Poll fraud seen in reconfiguring CF cards By Gerry Baldo 06/03/2010

House panel head bent on absolving Smartmatic Poll fraud seen in reconfiguring CF cards By Gerry Baldo 06/03/2010 Probable electronic cheating in the May 10 elections could have occurred when Compact Flash (CF) Cards were reconfigured in the offices of the Department of Science and Technology (DoST), with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) executive director issuing a memo to provincial officials who had been given a lot of flash cards to reconfigure and a card burner. Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said CF cards were reconfigured in the DoST offices without the knowledge of poll watchdogs and representatives of political parties, including the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino. “The CF cards were reconfigured without transparency in the DoST regional offices,” Rodriguez said yesterday in the thick of debates relative to the CF cards before the board of canvassers. Rodriguez maintained that they did not know about the arrangement of the Comelec, Smartmatic and the DoST until yesterday morning during the continuation of the hearing conducted by the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms, when a Comelec memo was bared. But its chairman, Rep. Teddy Locsin, apparently intended the hearing to clear Smartmatic officials, saying that the focus of the inquiry on the poll fraud should be the Comelec, and no longer its technical provider. But Rodriguez said that there was a big possibility that the CF cards were reconfigured to favor certain candidates when these were reconfigured in the DoST offices. “Nobody knew that they were reconfiguring CF cards in the DoST offices,” he said. Maguidanao Rep. Didagen Dilangalen said the reconfiguration of the CF cards took DoST employees until the early morning of Election Day as shown by a memorandum sent to officials of the DoST for “your dedicated performance of the required tasks and tireless efforts extending up to the early morning hours just so the CF cards are reconfigured and will be utilized for the election process are highly commendable.” Dilangalen also pointed out that the CF cards were prepared in such a way that it would favor a certain candidate. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile asked Comelec Executive Director Jose Tolentino to issue an affidavit to explain how the CF cards were reconfigured in the DoST offices and why it took them until the early morning of Election Day to reconfigure the cards. A memorandum issued by Alfondo Alamban, DoST region 10 director, showed that the DoST should be taking care of the replacement of defective CF cards and of the PCOS machines for use of the May 10 elections. Another memorandum from the Comelec, issued on May 9, 2010 or a day before the elections, showed that the Comelec would be deploying 20 blank CF cards and two card burners in the provincial offices of the DoST where defective CF cards will be replaced. The memorandum was signed by Tolentino. Rodriguez took Tolentino to task for failing to inform the political parties and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting with the issuance of the memorandum a day before the election. The Comelec has deployed 1600 CF cards in 80 provinces during election day. The same issue pervaded the hearing of the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reform yesterday morning even as the panel chairman cleared the Venezuelan firm from any liability in alleged election cheating.... MORE     Source:  The Daily Tribune URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100603hed1.html

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