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Stealing the vote EDITORIAL 05/25/2010

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Stealing the vote



EDITORIAL
Click to enlarge
05/25/2010
When it comes to propaganda and spins, you have to hand it to Noynoy Aquino and the Liberal Party (LP)’s propagandists.

They — and that includes their presidential bet, Noynoy — don’t want accuracy of the count. They want speed over accuracy, which would have a speedy proclamation of Noynoy as president-elect, whether or not he really won the presidential race.

As proof that he had won, they point to the surveys and the exit polls showing Noynoy to be a runaway winner, as well as having won in the electronic count by both the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), which, it should be stressed, is based on flawed election returns.

But why should these equally questionable surveys and exit polls be the determining factor of the accuracy of the count, or even for proclamation purposes by the Congress? 

From the start, it was much too evident that the survey firms were clearly into trending. It was just as clear that they were making sure former President Joseph Estrada was way down in the count. When it was clear that Estrada was a pretty strong candidate, all too suddenly, he was in the number 2 slot, but still with a very small survey vote compared to the LP bet.

The fact alone that the unofficial electronic count, based on fraudulent precinct count, showed the same winning margins shown by the exit polls and earlier surveys is already much too questionable and speaks of monkey business. How on earth can honest survey figures and margins match the fraudulent electronic count?

It boggles the mind that, on the basis of fraudulent precinct count, the margins of the winning candidate in relation to the other candidates, the unofficial election count jibes with the survey results. So was cheating done to match the survey margins?

Pre-determined results would be a more plausible reason for having such an exact margin percentage between the survey result and the fraudulent count result. Surveys and fraudulent electronic count can hardly be the proof of Aquino having won credibly and honestly the presidency and on this basis, he insists on his being proclaimed president by the Congress speedily.

It can hardly be denied that the biggest beneficiary of this massive cheating operations is Noynoy Aquino. Like it or not too, he has the same political operators of Gloria with him today.... MORE

  SourceThe Daily Tribune

  URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100525com8.html
Big

Premature FRONTLINE Ninez Cacho-Olivares 05/25/2010

Premature



FRONTLINE
Ninez Cacho-Olivares
05/25/2010
Paying Noynoy Aquino a “courtesy” visit by the new United States ambassador, as well as some congratulatory messages to Aquino for his having won the presidency from two other foreign governments at this particular time, is a blatant case of foreign meddling in the country’s internal affairs, given the fact that it was much too premature.

And it is premature, not only because Noynoy Aquino has not been proclaimed by the Congress after a canvassing of votes, but also because of the fact that it has been coming out, in massive doses, evidence of electoral electronic fraud and on a nationwide basis.

It will be very embarrassing for these foreign governments who have sanctified Noynoy as their recognized president should two or more things occur in the near future, such as Congress, after finding too much evidence of massive vote fraud, may compel the Commission on Elections to declare a failure of election, after which new elections — at least in the presidential and vice presidential levels be called and scheduled.

The congressional elections can no longer be reversed, since the “winning candidates” have been proclaimed, just as the other local winning candidates have been proclaimed.

Their only path is toward an electoral protest, which can take years to resolve — given the track record of the Comelec.

In the case of the presidential and vice presidential race, it is to be stressed that not one candidate has been proclaimed winner, which means the electoral protest cannot be lodged by the losing candidates as no winner has been proclaimed.

Also, most of the presidential bets have conceded defeat, with only Erap Estrada not conceding, saying he prefers to first have the Congress canvass the votes and then bow to the will of the people.... MORE    

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100525com9.html


Documentary film-makers peek at unvisited nooks of the world focus 05/25/2010

Documentary film-makers peek at unvisited nooks of the world



focus

05/25/2010

PARIS — In the mountains of central Nepal, two men with a young boy in tow take cows and goats to graze on verdant slopes, huddling under an umbrella when the summer showers come.
At the village in the folds of a valley a woman argues with her neighbor that he is digging too close to the wall of her stone house and then complains about the excrement in every corner of the dirt streets.

