Rey Quijada

THIS IS PHILIPPINE STAR'S JAIRUS BONDOC BUT I AM REPOSTING THIS AS A BACK UP TO HIS FILE WHICH CONTENT IS OF OUTMOST IMPORTANCE TO OUR ELECTORAL PROCESS AND TO OUR COUNTRY

2012-11-18T13:36:00.001-08:00

THIS IS PHILIPPINE STAR'S JAIRUS BONDOC BUT I AM REPOSTING THIS AS A BACK UP TO HIS FILE WHICH CONTENT IS OF OUTMOST IMPORTANCE TO OUR ELECTORAL PROCESS AND TO OUR COUNTRY

Has Comelec paid P1.8-B for 82,000 useless PCOS?

GOTCHA By JARIUS BONDOC (The Philippine Star) | Updated November 19, 2012 - 12:00am

The latest agency trying to justify wrong is the Coast Guard. In a statement, acting chief Rear Admiral says there was never any dumping by Malaysia’s Glenn Defense of toxic waste in the waters off Subic Bay. Proof? Well, the Coast Guard doesn’t allow it, he manfully boasts.

Problem is, Glenn Defense itself admits that it did dump kitchen and toilet waste. It even stated the dumping area’s distance from Subic Bay: 37 kilometers. The SBMA tested the effluents and said it was beyond the tolerable toxic level.

Glenn Defense, a contractor of the US Navy, claims that the waste it picked up from one ship was treated. Thus, it says, it was cleaner than normal Filipino household sewage.

Here’s news for that lying contractor. The US Navy itself says that the ship has no waste treatment facility.

* * *

Since Venezuela’s Smartmatic does not possess the source code, its precinct count optical scanners (PCOS) are useless for the May 2013 election. But the question is, has the Comelec paid Smartmatic the P1.8 billion for the purchase of the 82,000 voting machines?

Dominion Voting Systems Inc., the disenchanted real owner of the PCOS technology, believes so. In its reply of Oct. 17, 2012, to Smartmatic’s lawsuit in the US, Dominion said that the latter has been paid either in part or in full. Meaning, the Comelec is tied to Smartmatic, although the latter has no software to run the PCOS.

Comes another question: is this the reason why the Comelec is ignoring the implication of Smartmatic’s admission in its lawsuit? That is, the poll body has paid for machines that, sans the software, will not be able to read and tally the votes accurately?

The Comelec announced last March 13 that it was buying for P1.8 billion the 82,000 machines to be used in the 2013 election. These were the same machines it had leased from Smartmatic for P7.2 billion in the 2010 balloting. Smartmatic said in its lawsuit that since the purchase was inked on March 30, Dominion was bound to provide the software to run the PCOS. Dominion replied that the May 2013 poll was not part of the license it had granted to Smartmatic in Oct. 2009. Thus, it was under no obligation to provide Smartmatic anything.

Smartmatic in its lawsuit filed in Delaware last September is demanding damages from Dominion. It alleged that Dominion, as software provider, withheld from it crucial materials and information in their license agreement. Thus, it was unable to fulfill obligations to the election agencies of the Philippines, Mongolia, and Puerto Rico.

One of the withheld materials is the all-important source code, the computer program that enables the PCOS to read and count votes right. (See Gotcha, 12 and 14 Nov. 2012.) Also missing were the manufacturing information, software updates, and the election management system.

No wonder the PCOS could not perform certain requirements of the Election Automation Act of 2008 and the Comelec-Smartmatic contract of Oct. 2009. In the May 2010 election, it did not issue voters receipts confirming the names they marked in the ballots. And it could not read the signatures of the election inspectors and canvassers.

On Feb. 9, 2010, Smartmatic announced that it already had deposited the source code with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, in keeping with the law and the contract. Now it turns out that it was never in possession of the source code, and so had nothing to deposit. Election systems seller Johnny Ramos said the Comelec played along with Smartmatic by confirming the deposit that never really happened.

It’s time for the Comelec and Smartmatic to start telling the truth. If not, Congress must step in to investigate. Big taxpayer money is at stake.

Smartmatic admitted in its lawsuit another critical item. It turned out that the license granted by Dominion bound Smartmatic to keep the details and the deal itself secret. Thus, Smartmatic was never transparent with the Comelec.

Information technologists had doubted in 2010 that Smartmatic owned the PCOS source code, but the Comelec kept claiming it did. “Nobody in the software business ever shows its source code to outsiders for it’s like committing suicide,” says IT expert Wilson Y. Lee. “Large corporations build their own expensive system applications to control their own destiny and not be held hostage by software suppliers. The Comelec got hoodwinked.”

Throughout its reply to the lawsuit, Dominion stated that it was never a party to the Comelec-Smartmatic deal. At least two lawyers have told this writer they will sue the election agency and the foreign supplier in Philippine courts.

In the lawsuit Smartmatic also alleged that it spent more than $20 million to fix a bug in Dominion’s PCOS software. This was when the Comelec discovered the problem a few days before the 2010 balloting but after the PCOS machines had been deployed to the polling precincts. The machines could not read the ballots, but Dominion did nothing about it.

Dominion replied that it did solve the issue. It added that the $20-million cost was all Smartmatic’s fault, for ignoring industry practice. That is, voting machines must be tested before delivery to voting centers.

A Comelec source knows what happened. The source recounts that the poll body, for security reasons, did not show Smartmatic beforehand the actual look of the ballots. The lists of candidates’ names happened to be misaligned, making these unreadable by the PCOS. A Dominion whiz programmer in his 20s named Sean Dean fixed the bug overnight.

IT expert and former Comelec commissioner Gus Lagman says there was not much complaining about PCOS malfunctions after the 2010 balloting. This was because the presidential and senatorial tallies pretty much resembled the many reputable surveys before the voting. He could not say, however, if Smartmatic merely mimicked the surveys to make it look like the PCOS worked right. Two officials of the opposition United Nationalist Alliance shudder at the prospect of Smartmatic copying false surveys of the 2013 election.

* * *

Give books this Christmas. Ateneo Press will put all its titles on sale, 10 to 50 percent off, starting today till Dec. 17, 2012. Visit the Bookshop, Bellarmine Hall, Ateneo Campus, Katipunan Avenue, Loyola Heights, Quezon City; or www.ateneopress.org. For reservations and prices, call (02) 4265984 or e-mailunipress@admu.edu.ph.

* * *

Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., DWIZ, (882-AM).

THIS IS TRIBUNE'S BUT I AM REPOSTING IT JUST IN CASE THE LINK IS LOST. NOW THE CAT IS OUT REGARDING THE PCOS!!!!

2012-11-14T17:34:00.000-08:00

Poll truth out

Written by Tribune Editorial
Wednesday, 14 November 2012 00:00
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Now the truth over the 2010 election, which certainly was fraud-filled, is out, after Smartmatic sued Dominion Voting Systems International in the US.
All that time, the source code for the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines was never supplied to the central bank and the Comelec, and yet both the Comelec and Smartmatic lied about all this, claiming that the source code was submitted, and that there were no anomalies at all, with Comelec commissioners and even the yellows claiming that the 2010 presidential polls were the cleanest yet.
In the lawsuit, Smartmatic charged that Dominion breached its obligations under a license agreement by, among other reasons, “failing to deliver fully functional technology for use in the 2010 Philippines national election; failing to provide timely technical support during and after the Philippines election”; and “failing to place in escrow the required source code, hardware design and manufacturing information.”
During the elections Smartmatic insisted that a source code was secured and even boasted that it was ready for review by local experts but it was, however, never subjected to any verification after the elections. Nor was the source code even given to the Comelec and the central bank.
Apparently, all three were lying through their teeth, which was why the source code was never made public.
And there were already many flaws of which both Smartmatic Philippines and the Melo Comelec were aware.
As stated in the Smartmatic complaint, it said that during a test of the automated voting system conducted shortly before the election, Comelec and Smartmatic discovered a defect in the Licensed Technology-Dominion International’s software (that) failed to correctly read and record the paper ballot. Once Dominion acknowledged the problem with the software and proposed a solution, Smartmatic International had to obtain, load, distribute and install new memory cards with the reprogrammed software to over 76,000 PCOS voting systems, most of which had already been delivered to the various polling stations located throughout the 7,100 islands in the archipelago. Even that was not a guarantee of the PCOS correctly reading and recording the paper ballot.
And yet, at that point, Smartmatic, abetted by the Comelec commissioners, lied about the reason for the new set of memory cards, which incidentally, screwed up the polls, as not all these new memory cards were distributed, which was why there were, in many voting precincts, records of ballots not being printed, as well as machines not recording the votes.
Yet the Comelec commissioners kept the nation in the dark, and kept on claiming how clean the polls were. Again, they lied to the people.
All safeguards were removed, probably because of the fact that too many essentials for the PCOS system were never supplied by Smartmatic and Dominion to the Philippines.
Again, as admitted by Smartmatic in its suit against Dominion, the complaint said: “To effectively service, modify or enhance the licensed products, as authorized by the license agreement, Smartmatic International must have either Dominion’s contracted for assistance or access to the escrowed materials. Dominion International’s refusal to provide the products and support requested by Smartmatic International may, therefore, only be remedied by the release of the materials in escrow, or required to be escrowed.”
There were never the needed materials placed in escrow. “Dominion International has not deposited a complete set of these materials; Dominion did not place in escrow any of the required materials until May 2012,” the complaint stated.
The point is, why did Smartmatic officials lie through their teeth, and why did the Melo Comelec go along with these lies?
In much the same way, aware of the fact that the PCOS machines are flawed and vulnerable to fraud, apart from the fact that there is no source code to speak of for these 2013 polls, why did the Brillantes Comelec insist on buying these flawed PCOS machines?
That the present commissioners knew about this, cannot be denied, given the fact that many of the commissioners then are still in office.
Everything certainly smells much too fishy in the Brillantes Comelec.

