraud hoopla? According to the Social Weather Stations, Noynoy Aquino got "88% of adult Filipinos have much trust and 4% have little trust in Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, for a very good net trust rating of +83." Why, that's even much higher than the peak satisfaction ratings of former President Corazon Aquino at around 72%, and Joseph Estrada who got 67% at his best rating. It is so unbelievable how Noynoy, a zero-zero-bill solon from Congress to Senate and thus, virtually with no public service achievement whatsoever, be able to top the survey ratings of the two former Presidents.

Consider that the late President Aquino came out of the euphoria of the 1986 EDSA "People Power" Revolution while President Erap won with the highest plurality margin in Philippine history. And below 80% and 70% were all they got. Consider as well that Noynoy has a host of issues a thousand times worse than his mother had when she first assumed the presidency. Just about the only criticism the pro-Marcos camp was well able to hurl at Cory was her "plain housewife" naivety, which was not to say that was uneducated because she did graduate with a degree in French. Noynoy, on the other hand, was beset with a host of unpalatable issues: SCTEx corruption, Hacienda Luisita massacre and failure to implement land reform, his 2005 vote against the playing of the "Hello Garci" wiretapped evidence of the 2004 poll fraud, and 'abnormal mind' issues.


Autistic

The abnormal or autistic issue was particularly nasty and dogs him to this day. The camp of presidential candidate Manny Villar played a good part in exposing it but the Nacionalista Party was definitely not alone in making it a huge electoral issue. There have been whispers of the supposed abnormal or "abnoy" state of Noynoy, with The Daily Tribune's Demaree J. B. Raval advising the Liberal Party to stop making "a limp denial of the autism issue" as early as February this year.

When it became a full-blow issue several weeks later, no thanks to Villar, the issue sounded credible to many Filipinos because, after all, autism seems to run in the Aquino family as evidenced by Noynoy's nephew by sister Kris Aquino. So shocking, or nasty, were the abnoy stories that filled not the mainstream yellow media but the alternate media, such as the internet and SMS messaging, aside from the usual word-of-mouth whispers. Essentially, the stories included talks of the late Sen. Ninoy Aquino having brought his son to a psychiatrist in Boston; that Noynoy sought psychiatric help somewhere in Ateneo; and that he smokes marijuana, a supposed cure for autism. Nastier, detailed stories, such as one narrated in a video, tell of his supposed fits and weird behavior in Ateneo that included his hiding behind stacks of books not in the library but in the cafeteria and loudly ordering fellow students to keep quiet.

However, amidst the publicly made pressures for him to show his saneness or psychological capacity to seek the presidency, he had inexplicably and adamantly refused to undergo psychological testing --while virtually all the rest of the presidentiables were willing. The result is that a good number of people tag Noynoy as psychologically challenged. Noynoy's state of mind is such a hot item that the issue is all over the internet even up to this day.

I did a quick Google search with the key words [abnoy "noynoy aquino"] around two weeks ago and came up with 57,600 hits. I did the same with an English variant, [abnormal "noynoy aquino] and got 14,100 page results. Today, I decided to Google the same words and guess what? There's INCREASED interest, with the first key phrase earning an estimated 65,700 hits, representing around 14% increase; and for [abnormal "noynoy aquino], got 16,800, which reflects around 19% greater interest in the issue. Additionally, I also Google searched [autistic "noynoy aquino"] and came up with about 20,200 results.

In short, Noynoy's stubborn refusal to prove his mental health by not undergoing psychological test appears to have rendered him mentally challenged by default in the eyes of many. This means that no matter that a pro-Cory euphoria supposedly hit the Filipinos when she died in August last year, the event could not have sustained a sentiment favorable towards trusting Noynoy, the good-for-nothing-solon son of Cory.

In fact, it remains doubtful that the pro-Cory euphoria even effectively translated into an electoral vote for the psychologically-challenged-by-default son. Take note that Noynoy run against, among others, the still very popular Erap Estrada to whom Cory apologized in December 2009 for her role in the 2001 EDSA. In apparent respect and gratitude, Erap called on his legions of masa supporters to show respect for Cory when the latter died. Who's to exactly tell then that the Cory sympathizers following her death even liked Noynoy? I myself was in Cory's funeral but there was no way I voted Noynoy last presidential elections.


Improbable Statistics

I've warned of cheating prior to the May 10, 2010 elections because based on the Illegitimate President' shistory and litany of corruption scandals, it would be impossible for her to step down without a an evil scheme for self-presevation or self-interest. It would be natural of Arrobo to seek and forge an unholy deal with a ‘friendly’ presidentiable who would look after her when she steps down. Of the three candidates known or rumored to be the Illegitimate President's bet, I suspected it would be the obvious, administration candidate Gilbert "Gibo" Teodoro. I was wrong.

Initially described as "refreshing" in terms of the speed of results, and even "orderly and honest" by the yellow media, the unraveling of what has been described as "automated Garci," in reference to the 2004 presidential poll fraud will begin with the gross mismatch between field pulse and AES statistics Comele gave to the "defeated" presidential candidates. Later on, the sheer statistical improbability of votes received by the presidentiables, losing and "winning," will strike the mind.

Without even considering the AES technicalities and legalities, it was actually the highly improbable election statistics given by Comelec triggered the initial suspicions that something was woefully not right with the automated polls. De los Reyes well illustrates this when he retracted his early concession to Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III upon learning that he only got a measly 11,894 votes in his hometown of Nasugbu, Batangas and a statistically impossible national total of some 44,240 votes. He says his hometown votes was "Too small even, considering the excitement my candidacy generated; [when] everyone get out to campaign."

On my part, how it dawned on me that the Filipino electorate had been conned by Gloria Arroyo's government into accepting a fraudulent AES "winner" was when early broadcast results on the night of May 10, 2010 showed Joseph Erap Estrada impossibly behind Aquino in the former's bailiwicks of TONDO and SAN JUAN CITY in Manila. It was beyond any objective comprehension how the deposed President could possibly lose in those areas that have through the years consistently been solid, if not die-hard, Erap turfs.

Sea of Masses in Tondo, Manila. And Erap lost to Noynoy???

When what is on the ground and compromised automation does not match, which do you believe? Pictures and actual sight of warm bodies say a thousand words and the "di malaglagan ng karayom" character of Estrada's rallies in the said spots, as in a good number of Pwersa ng Masa rallies and motorcades elsewhere in the country, defy the HOCUS PCOS results. Snapshots of rallies show the strength of some of the candidates and betray the apparent falsity of the Comelec figures.

In the case of Bro. Eddie's party, supporters early on claimed "under oath that in the precincts where they voted, the election results show a much lesser number of votes obtained by Bangon Pilipinas candidates than the actual number of votes cast in their favor." Moreover, the total votes the evangelist supposedly received was only 1.26 million votes. This, when during the Bangon Pilipinas Youth Rally in Luneta, crowd estimate was already placed at 1.2 million.

Bangon Pilipinas Youth Rally:. Crowd estimate, around 1.2M.
Bro. Eddie only got 1.26M total votes NATIONWIDE?

Simply Impossible

In a number of clustered precincts in Montalban, Rizal, the AES gave amazing results. Therein, Aquino generally got more or less 99.9% of all votes, with all the other presidentiables registering ZERO votes, with the DISQUALIFIED candidate, Acosta, garnering 2 or so votes.

There were also many clustered precincts in Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte and Gutalac where disqualified candidate Acosta received more votes than the other more popular candidates, including Estrada whom the Comelec says placed 2nd place to Aquino.

The incredible, statistically improbable pattern of Noynoy Aquino practically garnering all votes, with most of the other candidates even getting zero, is repeated in many clustered precincts in Sultan Kudarat. While there were precincts where Nacionalista Party standard-bearer Villar was able to get double digit votes, it was more a case of single digit, if not zero for him and all the other candidates, including Estrada and supposed administration candidate Teodoro.