Such are the ways of the world here, says a documentary shot by a lone anthropologist who stumbled upon a rural village in Nuwakot, Nepal.

“I go walking... and there’s a moment. I don’t pick a place, I end up there,” says Stephane Breton, who made the film in Nepal last year and has put together a collection of documentaries from several international film-makers called L’Usage du Monde (The Ways of the World).

The less than an hour long films give a personal glimpse of people in usually unseen corners of the globe — from the forests of Gabon, the coal mines of northern China, a far north Russian village on the White Sea, to an old Spanish community in New Mexico.

The films were showcased this week at the Musee du Quai Branly, a cross-cultural center in Paris featuring arts largely from the non-Western areas of Africa, Oceania, Asia and the Americas.

The idea of the documentary collection is not a scientific or strictly pedagogical experience of another culture, but rather going to a place like a traveler with eyes open to render a film that is the fruit of a personal experience, according to Stephane Martin, president of the museum which partly sponsored the project.

Breton’s documentary La Montee au Ciel (Ascent to the Sky) captures moments in the lives of the people of Nuwakot through eyes of the 51-year-old film-maker. There was no script, no storyboard, no political message.
“I do everything alone, it’s just myself being with them,” Breton says. “Since I am an anthropologist to begin with, being there is what my job is all about.”.... MORE

  SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100525com10.html


Remembering Lino NO HOLDS BARRED Armida Siguion-Reyna 05/25/2010

Remembering Lino



NO HOLDS BARRED
Armida Siguion-Reyna
05/25/2010
It wasn’t only the text message that circulated May 22 reminding friends of Lino Brocka’s 19th death anniversary that put him on my mind. I had really been thinking of him lately, given that once again, an Aquino is presumptive president-elect. Lino in the Snap Elections of 1986 was one of Cory Aquino’s tireless campaigners; as president, she appointed him to the constitutional commission. Lino’s fondness for the new president did not last long; he walked out of her con-com.

“As a founding member and the acknowledged leader of the Free the Artist Movement and the Concerned Artists of the Philippines, Lino Brocka was at the forefront of the struggle against all forms of censorship of the arts and the media. As a member of the local and international film communities, he continually stressed the right and the obligation of the filmmaker, in the exercise of freedom of expression, to shed light on social realities and the human condition. As a complainant in the Kapit sa Patalim case, he elicited from the Supreme Court a decision affirming that “freedom of expression is the rule and restrictions the exemption.” As a member of the constitutional commission that drafted the present Philippine Constitution, he is credited with introducing the phrase “freedom of expression” into the constitutional provision that now reads: ‘No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the?people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances’ (Section 9, Article 3, Bill of Rights).”??

Thus went parts of the memorial statement read during the launching of Freedom of Expression Day on Lino’s grave, on the 10th anniversary of his passing, in 2001. Lino’s friend and writer Pete Lacaba in his blogspot recalled:
“A decade after the death of Brocka, the memorial statement continues, ‘freedom of expression remains beleaguered on all sides by forces that seek to restrict or repress the inquisitive mind and the creative spirit. There is as much need today as in Lino Brocka’s lifetime to uphold and defend freedom of expression as a necessary condition for a strong and vibrant democracy.’??.... MORE

  SourceThe Daily Tribune

  URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100525com12.html


Plus ca change... AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Ken Fuller 05/25/2010

Plus ca change...



AN OUTSIDERS VIEW
Ken Fuller
05/25/2010
The post-election situation may be a case of “plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose” (roughly, “the more things change, the more they remain the same”). Rather than comparing the prospective Aquino government with that of the outgoing president, this outsider is making the point that there is a real possibility that little change will occur in the economic and the broad political terrain that has existed — with the occasional blip — since 1946.

The change in the counting system pleased most people, delivering the results relatively swiftly. Not so pleased were those who, finding interminable lines at the polling stations, disenfranchised themselves by returning home, and the losing candidates who complain that this denied them victory. Ironically, the claim that anywhere between two and eight million registered voters were thus affected was made by Comelec’s advisor on queue management. Equally unhappy are the increasing number who allege electronic fraud.