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WHY RH IN THE PHILIPPINES????

2012-11-03T14:31:00.001-07:00

A Wall Street Journal article published last July said the Philippines would face economic risks if it implements a reproductive health policy.

The article said President Aquino’s promotion of the bill is “jarring” because it could eventually lead to “a demographic trap of too few workers.”

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=866606&publicationSubCategoryId=63

'Palace can't impose will on approval of RH bill' - The Philippine Star » News » Headlines

www.philstar.com

Malacañang yesterday maintained it cannot impose its will on Congress on the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, which has stirred controversy for allotting billions for contraceptives and family planning services.

Find a plot of gold

2012-09-24T14:38:00.001-07:00

Find a plot of gold http://business.inquirer.net/83540/find-a-plot-of-gold

Our congressmen and senators can really do a lot for the country by working conscientiously but they are not pressured to perform because anyway they are always assured of reelection for as long as they remain popular through expensive advertisements and cash to buy votes and results. No one will challenge their supremacy in their respective localities through their political dynasty and they are ree to do what they want that caters to their family interests. That is why even if admittedly PNoy thru his RH and Trillanes through his over openness and willingness to pick up a fight against giants like Enrile have some deficiences, we need these type of persons who are game changers. If you and I are highly placed like PNoy and Trillanes, would you put your position and even your life at stake just to pursue what you believe in as it is so safe to remain neutral and non confrontational???

Malamang hindi di ba??

Kaya we need more Filipino leaders who are game changers like PNoy and Trillanes and Robredo during these crucial times in our country.

Kaya you as one of our readers can be one of these game changers!!!

HOW TO EARN THE TRUST OF INVESTORS TO INVEST IN THE PHILIPPINES??

2012-06-19T17:00:00.003-07:00

http://www.rappler.com/business/7281-fitch-below-investment-grade-rating-for-ph-stays

Our best investment rating is when our own people are investing here because doing business is good in our country. BUT ARE OUR OWN PEOPLE INVESTING??? If we can not trust our own country with our own investments, much less the foreigners!!!

Fitch: below-investment grade rating for PH stays

www.rappler.com

Despite efforts of the economic managers to highlight the government's governance and anti-poverty efforts, credit agency Fitch Ratings decided to keep its current below-investment grade rating, at least for now

· · Share · 23 minutes ago ·

- Mayo G. Lopez That is the sad part Rey. Foreigners have greater faith in us than we have in ourselves...
  
  22 minutes ago · · 1
- Reynaldo Quijada
  
  If our own people are not investing, why? What could be the reason?? Could it be due to high cost of doing business? In Agusan Sur, you have to spend ONE MILLION PESOS to secure a permit from the DENR Manila to mill planted specie trees Falcatta which are planted abundantly by tree farmers.
  
  To secure a driver's license at LTO, one has to cough up 3,500 PESOS when it only costs less than a thousand pesos.
  
  Who wants to invest under this business climate??
  
  PNoy needs somebody to focus on these nitty gritty of good governance who has a proven track record like Ping Lacson perhaps??
  
  Marlene Damolo Howe
  
  To increase investment in our country first of all, the president needs to curb corruption in every department. Right now, the common complaints I hear from both local and foreign investments is too many RED TAPES! Tapos, bago piperma ng permit or whatever document one needs, one hand is holding a pen while the other hand is reaching out waiting for you to give them "padulas" money. This is detrimental to our progress and only discourage investors.
  
  Louie Bobby Flores Rey, Philippine goverment should step up in winning the hearts of the filipino people first. They should start to portray a very good image abroad like irradicating corruption (w/c i guess is close to impossible), Lessen poverty and developing affordable health assistance to all Pinoys. You just said the key word.... TRUST...

IS DILG SECRETARY ROBREDO LOSING HIS GRIP??

2012-06-04T18:29:00.000-07:00

It appears that Sec Robredo even if he was a good mayor, he is not the action man which is a must character of a DILG Sectretary who can be feared and at the same time one who can be depended on. For instance, our SB Member Greg Plaza in STA. jOSEFA, AGUSAN DEL SUR was murdered in broad dayligh last May 16 in the course of pushing for good governance like PNoy, never have we noticed the presence of the DILG in order to hasten the resolution of the case and for the involved especially the mastermind to be discovered and charged despite the fact that the three gunmen were already apprehended. Robredo should have at least sent one his undersecretaries to assure the other officials of our town especially the family of the slain official that his Office will make sure that justice wil be served so that the battlecry of PNoy will be sustained by the other officials without let up despite the risks involved.

But where was he, that is Secretary Robredo?

NOWHERE!!!!!

Is Robredo losing his grip?

www.manilatimes.net

POINTS TO PONDER FROM IMPEACHMENT TRIAL

2012-05-29T23:10:00.001-07:00

“We should all follow this standard, which should apply to all. Transparency of bank accounts is good,” Cayetano who is the minority leader in the upper chamber said.

“I ask the President to instruct his Cabinet to sign the waivers or resign and leave government. Lead by following, or get out of the way. Executive, legislative, judiciary. COA, Comelec, BIR, Customs, judges, governors, mayors, bar...angay captains, congressmen, senators, let us agree on one standard,” Cayetano in explaining his guilty verdict on Corona said.

“At least, what the Chief Justice did may set a precedent. We can agree on safeguards and protection. Let us allow the Ombudsman to have a free hand in looking into bank accounts of public officials. All of us should have the same standards,” he said.

“The waiver, taken together with the SALn, and if the FOI Law is passed, we will have entered a dawn of transparency and accountability in our country. It will be a new milestone in the Tuwid na Daan,” he added.

AGREE OR DISAGREE???

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Sino kaya sa mga Senators ang may dalawang prepared speeches? One is to convict and the other is to acquit?? Nagtatanong lang kasi ganyan ang politika dito sa Pinas.

· · Share · 7 hours ago ·

Maria Lourdes M. Jardin, Len Villa, Roy Fabros and 7 others like this.
- Ching Plaza tama ka rey, election time next year, I'm sure the others we're watching ano ang majority doon sila..these are the Unprincipled Leaders aka TRAPO

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Noynoy should not immediately appoint a new chief justice but call for a council composed of the current justices and some of the immediate past chief justices - Davide, Panganiban and Puno; and respected legal minds like Salonga. I would even go as far as including Enrile in such a council and several top law school deans; and get their advice and counsel on the kind of person, not a specific person, who ought to seat in that august chair.

Then he should even let the remaining justices choose from among themselves based on that sage advice - the general outlines of which should be made public.

Why? He needs to send a signal that he is willing to start from a clean slate and is willing to give everyone a chance to prove that they are for the country's welfare. It will also avoid any accusation that he is putting his own person there which will make him the same animal as Gloria Arroyo.

By not doing it himself he will be sending a signal that, 1) I am confident enough to get help from those who are my betters, 2) I am redefining what strong leadership means in a truly democratic society to mean the joint responsibility of leaders and followers for the results, and, 3) We need to build bridges between ourselves. BY MAYO G. LOPEZ OF AIM

CJ CORONA'S WAIVER : A LIVELY AND INSIGHTFUL DISCUSSION

2012-05-26T17:00:00.002-07:00

The act of the CJ in submiting his waiver over his peso and dollar accounts without condition is a manifestation of his sincerity. It could also be a brilliant strategy that should he be convicted and more so if acquitted, the Senators and the Congressmen and all officials and employees of government for that matter from PNoy, VP Binay down to the lowest government official or employee should also issue waivers for their peso and dollar accounts. Di ba dapat CJ Corona should be applauded even for this solitary act regardless of the decision of the Senators sitting as an Impeachment Court??