Moreover, there were even instances when, similar to the Montalban areas, disqualified candidate Acosta got 1 or 2 votes while others like Erap and Madrigal got ZERO again. Madrigal, the feisty and nationalist-inclined former lawmaker, it should be noted, placed fourth during the 2004 senatorial elections, garnering some 13M votes. So amazingly unbelievable is the presidential tally in the Philippines' first automated polls, with Acosta receiving more votes than the combined figures of Madrigal, Perlas, and de los Reyes in the final AES nationwide tally.

Perlas, Madrial & de los Reyes

HOCUS PCOS Reports

Which brings us to the most serious issue against Noynoy's "presidency"--the credibility and legitimacy of the 2010 automated elections and, therefore, whether he has the mandate at all to occupy Malacanang.

Apart from the considerations of AES technicalities, perhaps the most convincing argument to believe that poll fraud did occur in the recent polls is the fact that the most beprincipled and most result-disinterested of the presidential candidates have cried HOCUS PCOS cheating and, moreover, embarked on a campaign to unmask the truth of the May 2010 elections. I refer to Sen. Jamby Madrigal, Mr. Nikki Perlas and Councilor Jc de los Reyes. These three honorable candidates have expressly admitted several times that they already consider themselves losers in the elections; yet, they are active in the campaign to inform the public of the illegality and failure of the AES that the Commission on Elections implemented.

That is not to say that Bro. Eddie Villanueva, who is also part of the MIGHT e2010 coalition of 'truth seekers,' is not equally highly principled and even moral. However, because he has been described by some to be the real second-placer in the 2004 polls to FERNANDO POE JR, and NOT Gloria Arroyo, the former could have a greater interest in the results of the recent presidential race.

As for the technicalities of the AES, the evidence indicative of poll fraud is overwhelming. As the Global Pinoy Online News Crisis of Sovereignty series says, the fraud is but commonsensical. The separate reports of the Peoples' International Observers Mission*, the independent body of GFN 2010 Election Observers Team of Global Filipino Nation (GFN), a non-partisan international organization of offshore and onshore Filipinos, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel's statement on "his vote on the proclamation of the newly-elected President and Vice President at the Session Hall of the Batasang Pambansa on June 9, 2010."

PIOM Report

The Peoples' International Observers Mission—foreign delegates made up of academicians, lawyers, law students, journalists, social workers, union organizers, church workers--came to the country as poll observers. They documented specific fraud and violence cases in some of the country’s hot spot areas during the polls and are reported to have been 'shocked by fraud, irregularities, and violence.' Radhika Sainath from the United States said that "In 10 years of monitoring elections, I've never seen this level of irregularities and fraud that I witnessed on Monday."


GFN Report

The independent body of GFN foreign observers--foreign delegates made up of academicians, lawyers, law students, journalists, social workers, union organizers, church workers--also documented specific fraud and violence cases in some of the country’s hot spot areas during the polls. This group came up with a more comprehensive and in-depth report.

I. The election results transmitted from the precincts do not have digital signatures of the board of election inspectors.
II. The number of disenfranchised voters is sufficient to affect greatly the results of the elections.
III. The automated election system (AES) was implemented live without the appropriate field testing, and law-specified testing in actual elections.
IV. The source code review was not completed and initial findings were not addressed.
V. No audit was done on the AES prior to the elections. There was only a mandated random manual audit that, up to this writing, has not been completed.
VI. Several voter and security features were disabled prior to the elections.


Pimentel's Explanation

Even Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, who gave his "yes" vote to the June 9, 2010 proclamation of Noynoy Aquino as "President," faulted the automated polls for leaving "a long trail of deficiencies... [which] were mostly directly machine-generated, but, at least, on one occasion, the shortcoming was specifically man-made." He added a list of missteps taken by Comelec and/or Smartmatic. The former senator regrets the following points:

1) Denial of right to know whether ballot cast was counted

The AES system last May 10, 2010 gave voters no way of knowing whether

the PCOS counted their ballots. The paper trail that the Comelec earlier promised the lawmakers did not materialize.

2) Wrong dates recorded on the certificates of canvass

The wrong time and date stamped on some Election Returns (ERs) form a tell-tale sign of possible tampering or "that something was grievously wrong" with the PCOS machines that electronically tallied and transmitted the votes to the Joint Congressional National Canvass Center

(3) On-off sensors, clearly "something was basically wrong" with certain PCOS machines

Investigation of a compact flash (CF) card of Quezon City congresswoman Annie Susano revealed the on-and-off switching of the sensors, the devices that read the ballots during processing by the PCOS machines. In simple terms, the on-off switching indicates that "some votes were counted some of the time, while others were not counted most of the time."

4) Egregious error in the Initialization Message

Meant to alert the Senate that the server in its custody could already be activated, the initialization message "had a most glaring blunder," recording the Philippine voting population at 256,733,195 or about five times more than the true figure of 51 million. Pimentel expressed bewilderment at the use of the "factor of 'five'" by the PCOS, aggravated by the "unintelligible" explanation made by Cesar Flores, the Venezuelan Smartmatic official, during the Congressional hearing.

5) Flawed Certification of the PCOS machines

The certification issued by Comelec's Technical Evaluation Committee, which was basically based on the certification of the U.S.-based Systems Lab, Inc., called for the installation of 'compensating control' devices. Unfortunately, the compensating controls that were supposed to enable a 99.995% accuracy for the PCOS machine's were not installed, said the Philippine Computer Society.

6) Arbitrary removal of security safeguards

That the canvass reports transmitted from cities and provinces were no longer accompanied by digital signatures made the determination of the COCs' due execution and authenticity by the National Canvassing Board difficult.

7) Non-use or disabling of Ultra Violet lamps

The UV lamps in the PCOS machines were meant to spot spurious ballots even before they can be inserted into the machines but the Comelec disabled this feature. Apparently, this led to the procurement of portable UV lamps to the tune of P30 million; despite the huge cost, however, Comelec did not make its use obligatory, largely leading to its non-use.

8) Relaxation of original intent for mandatory UV ink use

RA 9369, or the law authorizing AES elections, requires the use of necessary safeguards to prevent spurious ballots. In an automated electoral system, the equivalent safeguard would be like the use of UV ink complemented by the UV reader in the PCOS machine. Thus, the disengagement of the UV lamps in the PCOS effected the high probability "that fake ballots were manufactured and used fraudulently and scrupulously is high."

9) Non-Audit of CF Cards

The Comelec was supposed to conduct manual audit for the positions of president, vice-president, congress member, governor, and mayor but failed to do so. This casts doubts on Comelec's sincerity and the automated polls' accuracy.

10) Non-compliance with "ladderized system" of transmission leading to legally infirm 'unofficial' results

The transmission of results is supposed to emanate from the a) PCOS in the precincts to the municipality/city consolidation and canvassing servers or MCCS;, then b)from the MCCS to the provincial/district consolidation and canvassing servers or PCCS; and c) from the PCCS to the servers of Comelec and Congressional National boards of Canvasser. This ladderized system was not followed, leading to improper consolidation of transmitted results at the election return (ER) level, from which the Comelec and PPCRV where surprisingly able to make their quick counts.



Final Forensic Report of Joint Canvassing Committee

Even the final forensic report of the Joint Congressional Canvassing Board on the PCOS machines inappropriately housed in the residence of a Smartmatic technician officially found defects and serious anomalies. The report's main points are: (1) the mismatch between the Comelec-published and the extracted hash codes; (2) absence of digital certificates in the PCOS contrary to Smartmatic's claim; the (3) the alarming presence of a secret "backdoor" to easily control PCOS operations; and (4) the CF cards in possession of Rep. Susano are authentic and duly issued by the polls body.

The authentication of Susano’s CF cards in a way validates Sen. Pimentel's report pointing to the defective ballot-reading sensors in at least a number of CF cards. As well, it also indicates the poll body's inability--deliberate or otherwise--to secure all its duly-issued CF cards. Together with the discovery of a backdoor control, absence of digital signature equivalent in the PCOS machines, and mismatched hash codes, the joint forensic report by itself already points to a very insecure AES system, even indicating a possible collusion between Comelec and Smartmatic.