The major change is, of course, that after nine-and-a-half years, the Philippines will have a new president on June 30. In an interview published in the Philippine Star on Feb. 21, Noynoy Aquino indicated that the “biggest prospect” on the economic front will be information technology, tourism and agriculture. Apparently as an afterthought, he expressed a desire to revive manufacturing.

A leader bent on real change would have reversed those priorities. There is a glimmer of hope in that he responded to a question by saying that the Philippines is not ready for free trade. One thing that would make it ready is, of course, the construction of a manufacturing base. Or maybe it was the wrong question. Much will depend on the economic team the new president assembles.

On the international front, Aquino told the Star: “There’ll be more cooperation with America to balance strategic forces within the area.” It may be assumed that the strategic force which needs to be balanced is China . Not only would this not amount to an independent foreign policy, but it takes no account of the probability that if there is ever to be a second “American century,” it won’t be this one.

In any case, it would be a mistake to conclude that the electorate which gave Aquino such a decisive majority (subject to doubts about electronic fraud) on May 10 was thirsting for wide-ranging change. After all, in 35 out of 80 provinces the same electorate handed power to political families. And that was just those provinces where two members of the same family shared the governorship and a House seat between them; there were others where single dynasty members were elected to influential positions — not least the presidency and vice-presidency. (An international observer tells me, incidentally, that Liberal Party activists in Lanao del Sur were distributing sample ballots shaded for Aquino and Binay.)... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100525com13.html


PCOS reconfigure part of poll rigging By Gerry Baldo 05/25/2010

Nograles: 256M registered voters recorded in canvassing machines in House

PCOS reconfigure part of poll rigging


By Gerry Baldo
05/25/2010

The reprogramming of the PCOS machines a few days before the elections was part of a widespread effort to rig the election, former Surigao del Norte Rep. Ace Barbers said yesterday.

At the same time, outgoing Speaker Prospero Nograles disclosed that the number of voters as recorded in the canvassing machines of Smartmatic in the Lower House listed 256 million registered voters, higher than the earlier recording of 153 million registered voters, which was already incredible in itself.
According to Nograles, he has asked the Commission on Elections ( Comelec) and Smartmatic to explain how the canvassing machines arrived at such a huge number of registered voters.

“Perhaps even the voters of Indonesia were registered,” Nograles said in a press conference called yesterday to talk about the canvassing.

Nograles said that he has asked some information technology experts in the House to look into the canvassing machines which have received all the electronically transmitted Certificates of Canvass from the provinces. The non-electronic copy has been transmitted to the Senate.

Yesterday the poll watchdog Center for People Empowerment and Governance said Smartmatic had registered 153 million voters in its machines at the National Canvassing Center.

Barbers, who testified at the House congressional panel on suffrage and Electoral Reforms, said what finally happened during the election was earlier revealed to him by a man offering his “services” for a hefty price of P50 million to rig the elections in his province in his favor in November 2009. Barbers ran for governor in Surigao del Sur. He lost.

“He told me he is a member of a group going around the entire country soliciting ‘clients,’ politicians who may want to engage them in rigging the elections,” Barbers testified before the panel in the presence of Smartmatic and Comelec officials headed by Chairman Jose Melo.

Barbers also quoted the man as telling him that his group can manipulate the PCOS machines and that all the PCOS machines will be reprogrammed before the elections to accommodate the politicians who may want to engage them.
“If I subscribe, the victories of myself, my vice-governor, congressmen, and all my mayors will be guaranteed. The price was P50-million. The terms, 35 percent down by February, 35 percent March at the start of the campaign, and the balance upon proclamation,” he said referring to the offer.

He said he refused the offer, but true to the man’s offer, he and all of his partymates in Surigao del Norte lost in the elections. He did not engage the services of the “man.” He said that the man had told him that they will offer their services to his opponents.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100525hed1.html


Chavez sues Marcelo, et al. for libel 05/25/2010

Chavez sues Marcelo, et al. for libel


05/25/2010

A libel complaint was filed by former Solicitor General Francisco “Frank” Chavez yesterday before the Department of Justice (DoJ) against five lawyers belonging to the Firm and two journalists of a major daily newspaper.