Len Villa, Shanna Camille Focbit, Andrew Villanueva and 15 others like this.
- James Young Goldsmith · 8 mutual friends
  Those that called for the resignation of corona in the early stage of the IT must now realize their mistake, including Pnoy. In one single challenge, CJCorona has started the first step of cleansing the upper echelon of govt. Pnoy must now seize the initiative to extract disclosure waivers on dollar deposit or he will sound hollow on his anti corruption campaign.
  Friday at 9:28pm · · 2
- Reynaldo Quijada Friend I do not regret. I would even beleeive that he was just persuaded to join the call of his countryment for transparency and accountablity and at the same time put in defensive position his accusers and critic government officials. Because if this act of his was already his at the beginning, he should have issued his waiver over his peso and dollar accounts at a very early stage.
  Friday at 9:38pm · · 1
- Mayo G. Lopez Applauded? Depends on how one analyses the sequence of events. Given the oprientation of my generation as I know and remember it - I am only a few years older than Mr. Corona, I am not impressed. In fact, I am dismayed.
  Friday at 9:43pm · · 4
- Gemma Kim many things unfolded with Corona impeachment trial, lawmakers must urgently repeal or amend defective protective laws..
  Friday at 9:45pm ·
- James Young Goldsmith · 8 mutual friends
  Rey, you may have forgotten that the early parts of the IT was all about properties and the amounts of pesos not matching his SALN . For that charge they already clamor for his exit without hearing his side. When he did explain, mr anonymous appeared as a postman. They scream for him to quit. Illegal opening and revelation of accounts are tolerated without question by the admin. and now comes the fact and truth: most legislators DO NOT declare their dollar accounts in their SALN as he did not.
  Friday at 9:49pm · · 4
- Reynaldo Quijada Then they all have to go and I think this is the real electoral reform everybody is wishing for! God truly works in mysterious ways hahaha!
  Friday at 9:54pm · · 2
- James Young Goldsmith · 8 mutual friends
  The harangue they did against corona is most unjust. The press must apologize.
  Friday at 10:04pm · · 1
- Gemma Kim our people, the country is greatly and MORE DIVIDED..
  Friday at 10:05pm · · 1
- James Young Goldsmith · 8 mutual friends
  GK, that it has. And down the drain goes the political capital and credibility of Pnoy. He must make a stand on this issue.
  Friday at 10:07pm · · 1
- Gemma Kim i'm afraid that if its an acquittal, a lameduck government we could have...
  Friday at 10:08pm · · 3
- Reynaldo Quijada tHANK YOU fRIENDS FOR THE LIKE!!
  Friday at 10:17pm · · 1
- Noemi Montenegro If the CJ was really sincere, he should have signed the waiver earlier and not waited till the last minute..... when he realized there's no way out?? . Why prolong this trial- by issuing a TRO so that they could not verify /open his dollar accounts in February and not allowed the Supreme Court personnel of testifying?? Otherwise this trial should have ended earlier thereby saving the taxpayers' money?? When he learned that the Prosecutors are not going to cross-exam him anymore and he was given this last chance by the Impeachment Court, he then decided to sign his waiver without conditions. He was trapped when he tried to leave the Impeachment Court last May 22, 2012 because he was blocked & prevented by the Senate securities from exiting the door to his waiting car outside. The Senate videos won't lie about his attempt of escaping to insult the Impeachment Court. He even had time to hand shake ATTY.JUDD ROY and CRISTINA was walking ahead of him not in a panic/emergency manner. He knows the rules of the court!! That's why there was this Plan B .......
  Yesterday at 12:11am · · 3
- Maj Vi Sincere? I don't agree for I didn't seen nor hear any of that but rather I saw an act. I agree to Noemi if he really was clean he should have signed the waiver earlier in the trial and not when there was no more chance to present witnesses to support his testimonies or rebutt. Next, if he was sincere he should have shown strong evidences to support his claims. Everything he did was say it but no supporting documents. The fact that he denied he walked out and stated he was ill just proved he that it was just a continuation of the whole script / drama. Videos will show that he walked out and was not sick as claimed. If given the benefit of the doubt, despite his apologies, he still should be convicted simply on the grounds of not declaring his total net worth. His justification for not declaring all were simply excuses that hold no ground. Fact still remains, he was not truthful and transparent to the people, we whom he serve and have the sovereign power.
  Yesterday at 2:29am · · 2
- Reynaldo Quijada Personally I am for the impeachment of the CJ but Friends kindly try to analyze the effect of the waiver of the CJ over his pesos and dollar accounts. If he is acquitted, he is in the best position to require the senators and Congressmen and PNoy to issue their waivers. If he is convicted, he will also demamd that the Senators and Congressmen and othe rofficials also issue their waivers or else he will complain that he is being singled out. Do you not see the brilliance of this move of the CJ?? But what concerns me most is the benefit this move will provide to the Filipino people as a whole where officials are obliged to open their accounts voluntarily for the the sake of transparency and accountability!!
  Yesterday at 7:27am · · 1
- Ricky Nazareno May waiver na sa likod ng SALN na pinipirmahan din ng bawat Gov.officials and employee, iba pa ba yung sa Peso at Dollar deposit,,,,
  23 hours ago · · 3
- Jun Paraguya The president himself has manifested doing so on top of the SALN declaration...
  16 hours ago · · 1
- Reynaldo Quijada The SALN filer allows the Ombudsmna to looke at his/her assets, liabilities by asking government agencies for assistance. Private banks are not government agencies and so Ombudsman Morales got assistance only from the AMLC to inquire about CJ Corona's cash. With the waiver issued by Corona, the Ombudsman and other government agencies allowed by that waiver can now ask the banks to show them the peso and dollar bank accounts of Corona. This is what will happen if the Senators and Congressmen will also issue waiver for their bank accounts which is waht CJ Corona is asking them to do for the sake of transparency and accountability.
  16 hours ago ·
- Jun Paraguya I believe Mr. Aquino's sincerity paved the way to today's predicament on the lawmakers' shoulders because they they need to be scrutinized. This wouldn't hav happened in GMAs term, much moreso in Erap's term!!!
  16 hours ago · · 2
- Jun Paraguya Mr. Corona is no hero in this eventuality! He is seems more of a cornered mad dog!
  16 hours ago · · 2

FUNCTIONS OF THE OMBUDSMAN

2012-05-15T08:49:00.001-07:00

Section 15. Powers, Functions and Duties. — The Office of the Ombudsman shall have the following powers, functions and duties:
(1) Investigate and prosecute on its own or on complaint by any person, any act or omission of any public officer or employee, office or agency, when such act or omission appears to be illegal, unjust, improper or inefficient.t has primary jurisdiction over cases cognizable by the Sandiganbayan and, in the exercise of this primary jurisdiction, it may take over, at any stage, from any investigatory agency of Government, the investigation of such cases;(2) Direct, upon complaint or at its own instance, any officer or employee of the Government, or of any subdivision, agency or instrumentality thereof, as well as any government-owned or controlled corporations with original charter, to perform and expedite any act or duty required by law, or to stop, prevent, and correct any abuse or impropriety in the performance of duties;(3) Direct the officer concerned to take appropriate action against a public officer or employee at fault or who neglect to perform an act or discharge a duty required by law, and recommend his removal, suspension, demotion, fine, censure, or prosecution, and ensure compliance therewith; or enforce its disciplinary authority as provided in Section 21 of this Act: provided, that the refusal by any officer without just cause to comply with an order of the Ombudsman to remove, suspend, demote, fine, censure, or prosecute an officer or employee who is at fault or who neglects to perform an act or discharge a duty required by law shall be a ground for disciplinary action against said officer;(4) Direct the officer concerned, in any appropriate case, and subject to such limitations as it may provide in its rules of procedure, to furnish it with copies of documents relating to contracts or transactions entered into by his office involving the disbursement or use of public funds or properties, and report any irregularity to the Commission on Audit for appropriate action;(5) Request any government agency for assistance and information necessary in the discharge of its responsibilities, and to examine, if necessary, pertinent records and documents;(6) Publicize matters covered by its investigation of the matters mentioned in paragraphs (1), (2), (3) and (4) hereof, when circumstances so warrant and with due prudence: provided, that the Ombudsman under its rules and regulations may determine what cases may not be made public: provided, further, that any publicity issued by the Ombudsman shall be balanced, fair and true;(7) Determine the causes of inefficiency, red tape, mismanagement, fraud, and corruption in the Government, and make recommendations for their elimination and the observance of high standards of ethics and efficiency;(8) Administer oaths, issue subpoena and subpoena duces tecum, and take testimony in any investigation or inquiry, including the power to examine and have access to bank accounts and records;(9) Punish for contempt in accordance with the Rules of Court and under the same procedure and with the same penalties provided therein;(10) Delegate to the Deputies, or its investigators or representatives such authority or duty as shall ensure the effective exercise or performance of the powers, functions, and duties herein or hereinafter provided;(11) Investigate and initiate the proper action for the recovery of ill-gotten and/or unexplained wealth amassed after February 25, 1986 and the prosecution of the parties involved therein.
The Ombudsman shall give priority to complaints filed against high ranking government officials and/or those occupying supervisory positions, complaints involving grave offenses as well as complaints involving large sums of money and/or properties.

DAMAYAN on petty and medium sized graft and corruption

2012-05-07T13:55:00.001-07:00

http://opinion.inquirer.net/28301/still-character#disqus_thread

I fully agree with Conrad. I suggest however that PNoy should come up with a strategy to counter petty or medium sized graft and corruption in all agencies because they still go on as if Matuwid na Daan is not known to them as everyone could see. Why not put up an anti graft and corruption committee in every agency which they themselves will organize where all complaints shall be acted upon within 72 hours and the said committee shall be accountable to the department head of that agency and any unchecked failure of that committee, the department head shall be in turn accountable to PNoy thru a Presidential assistant appointed solely for that purpose who in turn shall randomly check these various committees as for their performance so that they will always be in the edge? I tried to use the strategy of claiming that I am the Boss ni Pinoy and even without prior appointment I was able to talk to some bigwigs in some agencies even without prior appointment because I insisted that if they believe in what PNoy said that we the people are his Boss then why should the Boss be prevented from seeing and talking to his servants? I know that we need not do this all the time or else work shall be unnecessarily be disrupted sincerely implementing the Matuwid na Daan and Boss tayo ni PNoy should be seriously implemented in all levels to eliminate graft and corruption in practice and in our consciousness. DAMAYAN

There should be a sincere strategy to protect, preserve and conserve our forests???

2012-05-07T02:07:00.000-07:00

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/189187/thousands-of-illegally-cut-logs-seized-in-agusan#disqus_thread

Bro Louie why not just let the LGUs engage in illegal logging and use these logs for making school chairs? Heheh. The illegally cut logs belong to Agusan Sur and how come it is Tagum City that are using them for school chairs? The DENR I believe should come up with a rationale strategy to curb illegal logging and one concrete way is to simplify granting of wood processing permits especially for planted specie trees so that businessmen and loggers need not resort to illegal activities. Wnhy not install too CCTV in thouroughfares like highways and rivers here these logs are transported? These illegal loggers are publicly known and it is incredible that they are not known to the DENR. From your Friend Rey Quijada of DAang MAtuwid YAN or DAMAYAN.

500 billion pesos of IRA witheld by the National Government since 1992 up to now??

2012-05-06T20:43:00.001-07:00

The Supreme Court ordered the executive department to answer my petition questioning the allocation of some P60.75 billion in the internal revenue allotment (IRA) of the 2012 national budget to national projects.

SC directs Palace to explain IRA in 2012 budget » Nation » News | Philippine News | philstar.com

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The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday ordered the executive department to answer a petition questioning the allocation of some P60.75 billion in the internal revenue allotment (IRA) of the 2012 national budget to national projects.