The Bald Eagle link to the HOCUS PCOS (?) "President" P-noy

Mind Boggling, but More

How mind-boggling that despite all these reports, Comelec seems to have gotten away with putting up an AES that is fundamentally defective and apparently designed to be fraudulent. It does not stop with the above four reports, however. News stories by local, non-mainstream media provide more evidence to the desecration of the people's will last May 10.

The Daily Tribune reports on the day after elections that: "In Angono, Rizal, amid reports of massive vote buying, voters will (sic) surprised to find out that in the ballots given to them, the name of the LP standard-bearer, Aquino had been already shaded." The massive disenfranchisement report by GFN is given real-life by color by the news report of how drivers eager to vote for their bets were disheartened by the demand of bus operators for drivers and transport workers not to miss even one minute of last May 10, despite the fact that Election Day was a declared a holiday. The disenfranchisement is most notable because it seems to have targeted the masa group given other reports of the names of registered squatters having been stricken off Comelec list.

An important revelation is reported by Pinoy Global Online News on the PCOS software in escrow with the Central Bank. In its interview of Nelson Celis, President of the Philippine Computer Society that assisted the IT Teams of the House, Senate and Comelec in the forensic investigation on the PCOS machines in Antipolo, the PCOS machines run programs that do not correspond to the official program in the Central Bank.

The real "secret candidate" (?) shakes hands with the Ilegitimate

“Unelected and Illegal Government”

Perlas' scathing June 30, 2010 report entitled "Unelected and Illegal Government" sums up the evidence in the elite conspiracy for the May 10, 2010 massive fraud. He says that the subversion of Philippine democracy in the country's first automated poll fraud "dwarfs the manual cheating done by Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner “Garci” in the 2004 presidential elections. He cites the many legal violations committed by the poll body, such as the dismantling of the PCOS UV security system; removal of the Voter Verification feature that should have presented a list verifying one's vote; absence of the public examination of the PCOS source code; Re-configuration of Compact Flash (CF) cards without proper oversight; and lack of clear accountability and inventory of millions of unused ballots.

He also cites highly suspicious activities conducted by Comelec, including the quiet sending of a total of 1600 CF cards and 160 "burners" that can give fraud operators the needed tools to tamper with poll results. Perlas also sketches the apparent modus operandi of fraud, based in part on Committee hearings, which are: the pre-programming of primary CF cards; pre-shading of ballots; interception of transmission; and collusion between Comelec officials and Smartmatic Technicians.

Interestingly, Perlas also explains the role of yellow media and fabricated surveys in conditioning the people into expecting "certain candidates to win." The mainstream media, including ABS CBN, Philippine Star, Philippine Daily Inquirer, and even, GMA7 reinforce this fabricated ideas through their lopsided and brainwashing reports. Even the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) acted not as watchdog for the public but, rather, for the Comelec.

The defeated but beprincipled candidate also points to the legal transgressions committed by Congress owing to its inability to question the massive automated poll fraud. Worse, Congress took part in the crime by (1) failing to convene only a Joint Committee, instead of a Joint Session, to canvass the presidential and vice-presidential votes, and (2) canvassing electoral returns that contained no digital signatures. He asserts that the May 10 polls were actually invalid and void from the start, given the process's wanton violations of the law.

Sison's Pinky, Gloria and CIA Expose

There is more. A most explosive revelation from an unexpected source was yet to come. On June 7, 2010, Pinoy Weekly Online came out with an interview of Jose Maria Sison, consultant and former head of the National Democratic Front. Therein, Sison charged that the recent automated electoral exercise was rigged, with the poll "victory" of Noynoy Aquino already a done deal. He pointed to the collusion of the imperialist United States of America, Arroyo, and Pinky Aquino-Abellada, an elder sister of Noynoy, which was forged in a meeting held six weeks before the elections.

Pinky colluded w/ Gloria & CIA, says Sison

As expected, Pinky and the Aquino family denied the charge. What is worth noting is that the revelation came from someone the Yellows —the Aquino and the Arroyo families, among others-- were in tactical alliance with during the 2001 ouster of Estrada. The Arroyos and Aquinos cannot possibly just dismiss Sison as opportunist or what because they were unholy allies there in the undemocratic EDSA 2 coup against a genuinely elected and sitting President.


Desecrating Survey Research... in the name of the Yellows

So, therefore, to reiterate the highly unamusing bewilderment: how could a zero-accomplishment former congressman and senator plagued with HOCUS PCOS and abnoy/austistic labels, with no mass base of his own and who ranked only sixth out of 12 seats in the 2007 senatorial polls, possibly earn the trust of a whooping 88% of the electorate? Where did the SWS draw the simply astonishing survey results? From a HOCUS PCOS survey counterpart system?

Prof. Felipe Miranda

I remember how I was sort of academically introduced into revering survey studies. Back in my college days at the University of the Philippines, I briefly attended a political science class of Prof. Felipe Miranda, now with Pulse Asia but said to be still a director of SWS. He discussed with near academic reverence the survey research process, ending it with the calling that 'next time [we] come across a survey study, we should hold it close to our heart' or something. Those words led me to revere poll studies for a long time as a science, as a tool to scientifically and honestly gauge public opinion. For a decade or so. Until the 2004 presidential polls.

In March of this year, ex-Sen. Francisco Kit Tatad reposted a 2004 article where he reveals how SWS and ABS-CBN screwed public perception of the presidential poll count by selecting Quick Count areas where Arroyo is strong and bypassing more those where the later Fernando Poe Jr. held sway. The devious intent was to set a trend that matched the SWS exit survey which showed Arroyo as the electoral choice of Filipinos. In other words, the geographic distribution of the Quick Count was increased for Visayas, where Arroyo was leading, and decreased for the rest (National Capital Region, Luzon, and Mindanao).

Dr. Mahar Mangahas, SWS

The 2004 SWS pre-electoral survey at the national level and the exit poll for NCR both indicated Arroyo won. As official results later showed, Fernando Poe Jr. won in NCR but lost in the nationwide count. Apparently, SWS at least got its national figures right, with Arroyo having been proclaimed "President-elect" and later officially by Congress. However, the 2005 "Hello Garci" expose showing wiretapped evidence of Arroyo's collusion with Comelec and military and, indirectly, even congressional officials to manipulate the 2004 poll results effectively belie the accuracy of the SWS survey. Everyone now knows that FPJ was the rightful victor of the 2004 elections; Arroyo just cheated him. And so SWS was dead wrong on the presidential race. Wonder if SWS actually manipulated the results to make the Illegitimate appear winnable, not expecting the future Hello Garci expose on the Maguindanao portion of the ballot....

Former Sen. Madrigal has dubbed the May 10, 2010 elections as "automated Garci." Given the uncanny association, if not collusion, between the Arroyo government's holding of fraud-laden electoral exercises and survey firms, and amidst the anomalous, HOCUS-PCOS-indicative May 2010 AES, are we silly to simply accept the incredibly high 88% trust rating of Noynoy?

According to Perlas, the reason why he is not conceding despite his admission that he has lost his presidential bid is because he believes that the "accuracy and honesty of the country’s electoral process [lie at] the heart of the democratic exercise" and that "If there is to be a President in this country, he or she has to have the true mandate of the Filipino people." Noynoy Aquino, the possibly psychologically challenged, SCTEx- and Nantes-explosion-sullied, and definitively unaccomplished solon son of Ninoy and Cory does not even seem to have the genuine mandate of the Filipinos. How could he possibly have an 88% trust rating then?

This fellow got 88% trust rating? Hindi nga, SWS?