Chavez sued lawyers Alejandro Alfonso Navarro, F. Arthur Villaraza, Avelino Cruz Jr., former Ombudsman Simeon Marcelo and Raoul Angangco of the Villaraza Cruz Marcelo & Angangco Law Office in connection with an article published recently indicating that he did not win a case during Chavez stint as solicitor general.

Chavez also included as respondents in the complaint Philippine Daily Inquirer (PDI) section editor Pergentino Bandayrel and senior business writer Daxim Lucas.

Chavez accused the lawyers and the two journalists of committing libel which is punishable under Article 335 of the Revised Penal Code.

“Said article made it appear that I was incompetent not only as a Solicitor General, but as a lawyer as well. Said article besmirched my reputation which I have carefully protected in my 38 years of law practice,” Chavez said.
Chavez was referring to the May 21, 2010 article published in the PDI entitled “The Firm hits back at Chavez.”
In the said article, Chavez said Navarro, a senior partner of The Firm, was quoted as saying that his record as former solicitor general was “unblemished by victory.” Navarro admitted that he was speaking on behalf of all the members of The Firm who have not held public office.

Navarro made the statement in response to Chavez allegations that some members of The Firm are now positioning themselves for juicy positions in the Aquino administration.

In particular, Chavez disclosed that Cruz is eyeing the justice secretary post while Marcelo, is reportedly lobbying to be appointed to the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC).... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

  URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100525hed2.html


Erap camp: Show yourself, Koala Boy 05/25/2010

Erap camp: Show yourself, Koala Boy


05/25/2010

The camp of former President Joseph Estrada yesterday reiterated its call made at at a media forum to the masked man dubbed “Koala Bear” to reveal his identity and substantiate his claims.

“We are appealing to this masked man to reveal his identity because until he does, even if his claims might have some merit, he fails to have any credibility so his allegations are extremely diminished,” Estrada spokesman Margaux Salcedo said. 

Salcedo also appealed to Koala Bear to substantiate his allegations: “These are serious allegations that affect the credibility of the entire automated electoral process. If he can substantiate his claims, sure, he has the potential of saving the country from incorrect canvassing of votes and should come out now. 

Meanwhile, in a statement issued to the media yesterday, Department of Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno who is alleged to have had a conversation on vote rigging with Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer, denied such conversation detailing attempts to engage in election fraud activities in the recently concluded 2010 Elections was ever made.

He scored the “crude attempt to smear the elections, like the koala bear witness episode” that he said is part of an attempt by irresponsible and criminal minded people to cause instability, distrust in our institutions, and a declaration of election failure.”

He said he believes the 2010 Elections, and the Comelec official tabulations, are and were a true reflection of the people’s will. I will do everything possible under the law to ensure that the elected national and local officials are enabled to exercise the mandate they have received from our voters.

Still on the Koala Bear issue, where Rep. Teddy Boy Loscin reportedly named him as being behind this masked man’s whistle blowing,former Environment Secretary Lito Atienza categorically denied he had anything to do with the masked whistleblower who exposed massive vote tampering in the May 10 national elections, and that all he knew about him was what he read and heard in news reports.

In a statement, Atienza said Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr., the House suffrage committee chairman, had himself clarified the misimpression made by Locsin that he “seems to know” about the anonymous witness wearing a koala bear mask whose video taped testimony was played at a House hearing last week.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100525hed3.html


9 senators complete cast for canvass body By Angie M. Rosales 05/25/2010

9 senators complete cast for canvass body


By Angie M. Rosales
05/25/2010

The Senate has formed its contingent for the joint Congressional body to complete the national board of canvassers for the presidential and vice presidential votes after initial difficulties due to the inhibition sought by several senators in being part of the body that led to Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile reprimanding his reluctant colleagues.

Nine senators initially sought to be inhibited from joining the Congress body but the Senate managed to form a nine-man panel with four alternate members after Enrile called a closed-door, all senators’ caucus prior to their afternoon plenary session.