DAMAYAN or DAang MAtuwid YAN supports fully this petition of Congressman Dodo Mandanas of Batangas. Local autonomy is based on the principle of subsidiarity and is one of the pillars of the 1987 Philippine constitution. It takes a lot of courage to stand for what is right while losing privileges one currently enjoys and can otherwise easily retain by just tagging along with the current. Dodo Mandanas is showing a trait that is one of the most important trait of a leader which is to stand for what is right for ones constituents no matter what. One need not be with the administration in pursuing the Matuwid na Daan. As a matter of fact it can be a challenge to the administration to outdo itself and for all the people including PNoy himself to collectively pursue it during and after PNoy's term!

DAang MAtuwid YAN (DAMAYAN)Proposed Realignment

2012-05-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

http://opinion.inquirer.net/28225/political-realignment-anything-new#disqus_thread

The author, former Congressmen Lumauig might be referring to his group of former congressmen led by PNoy's uncle Peping Cojuangco who is the younger brother of the late former President Cory who was responsible of the Kamaganak In during the time of Cory who is by the way not given a chance by Noynoy now so as not to damage his administration. Peping used to be the PDP LABAN chief and was responsible for putting in doubt the seriousness of the said party in relinquishing trapo politics. The entry of the said group to UNA only reinforces the trapo tag for UNA.

PNoy on the other hand should be able to present new, fresh and good leaders to the people especially the electorate who can become good mayors, governors, congressmen and senators. Pinaasa niya ang marami tungo sa Matuwid na Daan and he should not fail them by presenting once again recycled politicians who come from political dynasties who have made a living out of politics. He should also pressure the COMELEC to stop money politicians not only among politicians but inside the Commission itself.

The tv and radio outfits owned by the government should be used by PNoy in order to expose to the people these new leaders whom the people can choose from to help him in governance.

No offense meant but this is the truth.

UNA makes presence felt in provinces

2012-04-28T12:36:00.001-07:00

UNA makes presence felt in provinces

Binay should watch out because he is appearing more and more each day as the perennial traditional politician like former PGMA opposite to what Noynoy appears to be as the non traditional one. If Mar will not, somebody else may come out as the more viable and more winnable to succeed PNoy. Sino ba ang ayaw ng pagbabago kung hindi ang nasa poder, majority of whom are traditional politicians! A group in Mindanao projects that the people will be searching for new leaders so that we can be at par with our neighbor countries who are much more advanced compared to us in terms of development and a bold projection is spreading that many political dynasties will fall in this coming elections in 2013 and many national political figures will be irrelevant in 2016.

The question WALA NA BA TALAGANG IBANG APELYEDO???? will be a very interesting question in 2013 and in 2016!!!!

The Administration has a Plan B on the event CJ Corona is Acquitted

2012-04-28T12:20:00.006-07:00

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/184141/una-part-of-%E2%80%98constructive-opposition%E2%80%99-says-estrada#disqus_thread

With due respect to former President Estrada, any Senator who will vote for the acquittal or not vote at all either for the acquittal or dismissal of CJ Corona will suffer electoral disadvantage this coming elections either for themselves if they are running again or for their replacement relative. That is what the survey implicates where the majority of the Filipinos believe that CJ Corona is guilty.

I think this is the strategy of political adviser Llamas when he predicted at a very early stage of the impeachment process that he thinks CJ Corona will not be impeached because Senators who will not dismiss Corona will be perceived to be against the Matuwid na Daan. The chances therefore of administration Senatoriables of winning will be enhanced especially with the President himself campaigning for them compare to the non administration candidates unless of course they have something uniquely good to offer to the people. Then another round of impeachment proceedings will be filed again against impeachable officials including CJ Corona.

I can be wrong but I am convinced that this is the scenario the administration will be pursuing in the event CJ Corona will be acquitted, starting with a series of people demonstration immediately after the acquittal that will intensify towards the elections next year.

DAMAYAN for DAang MAtuwid YAN!!-- MGA BOSS NI PRESIDENT NOY

2012-04-27T23:12:00.000-07:00

Just arrived from Manila after a week.

I thank Director Ferdinand Rafanan of the COMELEC for treating me like a very old friend and united in the same desire to help our beloved country we had a grand tine exchanging ideas. I thank Commissioner Mendoza of COA for also meeting me who, before she rejoined COA, has done a lot in exposing anomalies in government. Now she is moving heaven and earth in cooperation with the Chairman and the other commssioner to improve the performance of the Commission for the good of the country. I also thank Attorney Leones. the right hand man of Sec Paje of the DENR , a fellow graduate of U.P same with Director Rafanan who promised me that he will help the widow farmer from my barangay whose truck primarily used for hauling their farm produce was used without her full knowledge in loading illegal logs. As a result it was siezed by the DENR and now kept at DENR central office. I also thank Congressman Mandanas who I also met is working passionately for the release of the 500 billion pesos IRA that was withheld by the national government for these past years supposedly for distribution to all the LGUs all over the country. He won a previous case in the SC amounting to 60 billion pesos in 1992 when he was still the League of Provinces Chairman as Governor of Batangas and it is a precedent that assures positive result for his fight in behalf of all the LGUs involving half a trillion pesos. I also thank my kumpare Mr. Lito David a pro lifer and former candidate for Senator of Kapatiran Party for guesting me at his weekly radio program at Radio Veritas where I also met the Radio Veritas manager Fr. Anton Pascual. May tanong si Pareng Lito na wala na ba talagang ibang apelyedo na pwede maging Senador at kailangang magkapatid, mag ama o magkapamilya na lang lage para bang sila lang ang magagagaling???

But I especially thanked the security guards and the assistants of the important people whom I saw when they pleasantly understood at nakangiti pa when I told them that I am the Boss ni PNoy and they helped me the boss to talk to their Bosses who happen to be public servants. Simple idea na Boss tayo ni PNoy but if claimed and implemented sincerely will overturn the old notion that those in government are the Bosses!!

I am therefore inspired to start a movement called DAMAYAN for DAang MAtuwid YAN where I invite everybody to claim the promise of PNoy that we are his Boss and support honest and dedicated public servants and their causes and using the Daang Matuwid as a benchmark, let us help our country rise up and let this benchmark be not only owned by PNoy but shall be owned by everybody may they be with the administration, opposition, independents and where the performance of all public servants without exception including PNoy himself and we the BOSS shall be referred and evaluated.

GOD BLESS US ALL AND THANK YOU FOR CONDITIONALLY RECONNECTED OUR INTERNET CONNECTION WHEN THEY AGREED THAT I PAY PARTIAL AMOUNT FOR MY ACCOUNT. PERO HANGGANG MAY 7 LANG DAW.....OK LANG!!!

EASTER MESSAGE TO FRIENDS 2012 AND APPEAL FOR SUPPORT FOR OUR TOWN AND PEOPLE

2012-04-08T14:09:00.002-07:00

Happy Easter to all of you my Friends! This whole week of festive celebrations make me all the more convinced that those who are afraid to die are not fit to live! May the things we have all learned after this week's lenten observance will not just remain as informative but should be performative. Please keep in mind our place where very united to our Parish priest I and several others want our town freed from the vices of illegal gambling and illegal drugs which are victimizing many of our youth!

Hope President Noynoy and General Bartolome take notice!!

IF THIS INFORMATION OF SOLITA MONSOD WHICH I KNOW MYSELF HAS BEEN DECLARED BY PRIVATE PERSON GUS LAGMAN THE COMELEC DECIDED ON RELATED TO THE ARMM ELECTIONS BEFORE HE WAS APPOINTED TO THE COMELEC, WHY NOT DIG DEEPER AND IF WITH BASIS, WHY NOT FILE IMPEACHMENT COMPLAINT AGAINST THE ERRING COMELEC COMMISSIONERS???

2012-03-09T23:45:00.000-08:00

Puzzles for the uninitiated

1:02 am | Saturday, March 10th, 2012

It must be puzzling to the uninitiated that despite its documented poor performance in the 2010 elections and the resulting complaints against it by those advocating clean, honest elections, etc., Smartmatic remains the Commission on Elections’ choice (with Commissioner Gus Lagman being the sole dissenter) as technologypartner/provider in its election activities.

It must be equally puzzling to the uninitiated that despite the fact that Gus Lagman is the only member of the Comelec who has IT expertise, not to mention long experience and commitment in keeping elections clean and honest, his suggestions and recommendations keep getting shunted aside.

Only consider:

Smartmatic’s performance in the 2010 elections has been criticized by many. Start with the report of the House committee on suffrage, of which its then chair, Rep. Teddy Locsin, recommended a return to manual processes unless the shortcomings of the automated system were plugged (they haven’t been). Then there is most of the IT community—e.g., the Philippine Computer Society—which went as far as filing criminal and administrative cases against the Comelec, Smartmatic et al. with the Office of the Ombudsman (no response).

Add to that civil society organizations like Namfrel, Lente and CenPeg, and concerned individuals (e.g., my husband, former Comelec Chair Christian Monsod, who delivered what was generally considered an excellent Jaime Ongpin Memorial Lecture on the topic). Even the Comelec Advisory Council (CAC) was critical—and recommended that Smartmatic be penalized for its shortcomings and that its Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines not be purchased.

The only organization which continues to think that Smartmatic did a good job is the PPCRV (Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting), whose performance regarding the Random Manual Audit was markedly less than stellar.

The irony is that Smartmatic’s defense has always been that it was only following the Comelec’s orders, thus laying full blame on the poll body (with nary an objection from the latter). Which, in the literal sense, is true, because the Comelec is in charge of elections. Except that it was clear to everyone that the Comelec, with very little in-house capability/expertise on automation, leaned heavily on Smartmatic’s advice, and was markedly partial to it.