If Cory, the mother, referred to by some as the "democracy icon" can only get 60% trust rating a few weeks before she died, how impossible and illogical is it for her incompetent solon of a son, who also happens to be dogged by serious mental health, corruption and even narco-politics issues, possibly score a much, much higher trust rating? Even if, for the sake of argument, the abnoy and HOCUS PCOS issues are stricken off him, it doesn't make sense that the presumed transfer of Cory's 60% trust ratings even gained 12% upon reaching Noynoy. Remember that the current yellow occupant of Malacanang scored zero accomplishment as congressman and senator; moreover he was definitely not considered of presidential timbre prior to his mother's death. What did SWS give the Filipino public this time? Another case of yellow impunity? A case of automated HOCUS PCOS SWS survey?

__________


References

Crisis of Sovereignty Series 08 - Hocus PCOS is commonsensical. http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2010_062910paglinawan.html

Bangon Pilipinas Press Release on Election Irregularities. (Facebook). http://www.facebook.com/broeddiecvillanueva#!/broeddiecvillanueva?v=app_234747185

Crisis of Sovereignty Series 03 - Smoking Gun There Was No 2010 Election Whatsoever
http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2010_061710paglinawan.html

Crisis of Sovereignty Series 03 - Smoking Gun There Was No 2010 Election Whatsoever
http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2010_061710paglinawan.html

Ellao, Janess Ann. "2010 Elections: Foreign Observers Shocked by Fraud, Irregularities, and Violence in May 10 Elections." Bulatlat.com. 13 May 2010. http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/05/13/foreign-observers-shocked-by-fraud-irregularities-and-violence-in-may-10-elections/

Erap finds ally in NGO on poll fraud claim. 18 May 2010. http://ph.politicalarena.com/presidential-elections/news/erap-finds-ally-in-ngo-on-poll-fraud-claim

Final Tally of National Canvass of the Philippines. http://balatucan.wordpress.com/2010/06/08/final-tally-of-national-canvass-of-the-philippines/

Manalo, Charlie. "Noynoy pre-shaded ballots in Angono; Gibo wants poll desynchronization." The Daily Tribune. 11 May 2010. http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100511hed3.html

New Elected President and Vice Pres. of the Philippines. http://pamelasalvador7.blogspot.com/2010/06/new-elected-president-and-vice-pres-of.html

Olivares, Ninez-Cacho. Neat trick, that. The Daily Tribune. 28 April 2010 http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100428com2.html

Press conference by the Peoples International Observers Mission on the conduct of the 2010 elections in the Philippines (Video). http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/6873834

Perlas, Nicanor. Unelected and Illegal Government. 1 July 2010. Nicanor Perlas Site. http://www.nicanor-perlas.com/News/unelected-and-illegal-government.html

Perlas, Nicanor. I am NOT conceding. 12 May 2010. http://www.facebook.com/?sk=messages#!/nickyperlas?v=wall
Pinoy Weekly Staff. "Panayam kay Jose Maria Sison hinggil sa papasok na rehimeng Aquino." 7 June 2010. Pinoy Weekly Online. http://pinoyweekly.org/new/2010/06/panayam-kay-prop-jose-maria-sison-hinggil-sa-papasok-na-rehimeng-aquino/

Social Weather Stations. Net Satisfaction Ratings* of Presidents: Philippines, May 1986 to Dec 2009). http://www.sws.org.ph/ind-pres.htm

SWS: 60% of Filipinos trust Cory. http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/07/10/09/sws-60-filipinos-trust-cory
Transport firms hit for barring drivers from voting. The Daily Tribune. 11 May 2010. http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20100511nat6.html

Something the Philippine Yellow Media not telling us about the 2010 Elections? (Part I). 16 May 2010. http://JesusaBernardo.newsvine.com/_news/2010/05/16/4290214-something-the-philippine-yellow-media-not-telling-us-about-the-2010-elections-part-i

Second Quarter 2010 Social Weather Survey: 88% have much trust in Noynoy Aquino, 77% for Jojo Binay; 53% say PNoy can fulfill a few of his campaign promises. 12 July 2010. http://www.sws.org.ph/pr20100712.htm

Tatad, Kit. How ABS-CBN and SWS misled the public on the poll count. 5 March 2010. http://kittatad.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/how-abs-cbn-and-sws-misled-the-public-on-the-poll-count-2/

Votes Can Be Changed Using Only A Memory Card. http://www.facebook.com/l.php? u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com% 2Fwatch%3Fv%3DifJw0r0rz_I%26feature%3Dplayer_embedded&h=50763




Photo credits



The Daily Tribune.

Newsvine.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1867892&id=97237194544&ref=mf

http://chubsphilippines.blogspot.com/2007/11/dr-mahar-mangahas.html

Dreams of Joseph "Erap" Estrada

LAST night, I had a dream about President Joseph "Erap" Estrada. It was a most unfortunate dream: he was killed not by assassination--a threat of which I suspect was behind his decision to support the HOCUS PCOS "President" Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III--but by deliberate food poisoning. After his death, it seemed much of the Philippines' opposition was silenced.

1990s Dream of Erap

This is not the first time I dreamt clearly of Joseph Estrada. During the early 1990s when Erap was yet a senator, I had this strange dream of him sitting on a chair, with several dwarves around him, in the stance of a commonly depicted Buddha statue.

Strange because there were dwarves involved. Even stranger because at the time of my very dream encounter of the Erap, kind, I was a vicious anti-Estrada and the idea of him being in my dream world was so repulsive. "Yuk, what a dream. What do I care about that Erap," I told myself. I was back then a Cory yellow, although characteristically not the solid gullible type, and anyone associated with Marcos was no-no for me at that point. Moreover, I was haughty and biased against "mere actors and actresses": I was, I believe now, sort of brainwashed by what I now refer to as Yellow Media.

Erap Dream: Sitted ala Sitting Buddha

I must confess that beyond the brainwashing, perhaps I thought Erap was too "baduy" for my taste as I, back then, thought of myself as belonging to the elite--definitely not of the material kind but of the intellectual kind. Objectively, I don't' think I should blame myself for this bias because Estrada projected an image of being not concerned with education. As I now understand, he deliberately cultivated a pronouncedly pro-masa image in his bid to endear himself with the Filipino masses. Explaining the famous, or infamous, Erap jokes that revolved around bad English.

Sometime after President Estrada was deposed by the immoral and unconstitutional EDSA 2, analysts would blame Erap jokes for Estrada's fall from grace. The Erap jokes, consciously crafted, if I'm not mistaken, by the PR firm of Reli German, did bring Erap closer to the masses but estranged, if not further estranged, him away from the all-important middle class. Still, I should have seen through the media bias and realized that a man who was admitted to Ateneo University and Mapua Institute of Technology cannot possibly be dumb. I should have bothered to question the media for portraying an outstanding, long-standing mayor as dumb.

Reassessing Erap

At any rate, Erap won as President in 1998--something I mistakenly thought as most anathema to Philippine political maturity and development. However, when the Estrada Resign Movement began to make noise, that was when I reassessed my earlier virulent anti-Estrada stance. The first thing I noticed was the composition of those wanting him to resign: known dirty political figures wanting Erap to step down on corruption charges?

What are these people, save perhaps for former President Cory Aquino and Cardinal Jaime Sin, really want? "What a joke," I thought: "sinners hurling stones at a sinner." I wouldn't have none of a judgmental, unchristian, ungodly, political persecution. Besides, while I definitely did not vote for Erap, he had the votes of the majority. "Aren't we supposed to respect democracy and its institutions?", I said to myself.

 The rest is history. Estrada, a politico I used to hate, was ousted by a conspiracy of opportunists and stupid gullibles: Right, Center, and Left, with many of the latter having picked up an Arrobo stone that they used to hit their heads with [translation: they became unfortunate desaparecidos under the Illegitimate they helped install].


Dreams

It was during the height of EDSA 2 that I remembered my 1990s dream of Erap. I've been trying to analyze that dream since. Perhaps, the dwarves coiled around a sitting Erap meant he would be lucky to become Vice-President and later, President of the Philippines. But what about his EDSA 2 ouster?