Enrile did not hide his disgust to reporters over the position taken by some of his colleagues who sought to inhibit themselves from the canvassing proceedings due to various political reasons which may perceive them as biased participants.

“They cannot do that. They need to be present. If we will not have a quorum, I will compel them to attend. No one is immune here. If you are a senator, you have to do your job. You cannot inhibit yourself from your own responsibilities,” he said.

Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri admitted the Senate had some difficulties in forming the panel after nine members sought to exclude themselves from participating in the proceedings.

Initially, only six senators were willing to take in the responsibility and they needed to convince three more to fill in all the required seats, Zubiri said.

“The problem, in our case, was a number of our members ran for the presidency and the vice presidency. Under the rules, they are barred from the joint canvassing committee while the others openly endorsed their presidential bets. So there is only a few of us left,” he said.

Besides Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, Senators Manuel Villar Jr., Richard Gordon and Jamby Madrigal were presidential bets while Senators Manuel “Mar” Roxas II and Loren Legarda sought the vice presidency.
Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada along with Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Francis “Chiz” Escudero also expressed their desire to be inhibited from the proceedings and the panel.

Escudero informed Enrile over the weekend of his decision to be excluded from the panel since he had openly endorsed and played an active role in the campaigns of Aquino and vice president apparent Jejomar Binay.

“Propriety and delicadeza dictate that I inhibit myself from any participation in the canvassing process so as not to cause undue delay or cast doubts in the proclamation of the winning candidates,” he said.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100525hed4.html


SC asked to stop Comelec’s manual audit By Benjamin B. Pulta 05/25/2010

SC asked to stop Comelec’s manual audit


By Benjamin B. Pulta
05/25/2010

Citing unexplained delays in compliance with the election law’s requirements, the Ang Kapatiran Party (AKP), the political party of losing presidential candidate John Carlos “JC” de los Reyes, is asking the Supreme Court (SC) to issue a temporary restraining order to stop the random manual audit of some precincts by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

According to the party, the delay in conducting the Random Manual Audit (RMA) of clustered polling precincts selected last May 10 has compromised the integrity of these pre-selected clustered precincts and should be stopped and replaced with other sample precincts.

In a nine-page petition, AKP claimed that the electoral body failed to strictly implement Comelec Resolution 8837, which requires that the RMA of selected clustered polling precincts be conducted on May 10, immediately after the shut down of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines.

Out of the more than 76,000 polling precincts, the Comelec has chosen some 1,000 precincts wherein the random manual audit would have been conducted after the voting period ended at 7 p.m. of May 10, 2010.

Republic Act 9369 or the Poll Automation Law requires the Comelec to conduct an RMA in one precinct per congressional district randomly chosen by the poll body in each province and city. 

The law states that any difference between the automated and manual count will result in the determination of root cause and initiate a manual count for those precincts affected by the computer or procedural error.... MORE  

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100525hed5.html


EU role in Mindanao pure civilan operation — envoy By Michaela P. del Callar 05/25/2010

EU role in Mindanao pure civilan operation — envoy


By Michaela P. del Callar
05/25/2010

European Union’s top diplomat to the Philippines has clarified that the EU will not send troops to the Malaysian-led International Monitoring Team, which currently oversees the ongoing peace process in strife-torn Mindanao.

In an interview, EU Ambassador Alistair MacDonald said the Union will only deploy civilian humanitarian experts to the team since its participation is limited to providing assistance in humanitarian, rehabilitation and development aspects of the IMT.

“We will not be sending troops. We will not be providing uniformed personnel. It will be a civilian operation. We would have civilians initially probably a small number, perhaps two civilian experts in humanitarian needs,” MacDonald said.

The IMT, which oversees the ceasefire agreement between government troops and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters, is composed of Malaysia, Brunei, Libya, Japan and Norway. It has also been credited for significantly reducing clashes between the military and the Muslim rebels in the country’s volatile Mindanao region.
The EU accepted the invitation of the Philippine government and the MILF for them to be a member of the IMT last week.