An exaggeration? Judge for yourself: Over and above the PCOS contract, which cost about P7.2 billion, Smartmatic was awarded another—this time negotiated—contract (possibly others) for P1.1 billion consisting of P376 million to supply ballot boxes and P700 million for the deployment of ballot boxes and official ballots. Had there been bidding, Smartmatic would not have qualified, having had no experience in these tasks.

What’s wrong with P1.1 billion? Compare this with the cost incurred by the Comelec for deploying ballot boxes and official ballots in the barangay elections five months later: around P200 million. Why should it cost so much more when done by Smartmatic (which just turned around and subcontracted them) than when done by the Comelec? Even more basic, why was it given to Smartmatic at all? The reason given—pressure of time—doesn’t fly. It is unbelievable that the Comelec would have forgotten, until the last two minutes, that ballot boxes had to be ordered and deployed.

The reader may point out that one swallow does not a summer make. How about this? Despite those charges and recommendations against Smartmatic, the Comelec—not the Melo Comelec, but the Brillantes Comelec—still decided that it would use Smartmatic and its PCOS machines for the then upcoming ARMM elections in 2011, for P880 million—P130 million for the purchase of 4,000 PCOS machines and P750 million for “technology-related services.”

This is the situation that Gus Lagman found when he joined the Comelec as commissioner. Gus, an IT expert who headed Namfrel Quick Count since its inception, was horrified, probably not only because Smartmatic was still going to be involved in elections after its many booboos, but also because it was getting a contract at very favorable expenditure ratios: With about 1 million voters, the Comelec would be paying Smartmatic about P880 for every voter in the ARMM. That is six times what the Comelec paid Smartmatic (P7.2 billion for 50 million voters) for similar services in 2010.

Naturally, Gus, now the resident Comelec IT expert, opposed it—but he lost by a vote of 6-1 (there are seven Comelec commissioners). It may have been a blessing in disguise that the ARMM elections were postponed.

That was the first defeat Gus suffered in the Comelec. Another was the Consolidation and Canvassing System (CCS), which had been outsourced to the vendor for the 2008 ARMM elections and the 2010 automated elections. Gus asked the Comelec’s IT department if they could develop their own CCS, and the answer was an emphatic yes.

The project was completed on time, for P1 million. How much did Smartmatic charge for its CCS? P58 million. One would have thought that the in-house project would have been accepted with open arms. And one would have been wrong. Ironically, the PPCRV representative in the CAC (former Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal, who worked hand in glove with Smartmatic) posed strong objections, saying that the technology was untried (a ridiculous comment, because the technology is nothing but laptops, PCs, servers and standard communication facilities). And again, apparently, Gus’ colleagues turned Gus’ project down.

Puzzles for the uninitiated. But to those in the know, the situation is crystal-clear.

HOW DO WE STOP THE CULTURE OF CORRUPTION IN OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM MEANING AMONG OUR JUDGES, PROSECUTORS, LAWYERS AND YES, LITIGANTS????

2012-03-09T23:02:00.003-08:00

The Chief Justice is going around town having himself interviewed but no amount of propaganda will cover up the truth.

The prosecution tried its best to uncover the truth. The ones who are covering it up are the Justices of the Supreme Court and it is very unfortunate!! Hopefully Corona will fulfill his word that he will appear as a witness and allow the Impeachment Court to look at his peso and dollar accounts. It is wrong for him to say that only his retirement benefits that will be at stake if he loses.

This must be the compelling reason why he should appear at the Impeachment Court in order to defend himself. Once he is convicted, charges may now be filed against him in regular courts. The prosecution was right in not pursuing the other complaints against him because as it stands.

if Corona will not be convicted by the Senators on his SALN, it means no amount of complaints will convict him!!

In this connection I would like to share with you an article of a writer whom I do not agree with on a very important issue specifically the RH issue but on his declaration that corruption in the judiciary is prevalent, I FULLY AGREE WITH HIM.

Thus, in recognition of his works, I am reprinting his article, very simply written but very factual, to wit;

http://opinion.inquirer.net/24525/how-many-dirty-judges-justices-and-lawyers-are-there

How many dirty judges, justices and lawyers are there?

3:50 am | Friday, March 9th, 2012

10 256 236

It is jolting to reflect on the corruption of the Judiciary even though it can be everyday man’s assumption that our justice system sucks. The poor have long experienced a different kind of justice for them and a far friendlier one for the rich. That is nothing new and has been a powerful issue used by the rebellion to recruit partisans. But corruption is not about a rich-versus-poor scenario, it is the corrupt for themselves against everybody.

From the onset, I had welcomed the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Rene Corona. I have less interest in Rene Corona the person and much, much more for Rene Corona as the personification of both the Supreme Court and the Judiciary. It has been a keen interest of mine to have the public eye focused deliberately to the corruption of the Judiciary because it is the worst kind of corruption. And if others, especially the Judiciary and the legal profession would like to make a counter claim and deny the shameful level of corruption in their area of responsibility, they may wish to look at how the Philippines can be considered a corrupt country with one crucial branch not blackened as well.

For over thirty years, when I am in the company of lawyers, socially or professionally, corruption in the Judiciary and the legal profession has been a given. It used to be that corporations would have legal retainers on the basis of the relationships of owners of senior management and lawyers or law firms. But it began to expand a little when corporations would retain law firms with good connections to judges and justices. The imbalance of the Judiciary in dispensing justice warped even more when it went beyond the traditional difference between justice for the rich and justice for the poor to justice that can be bought.

Lawyers and/or law firms with good connections mean good connections with judges and justices. It means that decisions can be unduly influenced by relationships, for favors and for money. It means that judges and justices can be for sale. With judges and justices selling their decisions, there can only be corruption in the Judiciary.

The last discussion I had with a youngish lawyer in his 40′s produced the same information as has been mentioned in the last forty years. He said it is almost impossible for lawyers or law firms not to know a dirty judge or justice, and that many of them allow themselves to be used to corrupt those judges and justices in the interest of their clients. After all, clients who can afford want insurance far and beyond the merits of their cases. Why else are they looking for lawyers and law firms with friendly ties to judges and justices.

This young lawyer said that lawyers like him who have not established themselves are not in a position to risk their careers by exposing dirty judges and justices. He said there is a government agency under the Judiciary which accepts complaints against wrongdoing by judges and justices. However, he would never go there because complaints are leaked and the fate of the lawyer complainant is sealed – no more future in his profession. He did say that some very well established law firms had more leeway and courage to make complaints but they hardly do. Most prefer to keep things quiet and enjoy their advantage over smaller and newer law firms.

It was absolutely comical how many lawyers and law firms went to the defense of a Chief Justice accused of betraying the public’s trust. Corruption and protecting a former president anticipating plunder cases against her. It was as though they were fighting for their king – and they most probably think so. After all, Corona and his lieutenants act as if he were the Supreme Court, as though accusations against his character and behaviour are also attacks against the Judiciary.

Yet, the stained reputation of the Judiciary and its deteriorated credibility does not seem to upset them at all. They have been acting as though they are all in one clean branch of government and that the President of a dirty executive Branch and members of a dirty Congress had no right to think of their Chief Justice as unfit. They do not even begin to wonder if there are more dirty justices, judges and lawyers than dirty policemen by percentage.

The President was voted in on a platform of change, and change in a very specific field – corruption. The President is trying to live up to his promise and mandate. He needs the Judiciary to clean up. Without the Judiciary, the President only has one option for reform – a revolutionary government. What the President starts has to end with the Judiciary, has to end with justice being dispensed with firmness in a society long wracked by corruption.

Instead, Chief Justice Rene Corona and the majority of the Supreme Court have been the biggest and worst impediments for PNoy’s reform-focused government. It does not make it easier for the President to push a reform agenda by going after the Chief Justice, but a Chief Justice sneaked into his position around midnight forces a confrontation. The two of them cannot co-exist in harmony unless both agree to the cleansing of government.

The impeachment trial is not about Corona, it is about corruption in the judiciary. I understand, therefore, why the Corona cohorts in the Supreme Court who gave him a technical opening to be appointed in the dead of night have to protect him, and one another. I understand why judges and court employees have to defend one of their own as though they are defending their way of life. I under why many lawyers and law firms are totally uncomfortable with a President challenging corruption in the Judiciary. After all, when judges and justices do business with litigants, the lawyers are the usual go-between, the negotiators, the couriers of cash or favors.

It is not easy to beat the system, even if that system is a cancer that gnaw at the soul and nobility of the Filipino people. If we are afraid to confront the cancer, we can at least ask, “How many dirty justices, judges and lawyers are there?”

Protect your DNA | PHILIP S. CHUA M.D FACS, FPCS

2012-03-08T20:58:00.001-08:00

Protect your DNA | PHILIP S. CHUA M.D FACS, FPCS

IN the new pre-emptive health book, Let’s Stop "Killing" Our Children, which was just released at amazon.com, bn.com, and philipSchua.com, I pointed out that protecting the DNA of children, starting from the womb and in the crib would help them ward off common debilitating diseases, like high blood pressure, arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and even cancer, when they reach middle age and older.

In this 800-page coffee-table healthy lifestyle manual, I am advocating disease prevention starting from the cellular level and suggest that our current conventional strategy of battling illnesses today, which starts during teen age and middle age years, is a bit late. Autopsy findings on children, ages 4, 5, 6, who succumbed to accidents, have shown that at that tender age, they already had arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), which should normally be found only among old people. Obviously, their DNA had been damaged years early on.

Starting from ‘ground zero’

As suggested in the book, we must be pro-active and pre-emptive and join the race at at the starting line, and not in the middle as society is doing today, the very reason why we are lagging behind diseases in the race for health and well-being. Diseases are way ahead of us, winning, and causing epidemics of obesity, diabetes, and cancers. All because we are starting the race in the middle. The race does not start in the middle!