That I again dreamt of Estrada in more explicit terms bothers me. Of course, it could just be plain and simple dream fueled by my frustration over his decision to support the psychologically challenged, zero-zero bill, Gov. Nantes-explosion-implicated, Hacienda-Luisita-massacre-implicated HOCUS-PCOS Yellow Cheat. Or is it?


Whatever, I just wish former and real President Joseph Ejercito Estrada the best. I wish him safety and health, longer life and redemption via historical rectification. And definitely, I wish him food security in the food-taster sense of the term.

References:
The conspiracy of Edsa 2: how Gloria Arroyo managed not to let President Joseph Estrada finish his term
http://jesusabernardo.newsvine.com/_news/2008/02/25/1324358-the-conspiracy-of-edsa-2-how-gloria-arroyo-managed-not-to-let-president-joseph-estrada-finish-his-term
Something the Philippine Yellow Media not telling us about the 2010 Elections? (Part I)
http://JesusaBernardo.newsvine.com/_news/2010/05/16/4290214-something-the-philippine-yellow-media-not-telling-us-about-the-2010-elections-part-i
The Stupidity of the EDSA 2 "People Power" Gullibles Relives
http://jesusabernardo.newsvine.com/_news/2008/01/22/1246701-the-stupidity-of-the-edsa-2-people-power-gullibles-relived
Foreign Powers Coercing the Filipino Masses for a Noynoy Aquino Presidency"?
http://JesusaBernardo.newsvine.com/_news/2010/05/28/4382462-foreign-powers-coercing-the-filipino-masses-for-a-noynoy-aquino-presidency
A Pleading NOT to Concede
http://JesusaBernardo.newsvine.com/_news/2010/05/31/4443917-a-pleading-not-to-concede
The 16 Presidents of the Philippines --a historical satire
http://philippinecommentary.blogspot.com/2010/06/16-presidents-of-philippines-historical.html
In Search of the Truth of the May 10, 2010 Philippine Polls
http://JesusaBernardo.newsvine.com/_news/2010/06/27/4572236-in-search-of-the-truth-of-the-may-10-2010-philippine-polls-
Why The May 10, 2010 Philippine Polls Failed: The Pcos Forensics Issue
http://newsflavor.com/politics/us-politics/why-the-may-10-2010-philippine-polls-failed-the-pcos-forensics-issue/>

President Joseph Estrada--You ARE the Real May 10, 2010 Winner

(Repost of a June 9, 2010 BLOG by Taga-Ilog News article)

PRESIDENT Joseph Ejercito "Erap" Estrada, you ARE the landslide winner. The YELLOW CHEAT with imperialist help from godless elites and the BALD EAGLE nation just prevailed.

Ang sakit po ng pag-bow n'yo sa mga Immoral, Unpatriotic, EDSA 3 Masa-Killing.Nantes-Killing, Hacienda-Luisita-Farmers-Killing Psychologically Challenged YELLOW CHEAT.

Since 2006, I've been fighting against EDSA 2 and the KANGAROO COURT Plunder case/decision in my personal blogging capacity. This election campaign, SOBRANG PUYAT ho ang inihandog ko sa inyo, to the point that I sacrificed earning time for my family. Moreover, I LAMENT the consequences of your decision for our dear motherland.

The 2001 EDSA 2 Power Grab, the May 2001 EDSA 3 bloody dispersal, the 2004 'Hello Garci' Electoral Fraud, the poll-rigging-related impunity that begot the Ampatuan massacre, and the May 10, 2010 Automated Electoral Cheating--they all need to be RECTIFIED. With you out of the Philippine political picture, these crimes will remain buried under the unholy ground of the godless yellows.

Mr. President, your decision to give in to the results of the fraudulent automated elections sends the most unfortunate signal that POLL FRAUD PAYS. The nation might as well adopt the motto" "May the best cheat wins." Trampling upon the true voice of the people is high crime and treason that should NOT be encouraged but, instead, be relentlessly punished.

I understand that the pressures from the wicked forces for you to give way to the YELLOW CHEAT must have been enormous. However, to bow to an electoral cheat, as the nation has done for the Illegitimate Arrobo the past nine years, is wrong, immoral, and  dangerous.  It will be a grievous mistake that will bring the country not to a road to recovery but, rather to a state of further decay.

Ang nanalong WALANG DANGAL, sa kasamaan ilulugmok ang bayan. Pinatunayaan iyan ng bastardong panguluhan ni Gloria Macapagal-Arrobo at muling mangyayari sa  kapwa  talikbang si Simeon Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino.

It's never too late for GENUINE poll victors to reconsider. Mr. President Estrada, for the sake of our people, the future generations, please lead the nation in fighting for truth of the May 10, 2010 elections. Beyond, lead the nation to a more populist state till 2016.

To Pres. Erap Estrada: A Pleading NOT to Concede

Pres. Joseph "ERAP" Estrada, I beg you to please NOT concede to the Yellow Cheat.

You said this is the "final, final performance" of your life. Continue then for the worthy, principled cause of searching for the May 10, 2010 ELECTORAL TRUTH.

Hindi po kayo nag-isa at kasama ninyo kami. Nandiyan din po ang ma-prinsipyong sina Sen. Jamby Madrigal, G. Nicanor Perlas, at G. JC de los Reyes. These three fine lady and gentlemen presidentiables, who have endured the malicious ridicule of the yellow media and civil (daw) society, have acknowledged their defeat in the elections but chose not to concede in the face of apparent massive fraud.

Nick, Jamby and JC, while tailenders in the Comelec tallies, are most worthy of the Filipinos' accolade because despite the fact that they have nothing to gain but possibly everything material to lose, they elect to boldly uphold the patriotic duty to ensure that the sanctity of the Filipinos' ballot is preserved. Bro. Eddie Villanueva and his running-mate, Mr. Perfecto Yasay, seem also trekking the difficult path of searching for the truth in the recent democratic exercise to chose our leaders. These beprincipled modern-day heroes and heroine are your unwitting patriotic allies in uncovering the truth of the automated fraud in the recent elections, Pres. Estrada.


As the second front-runner in the Comelec count, you logically seem to have been the target of the apparent automated electoral fraud. Thus, you should not concede because to do so is tantamount to condoning electoral fraud, trampling upon the expressed rights of the people, and giving away the Republic to the hands of crooks, liars, and high-level criminals.

With all due respect, I humbly ask of you not to repeat your past mistake in EDSA 2 when you sacrificed your position and the vote of the sovereign people to avoid confrontation with the seditious mob in January 2001. The result of that well-meaning mistake has been nine years of a reign of impunity by Gloria and her cabal of thieves, cheaters, and liars. An evil Illegitimate's reign that not only smashed the Filipinos' moral fiber but, as well, led to unparalleled hunger and killings, and death from extrajudicial executions, warlord-perpetrated massacres or negligence by sheer misappropriation of disaster funds.

By opting not to confront the EDSA 2 conspirators and mob, President Estrada, you ultimately did not save Filipino lives but lost many, and much more. If you opt to abandon the fight for the presidency now, you could be delivering motherland to a most undeserving, if not dangerous, administration.

The TRUTH, upon which are hinged the moral and democratic sanity of the Philippines, is worth fighting for, perhaps even dying for. Kayo po ang nasa posisyon upang maibalik ang dangal na nanggagaling sa pagkakakilanlan ng mundo sa kakayanan ng ating lahi na galangin ang tunay na boses ng mga mamamayan.

Please lead the nation in upholding our democratic ideals. Do not concede to a fraud. With the help of the true God that does not condone cheating, neither power grab, and does not discriminate between the "great unwashed" and the perfumed, washed masses we will succeed, Mr. President.