MacDonald said the EU accepted the invitation because it “attaches great importance to helping promote peace and development in Mindanao, and has long been active in providing both development and humanitarian assistance in the conflict-affected areas.”... MORE  

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100525hed6.html


Comelec mulls raps vs Susano for holding CF cards By Marie A. Surbano and Aytch S. de la Cruz 05/25/2010

Comelec mulls raps vs Susano for holding CF cards


By Marie A. Surbano and Aytch S. de la Cruz
05/25/2010

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is contemplating if it should hold accountable former Quezon City lawmaker Mary Ann Susano for possessing some compact flash cards that were used in the May 10 national polls.
According to Comelec spokesman James Jimenez, the poll body will study what legal actions it could take against Susano for showing to Congress that she had in her possession CF cards that apparently contained evidence that fraud had attended the general elections last May 10.

“We are still studying what is the best strategy in the case of this congressman with the CF cards. Two things are certain: She has CF cards in her possession and she is not authorized to have CF cards in her possession. These will be evaluated and we will come up with a proper legal action to address this situation,” Jimenez told reporters.
He, though, said the Comelec has not or has or not yet decided to form an investigating panel that be tasked to look into the Susano case, unlike in the poll-related cases in Cagayan de Oro City and Antipolo City which investigations have been delegated by the poll body to probe panels that have been created for such purpose.

During the hearing of the House committee on electoral reform and suffrage on poll fraud allegations last Friday, Susano produced at least two flashcards and showed it to Smartmatic Asia-Pacific president Cesar Flores.
When asked by Flores how she got hold of the flashcards, she declined to answer and instead asked the former why the cards, which were supposed to store data of the elections, were empty.

In another poll fraud-related issue, Malacañang also yesterday welcomed developments between Makati City Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr. and former Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita after Locsin reportedly took out Ermita in his list of those having a hand in the cropping of election fraud whistle-blower he dubbed as “Koala Bear.” 

In a phone interview with reporters, Ermita categorically denied that he, along with losing Manila mayoral candidate and former Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Lito Atienza, and current National Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales were behind “Koala Bear,” a masked man who recently went on broadcast media to allegedly spill what he knows about the vote-rigging that went on in the automated national elections last May 10..... MORE 

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20100525nat1.html


NEWSBRIEFS N E W S B R I E F S 05/25/2010

NEWSBRIEFS



N E W S B R I E F S

05/25/2010
Nograles wants mayoralty race result reversed

Outgoing Speaker and losing mayoralty candidate Prospero Nograles yesterday petitioned the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to annul the proclamation of Sara Duterte and declare him as the duly elected mayor of Davao City.

In his 14-page petition, Nograles urged the Comelec to annul the proclamation of Duterte on the basis that irregularities had attended the conduct of the elections and that fraud was so massive that it affected the results of the polls in the entire 1,172 clustered precincts in Davao City.

He also claimed that the election process was open to wholesale cheating when the Comelec recalled all the compact flash cards from the precinct count optical scan machines and the removal of the required digital signatures of the board of election inspectors in the electronically transmitted election returns.

“Premised on the antecedent facts, the canvassing and proclamation of the protestee (Duterte) is null and void on the ground that electronically transmitted results does not contain the mandated digital signature,” Nograles said.
Delay in President, VP’s proclamation quizzed

Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal yesterday said “the lack of digital signatures of election returns” or other “formal defects” are not enough valid grounds to cause the delay of the proclamation of the duly elected President and Vice President of the country.

“The (formal defects are) not a valid or legal ground to assail or question the results of the election nor can (they) be the basis to question the inclusion of certificates of canvass (CoC) during the presidential canvass,” Macalintal said.
He said such defect, if there is any, is a mere “formal defect” (or defect in form) which “does not affect the due execution and authenticity of the CoC nor can it delay the canvass and proclamation of winners.”

Macalintal stressed that while digital signatures may be required by law, the Supreme Court held in various cases that “election laws are mandatory only before the elections.”

“(This is) especially done to make (these formal requirements) mandatory and will disenfranchise the electorate who are not parties to such defective forms,” he said.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/nation/20100525nat2.html


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