Damaging the integrity of the DNA with unhealthy milk from corn/soy-fed cows, among babies and young children, and feeding them saturated fat and cholesterol-loaded red meats, egg yolks and other dairy products, and processed meats, severely increases their risk of developing those diseases listed above and a shortened longevity.

Slow down aging

The ends of our chromosomes, named telomeres, become shorter as we grow older. The shorter the telomeres, the more prone we are to develop diseases. The old thinking that we could not do anything about this "natural process" has been found by new scientific studies to be inaccurate. With healthy lifestyle and positive behavioral changes, we can increase the length of the telomeres. This includes healthful diet and exercise, which have been shown to protect the telomeres, and actually slow down aging at the cellular level.

Pre-emptive strategies

On top of starting healthy lifestyle in the womb and dieting beginning in the crib, here are some pro-active strategies we can do to maintain health and well-being and maximize longevity.

1. Diet of fish, a generous amount of vegetables, whole grains, nuts, soy beans, some fruits, preferably with moderation in sodium (salt) intake, without red meat, egg yolks, other high cholesterol foods, and processed foods. This diet significantly reduces the onset of metabolic syndrome (a combo of high blood pressure, high blood sugar, obesity, and other risk factors that lead to diabetes and cardiovascular illnesses.

2. Drinking a glass of water before each meal and pushing ourselves away from the dining table less than full.

3. Daily physical exercises, even moderated or brisk walking. Medical literature shows that those who do regular physical exercises live longer.

4. Maintaining normal weight. If needed, reduce by controlling calorie intake and exercising, instead of using weight control pills or beverages, which are dangerous, fatal in some reported cases.

5. Take a nap, even for 30 minutes in the afternoon. Regular nappers have been shown to have 37 percent lesser risk of dying from heart disease, compared to occasional or non-nappers. This "mini-recharging" moment also reduces the stress hormones that contribute to cardiovascular diseases.

6. Discipline, attention to details, persistence, conscientiousness, positive attitude, and having a purposeful life (maintaining a sense of purpose) and optimism are very healthy traits that promote well-being and longevity. Ability to control personal behavior at home, at work, and everywhere, for general safety, also helps in the preservation of life.

7. Having a good family life, making and having friends, and having an enjoyable social life, all promote well-being and improve longevity. Getting married for those who were ready has been found to improve health and well-being. Those who are divorced or widowed have lower death rate compared to those who never married.

8. Quitting cigarettes increases life span by at least 9 years among those who are 40 years old, and even longer for those who quit at earlier ages.

9. Red wine consumption, a glass or two with lunch and/or dinner is healthy for the cardiovascular system. Alcohol abuse, however, is something else. It destroys the personality, character, reputation, and health of the abuser, and damages family life and friendship.

10. Associate with people who are health-aware, because medical studies reveal that the habit of eating unhealthy diet and drinks, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, and other behaviors are "contagious." The risk of being "infected" is almost 60%. While smoking friends have a negative impact, friends who quit smoking can also positively "infect" friends to likewise quit.

11. Sleeping for at least 5 hours a day for adults, at least 8 for children, boosts the immune system and keeps the brain alert. It also lowers the risk of premature deaths. Daily brain calisthenics with mentally challenging puzzles or activities is exercise for the brain cells which strengthens brain and reduces the risk for Alzheimer’s.

12. Managing stress with a weekly or monthly "break" for de-stressing, relaxation and rest, and longer vacation(s) each year, are vital components to a healthy lifestyle. Yoga, meditation, communing and appreciating mother nature and the outdoors in general contribute to well-being and serenity.

13. Being spiritual has also been shown by medical research to improve health and longevity. Included here is the ability to forgive. Those who have forgiven have closure, a heavy load lifted off their chest, serenity, and inner peace. All this leads to reducing anxiety, anger, insomnia, and results in lower blood pressure and ability to sleep better.

Almost all diseases known to man are self-induced or self-inflicted, and are, therefore, preventable. Somehow, unwittingly, many of us have programmed ourselves in the self-destruct and slow-suicide mode. This passive surrender to the "whatever-will-be-will-be" attitude is defeatist and against the law of nature.

Our future, as far as health and longevity and all other facets in life are concerned, are realistically within our control to a great extent. Even the ability to protect our DNA. All we have to do is to open our mind, and realize and accept that natural fact. After all, our life actually depends on it.

***

Concealing dollars is money laundering | AMADO P. MACASAET

2012-03-08T20:39:00.001-08:00

Concealing dollars is money laundering | AMAD O P. MACASAET

I FIND THIS ARTICLE VERY PRACTICAL AND SO I WANT TO PRESERVE IT IN MY BLOG FOR OTHERS TO READ IF THEY WANT

CHIEF Justice Renato C. Corona charges the Philippine Savings Bank with leaking his dollar accounts as early as September last year.

The charge is stupid.

He publicly accused the bank of leaking his peso and dollar accounts, an imputation of a crime that could very well be interpreted as having severely damaged the reputation of PSBank.

It is for this reason that the bank may consider the withdrawal of a petition for a TRO. Instead, the bank should release to the impeachment court all the records of deposits of the Head Magistrate. The impeached magistrate should know that all banks and financial institutions are examined periodically by the Bangko Sentral.

In every examination trip, the BSP is accompanied by a member of the Anti-Money Laundering Council whose eyes are trained solely on undeclared deposits of foreign currencies.

It is not correct for Mr. Corona to say that it was the PSB which leaked the details of the dollar accounts. Leaked to whom, he did not say. The fact is the $700,000 account turned up during a regular examination.

The dollar deposit was not leaked. It was discovered by the BSP and the AMLA in the course of routine examination of all financial institutions.

The Anti-Money Laundering Council has a duty to determine the source of the dollars so that after close examination the council may make the conclusion on whether or not the money is laundered. If the council believes the funds are laundered it goes to court to prove its case and forfeits the amount if it gets a favorable ruling.

It is now the duty of the Anti-Money Laundering Council and the Bangko Sentral to turn over the dollar deposit records to the Office of the Ombudsman who shall determine whether information should be filed with the Sandiganbayan.

The AMLA works very quietly. It has been reasonably successful in the sense that it has forfeited ill-gotten money in the billions of pesos.

Laundering covers all currencies, pesos included.

It is not good business practice for any bank, in this case Philippine Savings Banks, to leak deposits to anybody. But it cannot refuse to open its books for examination by the Bangko Sentral and the anti-money laundering council.

At this stage the Chief Justice is wasting time making so much noise and accusing PSB of leaking the details of his peso and dollar deposits. The point is the deposits do exist. The Head Magistrate has not explained why the money is not listed in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth. The amounts are well over his income as Chief Justice.

His own ruling in a case involving dollars of the Marcoses deposited in Swiss banks states that any amount not listed in the SALN and not justified by income is presumed to be ill-gotten.

Is the Chief Justice trying to exempt his case from his own ponencia? That’s what it looks to all of us.

His lawyers told the impeachment court the deposits will be explained in due time. Let’s see how they can do it. Let us figure out the oxymoronic act of saying the deposits will be explained but at the same time the defense wants the submission of the evidence covering the deposits suppressed.

From the very beginning the Chief Justice was on a media war on his impeachment case.

Yet he charges the prosecutors of trying his case by publicity when they take to media to explain evidence they obtain.

Unfortunately, he only succeeds in sinking himself deeper in the hole every time he talks.

Does he think that the "leaks" of his deposits in two banks diminish his responsibility of not listing them in his SALN? We think not.

As Chief Justice, we presume that Mr. Corona knows the laws on money laundering and the law that makes mandatory the disclosure of assets and liabilities and net worth.

The Chief Justice must have known from the very beginning that hiding wealth not justified by income is criminal, at least questionable.

But it seems he sat in comfort not ever suspecting that his position as Chief Justice would be questioned in an impeachment trial. Now that the hidden wealth has been discovered, he cries foul and goes as far as saying his impeachment is the cruel way of President Aquino’s revenge over Mr. Corona’s ruling on Luisita.

Whoever leaked or discovered the deposits and other assets not in the SALN and submitted them to the prosecutors in the impeachment trial did a patriotic act. They want to help the Court right a wrong.

But the Chief Justice claims in television appearances that he has been wronged. By whom? Nobody but himself because he documented his own fraud. None of that is related to how he gave justice to the poor tenants of Luisita.

A WAY HOW PCOS MACHINES WERE USED IN BAWAS OPERATIONS DURING ELECTIONS????

2012-03-07T19:17:00.000-08:00

PCOS machines can be used for cheating

Posted by Northern Philippine Times on May 9, 2010 in Editorials, Elections 2010 | 0 comments

EDITORIAL

The recent spate of gross errors by the PCOS machine has revealed “an easy way to shave votes from targeted candidates, by making minor changes in the PCOS configuration file”.

This, according to Halalang Marangal (HALAL) Secretary-general Roberto Verzola who warned the use of PCOS machines could derail the May 10 due to mismatch between the PCOS configuration and the ballot layout for the local candidates. The ballot layout for the local candidates was reportedly changed from single-spaced to double-spaced, but the PCOS configuration was not changed to account for the new locations of the double-spaced ovals.

From the perspective of the PCOS, Verzola said, the ovals were misaligned. Ballot printing had changed the alignment of ovals due to the modified layout, but the PCOS was still looking for the ovals based on their original alignment. The PCOS couldn’t find most of the ovals anymore, resulting to missed votes in mock elections.

“Smartmatic simply needs to adjust the coordinates of the ovals for the local candidates, to conform with the modified ballot layout, to correct the misalignment. This will require changing the configuration file containing the coordinates. I agree that, properly done, this would solve this particular problem,” Verzola said. “However, this can be exploited by cheats to do target cheating – mostly through vote-shaving – with the PCOS machine,” Verzola warned.

He explained how: “All that needs to be done is to slightly change the coordinates of the oval associated with a targeted candidate, so that the printed oval on the ballot for that candidate becomes slightly misaligned with respect to the new coordinates on the configuration file.