Fallen Young Red Fighter Kemberly Jul Luna - Within the context of the EDSA 2-Arroyo/Ramos-CPP-NPA connection

THE death of 21-year-old Kemberly Jul Luna caused quite an uproar in the activist and leftist circles. Jul was a popular, charming, merry, and yes, beauteous, true-blue scholar ng bayan with multiple talents and interests from the Mindanao State University (MSU). She died a comrade, a member of the New People's Army (NPA), the military arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), during a days-long battle with the military in Sitio Bulacao in Valencia, Bukidnon last December. Her tragic, principled (or ideological?) death made me ponder on the current state of the communist movement in the Philippines.


"Kimay"

Called "Kimay" by friends, she was a high school valedictorian from Tubod, Surigao del Norte who enrolled in AB English at MSU. True to the calling of her age, she initially lived what the Philippine Daily Inquirer described as "bon vivant lifestyle" marked by late-night parties. Despite, she still managed sustained academic performance and a host of campus cultural activities. Intelligent, active, party-goer, yet socially involved, Kimay was once a leader of the Catholic Center Campus Ministry and member of the Kalimulan cultural dance troupe until she embraced the leftist perspective.

In February 2008, she became an active member of the League of the Filipino Students. Supposedly, that was the time Kimay "shed herself off of all the petty-bourgeois individualism." By the first semester of school year 2008-2009, she was chosen as adhoc chairperson of MSU's opposition party, STAND-IIT.

Came second semester and she did not enroll as she completely turned to a very radical path. According to STAND-IIT spokesperson Mark Jason Tan Cesar, "She wanted to serve the poor and she was very resolute. She told us that she wanted to work with the peasants in the countryside. There was no stopping her.”

October of the same year, she bravely took part in uncovering the impact of militarization and indiscriminate aerial bombing of war-torn Tagoranoa village in Poona Piagapo in Lanao. She then engaged in full-time work organizing peasants as she reportedly joined the province-wide KASAMA-Bukidnon organization January of 2009.


Young, Scholar of the Masses, NPA, Dead

In August 2009, she informed friends that she left KASAMA-Bukidnon, saying only that has developed greater love for the peasants with every passing day she lives among them. She became an NPA.

Kemberley was reported missing in mid-December 2009 by human rights group KARAPATAN-Bukidnon Chapter. When her body was found days later, it was already much decomposed and dumped with those of seven other alleged NPAs in the forest of Brgy. Concepcion.


CPP-NPA & 'National Liberation'

Columnist Herman Tiu-Laurel laments and questions Kemberley's death, saying that "She follows a long line of fallen young warriors over the past five decades which include several of my own friends and comrades. Is this still the right way to fight for national liberation?"

For its part, the Communist Party of the Philippines released a press release saying:

Her martyrdom is extolled as well by the peasant masses whom she intimately lived with and served as a Red fighter and medic of the NPA until her last day... Her life of tireless work and selfless sacrifice for the downtrodden will forever be etched in the hearts of those she loved, worked and died for.

Unholy Mix: CPP and EDSA 2

I'm not exactly endorsing the path July chose to take. I do respect her decision because the depth of her patriotism led her to offer and sacrifice her youthful, promising, beautiful life in pursuit of her conception of 'national liberation.'

However, the organization she embraced, the CPP-NPA, the Communist Party of the Philippines of the present time, to my mind, showed itself too flexible principle-wise when it took part in EDSA II--what a foreign media outfit described as "the opportunist coalition of church, business elite and left....". I expected better from Jose Maria Sison's group, as I remember questioning back then why they would even consider joining forces with those of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and former President Fidel Ramos whom then-President Joseph Estrada wanted charged for the Centennial Expo and other corruption scandals.

While I don't subscribe to any form of totalitarianism, whether left or right, or religious, I've harbored respect not only for the personal conviction and sacrifice of its members but, as well, for the underground organization's principles. Back in 1985-86, the Philippine communist movement was chided for its decision not to support or join the EDSA I (original) "People Power" Revolution. The 'culprit' was its strict adherence to its principles such that the movement was unwilling to compromise enough to accommodate the unified opposition led by Corazon "Cojuangco" Aquino and Salvador "Doy" Laurel.

Arguably, the CPP-NPA should not have merely stayed at the sidelines during the historic 1986 Edsa 1. Definitely, to my mind, the Philippine Reds should NOT have shifted to opportunist mode during Edsa 2 which aimed for nothing but oust the not-entirely-clean but, nonetheless, relatively patriotic and nationalist Estrada.

By taking part in the ouster of the pro-masa and genuinely elected Erap by coalescing with unquestionably fascist and elite elements, the local communists have indicated their dangerous adoption of what can be seen as counter-revolutionary strategy and anti-populist mind frame at will.


Gloria Arroyo, Part of Joma’s Foresight?

Then again, is it possible that the CPP-NPA calculated that a Gloria Arroyo presidency would be more conducive to their goals? Way back before Gloria was able to grab the presidency, she was without question already a fascist, even imperialist agent.

Along with then President Ramos, Senator Arroyo was responsible for Philippines' membership in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade-World Trade Organization (GATT-WTO) in 1995. She was also the principal author of what has been called "the most environmentally-hazardous law of the land," Republic Act 7942 or the 1995 Mining Act, which permits foreigners a hundred percent ownership of the country's mines.

Compare Gloria to Estrada, who, despite the latter's agreement to the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), nonetheless braved neo-imperialist foreign interests by removing sovereign guarantees on government contracts. Did CPP-NPA leader Joma Sison figure that replacing the rather 'uncouth' but popular and pro-masa Estrada with 'fascist' Gloria Arroyo could speed up their brand of national liberation struggle?


2008 Mindanao War: Gloria, Kimay & Joma

It's been speculated that Arroyo virtually cooked up the October 2008 war in Mindanao to present an excuse to declare Martial Law in the country and extend her term scheduled to end in June 2010. Her administration signed the Memorandum of Agreement-Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) with Muslim rebels while well aware that such dismemberment of the Republic won't be allowed by the Christian community not only in Mindanao but in the capital. According to an October 2008 Malaya editorial, the MOA-AD is an "elaborate charade... [apparently designed] to provoke the MILF into going back to war as what is happening now" after the Supreme Court TROed the agreement.

A few months after seeing first-hand the horrors wrought on Davaoenos by the Mindanao war , Kemberly advanced from full-time peasant organizing to become an NPA. Wonder if Joma Sison foresaw Gloria's Illegitimacy would turn the 2001 power grabber into a devil-may-care megalomaniac, thus inadvertently serving as a hopefully effective NPA recruiting machine?

The last paragraph in the January 8, 2010 CPP press release on Kemberley Jul Luna's death reads:

Let us pay tribute to Kimay by amplifying the call for student, youth and other activists to join the New People's Army. As the people's revolution gears for greater advances, there is a growing need for more youth and students and activists from the other sectors to sign up as Red fighters, combine with the peasants and workers and contribute to carrying out the tasks of people's war with unprecedented vitality.

EDSA II - Part of Joma's Foresight, or Plain Mob Crazy?

It is a fact that the Arroyo administration is credited with the most number of salvagings, desaparecidos, and human rights violations in Philippine history, largely targeting the activists and socialists. Has the Philippine Left been had by Arroyo and Ramos when its members supported the EDSA 2 ouster of Estrada?

Or did Joma, et al. chose to avoid a more progressive administration to advance its “people’s war”? I’ve long harbored the suspicion that why Joma’s group went against Erap and took the side of the clearly fascist (or more fascist) Arroyo and Ramos was because Estrada’s ‘bakya‘ or masa appeal presented a strong competition in winning the masses, whose support they need in order to further their war style towards national liberation.

Of course, I could be wrong. I hope I’m dead wrong.

Then there’s the possibility that neither applies for the 2001 Edsa coup. If I remember accurately, broadcaster Korina Sanchez-Roxas commented back in early 2001 as to what could have possibly brought about Edsa 2, saying something like “It’s as if a cloud of something descended upon the people who took part in it.” It is not entirely impossible that the Edsa II people simply went mob crazy. So crazy they went the side of Centennial-Expo-defensive Eddie, ‘Tabako’ Eddie....

