Lessons 2010 DIE HARD III Herman Tiu Laurel 05/28/2010

Lessons 2010

DIE HARD III Herman Tiu Laurel 05/28/2010 A whole book can be written about lessons learned for our nation in this final year of the first decade of the 21st Century. Focusing on the burning issues of the day, the Hocus-PCOS that was premised on the panacea of technology solving the root problems of the country’s electoral politics has taught us probably the most important lesson: Technology does not solve our most basic social and political ills. Watching the current Hocus-PCOS imbroglio, it is clear that it will take wise human intervention to solve the mess that technology has brought upon us. It’s a lesson the German Supreme Court incorporated into its jurisprudence when it banned automation after 10 of years of experimenting with it. A second lesson that can be gleaned when we witness politicians such as Teddy “Boy” Locsin go about their official duties is that a Harvard diploma and a crisp, wry witty English do not guarantee wisdom. Getting the country to rush headlong to use a system that even the US has experienced to be easily “hack-able” (search Hack Diebold on YouTube) is going to be the most memorable, if not dubious, achievement of this scion of a liberal ideological mouthpiece of the US colonial elite. This achievement stands at par with the “bad finger” he raised against striking public school teachers and media during his “eloquent” stint as a spokesman of President Corazon Aquino. These ironically make him stand out as the most “Teflon-coated” of the Edsa I and II poster boys. And, to borrow from modern bio-technology, Teflon can be very poisonous. The next lesson from the just-concluded elections is that since Philippine society is controlled by a ruling class intent on perpetuating itself through the use of money, controlled media, civil society watchdogs, political-bureaucratic allies in government and the Comelec, and its special ties with the prevailing foreign powers, genuine democratic elections and governance are virtually impossible. Although it was shown in the 1998 election of President Joseph Estrada that at certain junctures of our history, the genuine voice of the people did prevail, the subsequent success of the Edsa II conspiracy shows that the ruling class, with the complicity of foreign powers, will brook no moral or legal obstacle to turn the military against the people’s will. Of course, the same thing is unfolding in this 2010 presidential election, as we uncover the ruling class using all means fair and foul. The ongoing congressional inquiry into the massively-reported fraud in the Hocus-PCOS exercise is not the only incidence of fraud in the 2010 elections. The cheating started from Day One when the ruling class and its outgoing puppet regime deliberately kept the Sword of Damocles of disqualification over the head of Joseph Estrada, the only candidate of the people. Its controlled media then fanned this and other negative news about him without let-up. One letter that circulated on the Web, for instance, from Cory Finance Secretary Jess Estanislao, who campaigned for the Yellow dummy, admonished anyone from voting for what he described as a “convicted criminal” despite the fact that he and his ilk have never condemned the “criminality” of Gloria Arroyo, which has been proven many times over by incontrovertible evidence. Astoundingly, despite Gloria’s many crimes such as the Impsa deal, “Hello Garci,” ZTE-NBN and many others, she still gets a graceful exit because the oligarchs, their corporations and their coterie of professional hirelings enjoyed well over P3 trillion in profits for the past 10 years while Filipinos sank deeper into poverty — a fact that even Gloria apologist Joey Salceda blurted out to deflect some of the Makati Business Club (MBC)’s superficial criticisms of her. Now that the MBC has a new puppet to lead a second decade of gargantuan profits, we find the two mainstream networks and newspapers (plus Newsweek) using all means before and during the campaign ban to boost the stock of their candidate. All with unlisted expenses, these included subtle marketing pitches and featurettes such as the Ayalas’ Cory Swatch launch, civil society’s “I am Ninoy” youth campaign, the History Channel’s Ninoy retrospective, and many more. Although not technically illegal, these constitute cheating nonetheless. These, of course, do not include the Yellows’ other operations such as the clearly manipulated pre- and post-election surveys. So now comes this question: Did Arroyo and Smartmatic operators cheat for the Edsa II candidate when Villarroyo started trailing Estrada? While it can be argued that the deaths of Cory and of Eraño Manalo probably helped the Edsa II cause, it is also clear that Erap’s surge inspired a snowballing awe among many voters. Thus, the new Edsa II dummy needed to have a landslide, perhaps through shaved votes from five other candidates done in an almost undetectable manner. And as “Hello Garci” was exposed a year later, this Hocus PCOS still needs some closer investigation. Still, if cheating in the local level is already smoke, there’s got to be fire somewhere. Clearly, reforming our electoral system doesn’t require automation, just separating national from local elections; going back to manual voting and precinct-level counts; as well as encoding and transmitting election returns by e-mail to Congress where it should have enough time to canvass with much-needed accuracy. In the end, man decides — not the machines. (Tune in to 1098AM, Sulo ng Pilipino, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.; Global News Network, Destiny Cable Channel 21, Talk News TV, Tuesday, 8:15 p.m. to 9 p.m. on “The Philippine Political-Economy Post-Gloria Arroyo;” also visit http://hermantiulaurel.blogspot.com) (Reprinted with permission from Mr. Herman Tiu-Laurel) Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100528com5.html

COMMENTARY EDITORIAL No choice but for manual count FRONTLINE Deliberate fraud? FEATURE At home or work, Thais split over Red Shirt protests NO HOLDS BARRED Never-ending story DIE HARD III Lessons 2010 SILVER LINING No puppet focus US troops in fruitless search of Afghan village