The larger the misalignment, the greater the possibility of missing the mark on the oval – this is called a false negative or a ‘bawas’. Of course, the cheat would not make such a big change that the PCOS machine will miss the mark entirely – a consistently zero count would be too obvious and easily detected. But a slightly misaligned oval might be missed occasionally, say one in every ten marks, leading to a 10% shaving of votes for that particular targetted candidate.”

The Commission on Elections must make sure that this kind of cheating doesn’t happen. But then, the Comelec had been accused of making sure everything would go wrong on election day to perpetrate the longer stay of the people in Malacanang and their cohorts. Will the Comelec live up to its mandate of ensuring that the genuine and true voice of the people would be heard on election day? For sure, the people would know if the electoral body would live up to its constitutional mandate of go down in history as engineering the most crooked elections in Philippine history.

Jimmy Carter bemoans money in politics on Super Tuesday - I THOUGHT THAT THIS DISTORTION IN DEMOCRACY IS ONLY IN THE PHILIPPINES!!!

2012-03-06T15:22:00.000-08:00

Jimmy Carter bemoans money in politics on Super Tuesday

Posted by

CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor Eric Marrapodi

(CNN) – Jimmy Carter, peanut farmer turned 39th president, said he was casually following Republican politics on Super Tuesday, as he does sometimes for amusement.

Watching from the sideline has given Carter some perspective he said. He is not thrilled about how things are playing out.

Tune in to the CNN Election Center tonight at 7 p.m. ET for live coverage of the Super Tuesday primaries and follow real time results on CNNPolitics.com, on the CNN apps and on the CNN mobileweb site. Follow CNN Politics on Facebook and on Twitter at#cnnelections.

– Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker

As he sat in his Plains, Georgia home, he bemoaned the influx of money into politics, and with it –vitriol.

"A lot of that money is used to destroy the character of your opponent in an election and that animosity and character destruction carries on when members of Congress get to Washington," Carter told CNN by phone.

"I hope the Supreme Court will reverse its stupid decision to let the corporations contribute massive amounts of money, and also rich people," he said of the high court's ruling on the Citizen's United case which paved the way for the creation of super PACs and with them unlimited donations to political action committees and the onslaught of negative advertisements.

He said when ran for president, "I always referred to incumbent President Gerald Ford as, 'my distinguished opponent' and that's the way he referred to me. When I later ran against Governor [Ronald] Reagan, it was the same thing, 'my distinguished opponent.' "

No matter the issue he said it seems, "everything is vitriolic now."

As for the outcome on Tuesday at the polls, he surmised his neighbors in Georgia would give former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich a win in his home state, but that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney would be on the top of the Republican ticket in the end.

Not surprisingly, ether way Carter said he will support fellow Democrat President Barack Obama in his reelection bid in November. And the former president said he hoped the current president would be able to stay above the fray and away from the vitriol.

WAS INFORMATION SYSTEMS SECURITY OF THE PHILIPPINES CORRECT IN THEIR ANALYSIS IN 2010 IN RELATION TO PCOS MACHINES????

2012-03-05T19:29:00.005-08:00

FRIENDS I CAME ACROSS A SINCERE AND USEFUL ARTICLE FOR THE FORTHCOMING 2013 ELECTIONS PREPARED BY THE INFORMATION
SYSTEMS SECURITY SOCIETY OF THE PHILIPPINES WRITTEN
ALMOST 3 YEARS AGO AND DECIDED TO
REPRINT IT AND MAY I INVITE ALL WHO CAN CONTRIBUTE
SOMETHING TO REVISIT IT ENTITLED;

How will cheating be done in the coming 2010 election?

http://www.isssp.org.ph/Securingthe2010elections.htm.

The Information Systems Security Society of the Philippines (ISSSP) believes that massive cheating in the 2010 elections
will not be done through electronics means as people have anticipated. The systems and their underlying technology
are technically sound and have gone through rigorous testing. The vulnerability is not in the technology but rather,
in the policies and the people that will be running the technology. If these are not properly secured, political warlords
and unscrupulous individuals may sabotage the automated system, forcing manual elections, which may result to massive
cheating.

This was the consensus arrived at during the ISSSP’s 3rd and final forum on Securing the 2010 election at the Intercontinental
Hotel last April 16. The ISSSP is an association composed of around 300 IT security professionals in the country whose
primary concern is to create awareness on the threats to the automated election systems and how to address or mitigate
the risks involved. The first forum on ensuring the 2010 election sponsored by ISSSP was held in 2008 and the second in 2009.

Indeed, a lot of people have come to believe that elections will be rigged through electronic means. In fact, some sectors of
the IT community and civil society have pushed for the parallel manual count. The scheme is designed to serve as a validation
for the automated results and not to return to the manual process as some people have claimed or opined. But in reality this
move and other uncertainties on the AES, as aptly written by one columnist, is borne out of distrust for the Comelec’s
capability to undertake honest, orderly, and peaceful elections in the past.

What they fail to appreciate is while it is possible to cheat electronically, there could be insurmountable hurdles for this to be a
likely scenario. One is the investments not only in financial terms but in technical terms as well. That is, a cheater will have to
hire seasoned IT experts with a greater love for money than for country, to compromise the system. It will also require
months of preparatory planning and coordinative effort and in total secrecy. Add to this, the possible difficulty of execution.
Thus, the easiest and fastest way, and perhaps cost-effective manner with guaranteed results to cheat, is to enable a manual
mode.

The politicians who have cheated in the past will continue to cheat as it is in their nature to cheat. And since they know
how to cheat in a manual election process, their one logical recourse is to change the election, at least in their locality,
from automated to manual, where they will have the means and the power to tamper with people’s votes.

But how does one sabotage or force an automated election to default back to its manual processes?

In some areas where there are no electricity or communication lines, or those that cannot be reached with and by the
PCOS machines, the election will be done manually. That is already a bonus for some cheating candidates. According to
the Comelec, manual election may be conducted in at the most 30% of the total number of precincts.

For the scheming political warlords, one way of converting their automated precinct to manual is to use force and intimidation
to prevent, by whatever means, the use or operation of the PCOS machines in their respective precincts.

Comelec and the AFP-PNP will just have to make sure that the automated precincts are not converted into manual polling
places through political dictates and lawless subterfuge. Thus, the authorities should make sure that the polling place is secured,
and that no suspicious characters are given the opportunity to sabotage the PCOS or the ballot boxes, or bring undue fear
and harm to the voting public.

The easiest way to cheat manually in this election is to get hold of the ballots, mark them and then feed them to the PCOS
machines. In the past elections, filling up ballots was time consuming and required a number of trusted followers to write the
names of candidates using different handwritings. Today’s ballots can be marked easily, by the hundreds, in minutes, using a
trained accomplish to black-mark ovals with no need to change handwriting.

When Comelec contracted Smartmatic-TIM, it was not to rig or cheat on the election process. The intention was to facilitate
the process, thru automation, to ensure clean and honest elections. But why the negative issues? It is the obvious question
of credibility, which Comelec has lost in the past elections and has not been able to regain since. To compound this situation,
Comelec has failed in their responsibility to convincingly assure the public that the automated system is safe, secured and reliable.

It is still the credibility of Comelec and Smartmatic-TIM that is the issue, not that of the automation process.

Smartmatic-TIM, in spite of its claimed IT-Election experience and expertise, has not visibly addressed the expected resistance-
to-change factor that threatens any attempt at change, especially one of this size and proportion. Their change management
strategy was nowhere to be seen or felt. Like the IT change agents of old, they were remiss in convening enough influential
business, political, media and IT personalities to help them sway people’s thinking about the safeguards and security provisions
inherent in their automated solution.
The purpose of the Parallel Manual Count and the Random Manual Audit

A parallel manual count is not going to prevent cheating nor is it intended to prevent one. Although it is true that some private
companies resort to a parallel run or count when they convert to a computerized or automated system, the main purpose of
such parallel run or test is simply to check if the results of the automated system is going to be the same as that of the old,
manual system. And in most cases, this is done to assure the owners or company executives that the computerized system is
as reliable as their original manual system.

Today, with most business owners and executives already aware of the benefits and reliability of automation, the question is
no longer whether the system will work, but whether the system will continue to work when subjected to external as well as
internal threats and vulnerabilities.

The election system is not a difficult system to program from an IT perspective. It is difficult to implement though since it will
continually be under threat and subjected to the dictates of political leaders, local and/or national. The more important issue
is whether the system was designed to withstand the pounding of muscles, muzzles and money on its doors.

To answer this question, the random manual audit may provide an answer.

In the random manual audit as required in the law and already agreed to by Comelec, five (5) precincts per legislative district will be subjected to a manual counting of the ballots as against that of the PCOS printout.

Will this number (sample size) be enough to check if there is a weakness or security breach in the PCOS system? The answer
is yes. Random sampling is an internationally acceptable process of determining near-to-real occurrences or statistical incidence.
And that is the one reason it was prescribed in the automation law. The only question is whether the selection of the precincts
will be done in a truly random fashion.

The random process of selecting the precincts for the audit is what our Comelec, and the election partners of Comelec should
insist on. This way, Comelec can show to the Filipino people that theirs is the intention to help in the audit and find out if the
automated process indeed had a weakness or vulnerability that was breached. A discrepancy that may result from the random
manual audit does not mean that Comelec or any of its partners cheated. It merely means there are weaknesses in the PCOS
system and that remediation is in quick order.

If the parallel manual count and the random manual audit are not preventive measures in securing the 2010 election, what is?
As mentioned earlier, the automation process itself is difficult to rig or tamper with. Not that it cannot be tampered with; but it
will be easier for our unmindful politicians and those with vested interests to cheat in the old and effective way rather than to risk
failure in trying to cheat electronically. The automated process is new and unfamiliar to our current crop of politicians. They will
choose the easier, manual way if given a choice. We are also not aware of any political team that has resorted to tapping IT
experts and forming a team to hack or even attempt to cheat the automated process.