________

References:

Baguisa, Pedro. Philippine Communist party PKP-1930. http://www.solidnet.org/cgi-bin/agent?meetings/779=communists_experience_with_alliances_and_cooperation_23-25_06_2000_athens/821=philippine_communist_party(pkp-1930)

In Memory of Kemberly "Kimay" Jul Luna: Iskolar ng Bayan and Freedom Fighter (July 23, 1988 - December 15, 2009). Arkibong Bayan Site. 8 Jan. 2010. http://www.arkibongbayan.org/2010/2010-01Jan04-Kimay/kimay.htm

Ofreneo, Rene and Malaluan, Nepomuceno. Threat Economics. 12 Nov. 2007. http://www.uniffors.com/?p=1167#more-1167

Philippines: CBCP should reject Arroyo along with her Mining Law, environmentalists say. http://www.pinoypress.net/2008/02/25/philippines-cbcp-should-reject-arroyo-along-with-her-mining-law-environmentalists-say/

"The road map to war." Malaya. 23 Aug. 2008. http://www.malaya.com.ph/aug23/edit.htm

Tiu-Laurel, Herman. Infowar vs national mental rot." The Daily Tribune. 11 January 2009. http://www.tribune.net.ph/commentary/20100111com4.html

Tupas, Jeffrey. "A life of passion for poor remembered." Inquirer.net. 07 Jan. 2010. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20100107-246059/A-life-of-passion-for-poor-remembered

Images: 
http://www.arkibongbayan.org/
http://joseangelito-angeles.tripod.com/marcos.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/

The Ghost of FPJ: Beware the Liberal Party?

The ghost of Fernando Poe Jr., or FPJ for short, was reportedly seen by his grave at the Manila North Cemetery on Tuesday, October 27, 2009. The 'apparition' witness asks why FPJ chose to show himself to her. The incident seems to be the first time the man deprived of the 2004 presidential victory "Hello Garci" style made himself visible by his tomb. Could it be that because we are only months away from another opportunity of presidential reckoning, FPJ wants the people to remember? Is Poe Jr., called by many as the genuine 14th President of the Philippines, asking the Filipinos not to vote for all those who conspired to cheat him, hid the real numbers and installed instead the "Hello Garci " perpetrator Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo? Is FPJ asking the people not to vote the parties that operated at either the military/Comelec or congressional canvassing level--Lakas-Kampi and the Liberal Party  (LP)?

Whether or not the apparition is genuine, or that the "ghost" is really that of FPJ or, for that matter, whether ghosts or spirits of dead people are real, Filipinos should well learn from the lessons of the 2004 presidential elections and proclamation fraud. If the people of the Southeast Asian islands with a blatantly colonial name, i.e., the Philippines, are to emerge not necessarily as one and united, but even just as a race dignified by basic morals of fairness and electoral honesty, they would need to learn from its recent electoral history.





As seen in the GMA-7's "24 Oras" news video footage, an apparition or figure of sorts that looked , moved and dressed like FPJ seemed to have left or passed through the late actor's image on the hanged tarpaulin poster hanging by the wall of his tomb. The incident was captured by the cellphone camera of a woman who visited Poe's tomb. A computer video expert concluded that the footage was either genuine or made by a very technologically sophisticated hoaxer.

Why FPJ could warn us of Lakas-Kampi is obvious. The coalition party is, of course, the party of Arroyo--the machinery that has assured legislative conformity with her unpatriotic agenda and, perhaps more importantly, has primarily squashed all the impeachment attempts against her. Why FPJ would warn the Filipinos about the Liberal Party may not seem so obvious but it probably has all to do with how he got cheated in 2004.

The LP, along with Lakas-Kampi, is thought to be responsible for the congressional dimension of the 2004 presidential poll fraud and cover-up. Making an apparition capturable by a phone camera is possibly FPJ's way of reminding of the electoral injustice done to him and the people. 'Don't vote Lakas-Kampi or LP come May 2010,' could be the message of the ghost of the man cheated of presidential victory "Hello Garci" style.

Of course, one could claim that FPJ is playing partisan politics, and probably wants his followers to give him posthomous justice by voting for Chiz Escudero, the "batang trapo" (says the democratically uncivil "civil society) who took the cudgel of being his spokesperson during the 2004 presidential polls. Then again, Poe Jr. could be campaigning for his friend, former President Joseph Estrada who was, in the first place, responsible for convincing him to run against Arroyo in 2004. These two speculations, of course, are hinged on whether the apparition is genuine and/or whether spirits are real.

Liberal Party Record

Skeptics will definitely not buy the message-of-FPJ-ghost theory. One does not need to believe in apparitions to see that the Liberal Party does not really stand for genuine change, however. The party and its stalwarts ex-Sen. Jovito Salonga and now-presidential contender  Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III have a recent history of disrespect for the Constitution and simply being tolerant, if not actually engaging in immoral or unethical politics.

In Oplan Excelsis/EDSA 2 Coup

First, these party big-names helped installed the Illegitimate, later surveyed to be the "Most Corrupt President in Philippine History." During the height of the anti-Estrada movement back in 2000-2001, Salonga was, of course in the forefront of those wanting Erap to resign or be impeached. Noynoy Aquino was then a Congressman for Tarlac. As recounted by The Daily Tribune's Ninez Cacho-Olivares, the only son of the late Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino and ex-President Corazon "Cory" Aquino, was among those who hailed the move of then-Speaker Manuel "Manny" Villar to transmit the impeachment complaint to the Senate-even without the benefit of plenary vote.

When things didn't work out to their liking during the Senate impeachment hearings, the LP members joined those who walked out and amassed in EDSA 2 to oust Estrada. Of course, the 2001 coup was "legitimized" by the Davide court's ruling that Joseph Estrada did "constructive resignation" even in the absence of a resignation letter or actual physical incapacity. Still, that novel , never-before-heard SC decision won't take away the fact that it was a coup, the fruition of Plan B of the Oplan Excelsis revealed in October 2000 by The Daily Tribune, which was, in turn, predated by a series of Manila Standard articles on anti-Estrada destabilization efforts during the early part of the same year.

LP's Role in 2004 Poll Cheating/Cover-up

Next, their disloyalty to the Constitution by way of the penchant for going against the people's will was manifested anew during the 2004 elections. Not only did Salonga, et al. avidly campaign for Arroyo but worse, they took part in what the "Hello Garci" tapes would later reveal to be a fraudulent proclamation of the "President-elect."

As described by Daily Tribune's Demaree Raval, this was accomplished when "the leaders of the LP railroaded the national [congressional] canvass." The LP was "in the thick of the cheating" as its leaders simply noted the objections while members of Fernando Poe's camp "were crying themselves hoarse against the fraud" during the congressional canvassing. It should be recalled that LP Sen. Francisco "Kiko" Pangilinan was the chairman of the Joint Congressional Canvassing Committee.

The opposition camp was trying to present evidence of electoral fraud before the committee but they were basically not allowed to. The lawyers, and congressional supporters of FPJ and running mate Loren Legarda were blocked from having select ballot boxes containing contested certificates of canvass or COCs opened. During the canvassing, Pangilinan earned the moniker of "Sen. Noted" because he struck down all objections and arguments to prove electoral fraud by his frequent utterances of the now-infamous word "Noted."

Raval also writes that opposition solons and lawyers were prevented by LP members from even speaking or presenting "the election returns to prove the lie of the manufactured certificates of canvass." He must be referring to the likes of Cong. Butch Abad, LP representative from Batanes, who silenced the voice of those who justly wanted Congress to look into the evidence of presidential poll fraud. Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III, then an LP congressman from Tarlac, might not have actively taken part in railroading the canvass but as journalist Ninez Cacho-Olivares notes, "kept his mouth shut even in the face of massive electoral cheating."