It’s not as easy as many non-IT people may think for even an IT person to cursorily tamper with the automated aspect of the
election. Not with the given safeguards. And this is what will prevent the uninitiated from attempting to rig or manipulate the
computerized aspect of the election.

So, how difficult is it to hack or crack this automated election? Let us count the ways.

First, let’s look for a weakness in the automation process. Let’s examine the process. Unless the process enumerated below has
changed, the automated portions of the process according to Comelec are:

	.
1.	The ballot is fed or inserted into the PCOS machine by the voter (after he has marked the ballot accordingly)
2.	The PCOS machine scans the ballot to confirm if it is readable and recognizable.
3.	At the end of the voting day, the PCOS machine processes the ballots and prints out 8 copies of the Election Return (for distribution to the right parties).
4.	The PCOS machine connects to a communications device and simultaneously transmits the result to 3 recipients: the municipal board of canvassers computers, the Comelec national computer, and the Political Parties-KBP computer. And then prints 22 copies more of the Election Return.
5.	The results received by the municipal board of canvassers are consolidated/canvassed and if found correct and complete, the results are then transmitted electronically to the provincial board of canvasser computers.
6.	The results received by the provincial board of canvassers are consolidated /canvassed and if found correct and complete, the results are transmitted electronically to the Comelec national computer.
7.	Note that during all this time the Comelec national computer already has copies of the election returns from the different PCOS machines in each precinct (as a result of step 4) and can do the canvassing independently of the totals canvassed by and received from the provincial computers. So, the first check that Comelec can do is to see if the totals that it receives from the provincial computers tally with the ones that it receives directly from the precincts. Just to make sure their internal checks do have validity.
8.	Comelec will then publish in its website the election returns from each precinct. These precinct results will be seen by the public at the latest, on the day after the voting. Comelec does not wish to publish the totals since the body that is supposed to finalize and formalize the count for the position of President and Vice President is Congress. And Congress will still convene end of May or 21 days after election day.
	.

So, where can electronic cheating or tampering occur? Which step in the process is the most vulnerable to cheating?

The first possible place to cheat is in steps 1 and 2. Here the ballot itself could be tampered or marked and the machine will simply
reject the unfavorable ballot. Real ballots can then be substituted later and then fed to the PCOS machine before closing time. The
cheating at this stage will be the same as in a manual system: ballots are spoiled or substituted to benefit the cheating politician.

Step 3 is the first chance for a hidden electronic cheat to occur. Here the PCOS machine processes the scanned ballots and is
programmed to print an altered election return.

For the PCOS machine to cheat, that means the program or source code would have been tampered already, prior to it being
loaded or made available to the PCOS machines. This means the culprit (tamperer) would have been a techie or an IT expert,
and one with a reputation for election cheating and creating malicious code. We don’t know that one with such unlikely credentials
exists in this country. This means also that Smartmatic and Comelec would have to connive to allow this to happen. Comelec
does not have enough IT expertise to allow itself to blindly conspire with Smartmatic to cheat the voting public automation wise.

And even if there has been no real source code review as required by law, it is really inconceivable for Comelec and Smartmatic
to allow anyone or any group to tamper with the PCOS program without great risk of being found out. For one, the PCOS
program or software is designed to run on a particular precinct based on the number of voters in that precinct. This means each
data set or number of voters is going to be different for each PCOS program on any particular machine. This setup is error-prone
to start with and therefore more dangerous if tampered with.

In the event that a PCOS machine fails to function correctly, it will be because of a bug or an error in programming of and by
Smartmatic and not because of any attempt to cheat. That means the worldwide reputation of Smartmatic goes down the drain
for developing a program that does not work, period. If this happens in a grand scale, it’s not because of cheating—but of poor
project management on everyone’s part.

So, the question here should be: “Has Comelec and Smartmatic checked and have they done enough testing to ensure that this
error-prone approach to configuring their program differently per precinct will work on E-day?” Hope they did so.

The risk is just too high to cheat on the source code level. And riskier when one will not be able to test fully how the cheat code
will work out on the field, in 80,000 differently configured PCOS machines, and with every machine timed to start and end at the
same time on this one single immovable day.

So, there will be no cheating in step 3 of the automated process, only sheer incompetence, if ever a PCOS machine or two fails.

By the way, if the PCOS machine fails and the replacement machine for some reason is not available, the election turns manual.

Let’s now look at the weaknesses, if any in step 4. We are looking for electronic weaknesses or points of failure, right? In step 3,
the PCOS machine prints the election return for the precinct. These are the totals of the votes cast per candidate in the precinct.
And only after printing will the same data or file be transmitted electronically to 3 receiving computers. The fact that the PCOS
machine prints 8 copies before it sends the election results is a plus factor and strength of the system since it already creates a
verifiable audit of what it will send. And after it sends the data, it prints an additional 22 copies for distribution to interested parties.

In the extremely improbable chance that the data is intercepted or changed in transit, the trail (printed election returns) it leaves
will clearly show any tampering that may have happened during transmission, if any.

But what really are the odds of the transmission being intercepted for purposes of changing its content? Practically nil. Since the
PCOS already printed 8 copies, prior to transmitting the election results, and another 22 copies after it sends the results, there
will be no need to intercept the transmission other than to prevent data from being transmitted. But then, even if transmission is
temporarily halted, Comelec can still, either transmit at a later time, say a few hours, or even a day after, with no real damage
caused to the automated process.

To intercept the transmission of one precinct during the short window of time that the precinct decides to send its data is a
gargantuan task from an IT resource perspective. Note that the precincts will be scattered all over the archipelago and will be
transmitting briefly at different times from 6:00 pm to midnight of May 10 or to any time of the following day if a problem in
transmission occurs.

It will be faster, easier and cheaper for a candidate to simply buy votes or prevent people from voting than to electronically tamper
with the transmission of the results on a per precinct basis.

So, no cheating will be done in step 4. It just doesn’t make financial sense to do it at this step of the automated process.

Let’s now go to step 5, when the election returns are passed on to the municipal canvassers and then transmitted to the
provincial canvassers. Again, at this point, the canvassers can only manipulate the data manually and not electronically. To tamper
with it at this step merely delays the process. Note that the original election returns have been printed in 30 copies already and
electronic copies have been transmitted or sent to the Comelec national computer and to the KBP computers. The only thing the
canvassers can do is make notations on what may appear as wrong or questionable entries in the election returns they receive.

Step 6 is also not going to be subjected to electronic sabotage using the same logic in step 5. Note that the reason dagdag-bawas
can be done in a manual system is because the manually produced certificate of canvass is very difficult to cross-check against the
election returns. In a computerized system, the matching and checking can be done electronically so any error or questionable
totals can be traced back to its original election return in minutes. If any cheating will be done at all, it will not be in the electronic
side of the system.

Step 7 is crucial. This assumes that the Smartmatic system will be able to do the reconciliation of the submitted certificate of
canvass from the municipal and provincial level and the grand totals that Comelec will compute based on the election returns from
the PCOS in the precincts. And we just have to assume that Comelec has fully tested this part of the system. If not, then the
dagdag-bawas can be done at this point wholesale.

Wholesale cheating by whom? Only by somebody who understands computers and the Smartmatic automated system. In a
manual system, anyone with authority and guts can use his position to influence people to cheat or help cheat in the election. In a
computerized system, for cheating to happen, the act must be premeditated, planned and carried out by people who know and
understand computers. And since the system of Smartmatic is as confidential and as secured as they claim it to be, any result,
whether right, wrong or questionable, can only be traced back to Smartmatic’s protected program.

As announced during the last ISSSP forum, there is one security provision that Comelec will do to ensure that the election results
are credible. And that is Step 8. Let’s hope that Comelec realizes that the only way they can convince the public that everything is
above board is if they can promptly publish the election results, per precinct, on their website—for all the world to see.

We understand that Comelec will not publish the official totals of the candidates unless they are ready to proclaim the winners. And
specifically not the totals for the presidential and vice-presidential candidates since it is only Congress that can proclaim the winning
candidates for the top two positions in the land.

But for as long as the results per precincts are made available on the web, the Filipino people will be able to check the results at
their convenience. I am sure that NAMFREL will use the web results to validate their own count. And so will the PPCRV, and every
other political party who would have received one of the 30 copies printed by the PCOS machines or have access to the files
transmitted to the KBP computers.

And we know that we will be among the many, who, without any copy to start with, will undertake the painstakingly difficult task
of downloading the results as they appear on the web and do our own tally, as fast as we can, to see, unofficially, who will become the country’s next president and vice president.

So, how will cheating be done in this 2010 automated election? The same way we’ve always done it before—manually; through
guns, goons and gold.

As for the automated election process, it is a security professional’s dogma that there is no 100% security. However, evaluating
the system completely on its technical merits, it should be safe to say that it’s relatively secure… for now.

COULD IT BE NOT THAT THE LAST ELECTIONS WAS RIGGED THRU THE COMBINATION OF PCOS, GUNS,
GOONS AND GOLD????

PCOS MACHINES TO BE USED IN 2013 ELECTIONS AGAIN???

2012-03-05T17:32:00.000-08:00

The use of the PCOS should be studied well because there were so many issues that were raised during the last elections which have remained unresolved up to now. Gus Lagman should be the one to lead this effort as he was one of the IT experts who made a lot of questions when he was not yet a COMELEC commissioner but now it seems that he haas not explained clearly what truly happened and what are the corresponding corrective measures the COMELEC is doing.

http://reyquijada.blogspot.com/2011/12/after-2004-and-2007-poll-investigation.html