For the flimsy excuse that it would take a long time to study the questioned COCs, the country was deprived of knowing who really won in the 2004 presidential polls. Subsequently, Liberal Party solons led by Senate President Franklin Drilon and Pangilinan, along with other congressional cheats, sealed the canvassing charade when they surreptitiously proclaimed Gloria as the "President-elect" during the wee hours of the June 24, 2004. A break-of-dawn congressional proclamation (earlier, actually: 3:38 am) was unprecedented but it succeeded in preempting any protest or opposition action that could have derailed Arroyo's "proclamation."

In the 2004 deprivation of the Filipinos' right to clean and honest polls, the LP played a crucial role. Arroyo, and players like LP members, thought they got away with the great crime that the "Hello, Garci" expose would later unravel.

Telling "Hello Garci' Tapes

The wiretapped evidence of 2004 electoral fraud (OK, alleged) was first exposed in mid-2005. Former National Bureau of Investigation deputy director Samuel Ong later would soon present the master tapes. The wiretapped records that have come to be known as the "Hello Garci" tapes primarily show the conversations between Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and elections commissioner Virgilio "Garci" Garcillano in connection with operations surrounding the May 11 elections and vote canvassing. The operations revealed by the tapes were designed to cheat Arroyo's way towards her continued hold on power and rob FPJ of electoral victory.

The more telling of the tapes shows a woman believed to be Arroyo asking "Garci" to ensure for her a 1 million lead over FPJ. In another dated May 26, 2004, Arroyo informs Garci that she has "allies" in the Senate, which could allow them to delay "the senatorial canvassing until after the voting on the rules" that night.

Actually, even prior to May 2004, the LP seemed to have already taken the resolve to ensure the victory of Arroyo by hook or by crook. Raval writes on the role of the LP in trying to disqualify FPJ from the 2004 presidential elections:

"Even before the elections, the senators belonging to the LP prevented the report of the Angara Committee establishing the Manapat forgeries on the birth certificate of then presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. and the marriage certificate of FPJ's parents."

Raval tags the LP members responsible for the 2004 proclamation of Arroyo as perhaps the country's "worst politicians," having gone "to bed with her, who prostituted themselves for political patronage, who enjoyed the power that went with being with the lying and the cheating and the stealing, then all too suddenly turned against Gloria" when the "Hello Garci" tapes were exposed.

What the Daily Tribune columnist is basically saying is the LP members who took part in the 2004 electoral fraud are immoral political chameleons who could change color as readily as they cried "Garci!" Obviously, why the LP leaders broke off with Gloria in 2005 was the opportunity to make the people falsely believe that they took no part in cheating FPJ in favor of Arroyo.

On July 8, 2005, practically as soon as the "Hello Garci" expose hugged the headlines, Cory called for a news conference where she asked Arroyo to resign. For a time, she continued her demand for the illegitimate's resignation, with her son Noynoy joining in as a good chunk of LP members bolted out of the alliance with Gloria.

This makes one wonder, however, whether the reason why Salonga, et al joined in the "Hello Garci" condemnation was only to make it falsely appear to the late former President Corazon "Cory" Aquino that during the whole time that they went through the motions of canvassing and proclamation, they were totally unaware of Arroyo's cheating? One could even ask whether the LP did it only so that Noynoy would not be chastised by his mother for doing nothing while FPJ was cheated in the canvassing? Either one of these or Cory herself was part of, or aware of, the 2004 poll fraud and cover-up--something rather unlikely.

"Dadayain"

As early as around April 2004, this column was already aware that poll fraud will be done to ensure Gloria Arroyo's presidential victory. A person rather close to me, and within the vicinity of power no matter how low-key s/he may be, confided that "dadayain" the presidential elections. I remember him/her adding something like "I hope the country can weather the storm that is sure to come."

Salonga and this person share a rather influential organization, one breeding ground of the influential (clue: University of the Philippines). If this resource person of mine was aware of the operation to doctor the 2004 presidential elections, so were Sen. Salonga and, it should logically follow, the rest of Liberal Party biggies.

My resource person did not actually name Salonga or the Liberal Party as parties to the poll fraud plan. Neither did I ask him/her who exactly were involved because I couldn't accept his/her revelations to be true (s/he also vaguely talked of the advanced parties from Gloria's camp as distributing goodies in areas where poll-related surveys were scheduled to be held). I guess I couldn't believe that "good people" in the government would allow something as blatantly immoral as cheating to happen. Suffice it to say, however, that putting the two and two of "Hello Garci," Sen. "Noted," and my resource person's political/organizational ties and revelations together, a not unclear role of the LP in the 2004 presidential poll fraud emerges.

FPJ Ghost or no FPJ Ghost

Whether or not the FPJ cemetery ghost story is real, the Filipino people need to be wary of the Liberal Party of today, nay, punish the party by not voting their bets. By the way, Kris Aquino reportedly is being visited by the spirit of her mom. The late Cory Aquino, it should be recalled, apologized to former President Estrada for part in the "2001 uprising." Noynoy apparently tried to save face for the Liberal Party by claiming that the apology was a joke but the only compromise he was ultimately able to wrangle from his mom was the statement that it was indeed "said in jest but she's not taking it back."

It seems fairly obvious to anyone sober enough not to be taken by the lies of EDSA 2 that Noynoy Aquino's association with LP make him a 'bad trapo'? Is it possible that Cory's ghost is telling the same message--Noynoy be wary of, rather, get out from, the seemingly politically prostituted party that is LP!?

Note:
One of my parents was an avid LP supporter. I don't exactly feel good because I never thought I'll be writing something like this about the party to which Diosdado Macapagal and Ninoy Aquino belonged. Change for the moral good, genuine good change, is what our country needs, however. Besides, isn't the need to ensure "clean and honest elections" one of the chief lessons the Philippines is supposed to have learned from the Marcos experience (when even the bird, bees and the dead supposedly voted in 1969, ultimately allowing Apo Ferdie's 1972 declaration of Martial Law)?

Sources:

Bernardo, Jesusa. Arroyo, "Hello Garci" and the Anniversary of Her Bogus Presidency. Newsvine. 24 June 2007. http://forthephilippines.blogspot.com/2008/06/arroyo-hello-garci-and-anniversary-of.html

Caho-Olivares, Ninez. Of black kettles and pots. The Daily Tribune. 3 Nov. 2009. http://www.tribune.net.ph/commentary/20091103com2.html

Cacho-Olivares. "Oust Estrada plot bared: Business, Church group behind 'Oplan Excelsis' ". The Daily Tribune. 30 Oct. 2000. Originally posted in . Republished in http://www.network54.com/Forum/5345/viewall-page-213. Reposted in Newsvine, 10 Oct. 2009. http://jesusabernardo.polls.newsvine.com/_news/2009/10/10/3369444-look-back-oplan-excelsis-plot-to-oust-then-rp-president-joseph-estrada-hatched-in-2000

FPJ Nagparamdam Watch It (GHOST). Posted in Youtube 30 Oct. 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=884z_yQ3a7w

Raval, Demaree. Consistency is the dependable standard. The Daily Tribune. 1 Nov. 2009. http://www.tribune.net.ph/commentary/20091101com3.html

"Saksi: Cory apologizes for taking part in People Power 2." GMA News.TV. 22 December 2008. http://www.gmanews.tv/video/33611/Saksi-Cory-apologizes-for-taking-part-in-People-Power-2

Video Collection of the Hello Garci? Tapes from Youtube. http://www.youtube.comwatchv=okgENwzIxZw&feature=PlayList&p= 6F58785F3AFB1DA7&index=0&playnext=1

Vigilia, Wendell. "Cory to Erap: Sorry for Edsa 2." Malaya. 23 December 2009. http://www.malaya.com.ph/dec23/news6.htm

Photo Credits: 

FPJ-Da King. http://fpj-daking.blogspot.com/2008/09/fpj-in-people-asia-magazine-covers.html

Laila.net. http://www.ladylaila.net/blog/archives/cat_philippine_politics.html

Philstar. http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleid=498515