Manual elections would be a step backward

What is the likely repercussion of the Supreme Court ruling declaring null and void the P268.8-million deal between the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and technology provider Smartmatic-Total Information Management?

      

It would mean that given the tight schedule of  the Comelec to make adequate preparations, the May 2016 elections could be manual rather than automated.

And we all know what manual elections mean: the results would take days and even weeks to be known, with supporters of candidates very anxious to know if their bets would assume office or end up as losers.  

Manual elections would also mean dagdag-bawas, or vote padding and vote shaving, ballot box snatching, ballot box switching and the rule of guns, goons and gold on Election Day.   

The poll body will also have to start from scratch in its preparations for the forthcoming general elections.

What the Supreme Court said was that the Comelec’s extended warranty contract with Smartmatic for the diagnostics, repair and refurbishment of 80,000 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines was awarded without public bidding.

The SC justices pointed out that the Comelec failed to justify why it resorted to direct contracting instead of conducting a public bidding under Republic Act 9184 or the Government Procurement Reform Act.

The SC ruled that the all money paid to Smartmatic, if any, being public funds, should be returned to the government. The SC ruling is immediately executory.

We leave it to the Comelec to defend themselves from allegations that the deal with Smartmatic was railroaded. 

Our concern is that the Supreme Court might have failed to consider the time factor in their decision, thus unwittingly opening the door to massive fraud and violence that have been our sad experience in the past with manual elections.

Can the Comelec conduct a public bidding for the diagnostics, repair and refurbishment of the PCOS machines within the next few months or so? Perhaps not.

Then there's also the matter of Smartmatic claiming that only they can repair and refurbish the PCOS machines.

We all want honest, peaceful and credible elections. But manual elections could lead us to the very opposite: a fraudulent, violent and tainted voting process. This is a step backward that does not bode well for the future of  our democratic system. -end-

                                                        

It better be a humdinger

It’s pathetic how the Philippine National Police (PNP) had to grovel for P100,000 or so to be able to pay for the live satellite feed of the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight so policemen can watch it for free at Camp Crame.

Complaining that it used to pay only about P60,000 in past Pacquiao fights, the PNP came short of calling for sponsors to bankroll the showing of the fisticuffs, or for satellite and cable TV providers to give it a free live feed.

This is corruption at its most petty. It is no different from policemen visiting stores and business establishments to solicit funds for Christmas parties, sports fests or some other dubious activities.

Aside from the PNP, many other local government units will be showing live the Pacquiao-Mayweather, with tickets to big screen showings at gymnasiums being given to barangay officials and councilors for distribution (to their own relatives?).

It would not come as a surprise if even those tickets to the free showings would find their way into the hands of scalpers and sold for exorbitant prices, like what’s happening in Las Vegas itself where the ringside tickets to the fight were sold out online in mere seconds.

This Pacquiao-Mayweather fighter better be a humdinger of a fight by living up to the hype. Otherwise, many people may rue spending their hard-earned money in sports bars, cinemas and pay-per-view that have ratcheted up the cost of entry to watch the fistiana. -end-

It better be a humdinger

It’s pathetic how the Philippine National Police (PNP) had to grovel for P100,000 or so to be able to pay for the live satellite feed of the Pacquiao-Mayweather fight so policemen can watch it for free at Camp Crame.

Complaining that it used to pay only about P60,000 in past Pacquiao fights, the PNP came short of calling for sponsors to bankroll the showing of the fisticuffs, or for satellite and cable TV providers to give it a free live feed.

This is corruption at its most petty. It is no different from policemen visiting stores and business establishments to solicit funds for Christmas parties, sports fests or some other dubious activities.

Aside from the PNP, many other local government units will be showing live the Pacquiao-Mayweather, with tickets to big screen showings at gymnasiums being given to barangay officials and councilors for distribution (to their own relatives?).

It would not come as a surprise if even those tickets to the free showings would find their way into the hands of scalpers and sold for exorbitant prices, like what’s happening in Las Vegas itself where the ringside tickets to the fight were sold out online in mere seconds.

This Pacquiao-Mayweather fighter better be a humdinger of a fight by living up to the hype. Otherwise, many people may rue spending their hard-earned money in sports bars, cinemas and pay-per-view that have ratcheted up the cost of entry to watch the fistiana. -end-

Corrections no; correctional yes!

Resigned Customs Commissioner John Sevilla said he relinquished his post because he failed to stop the rampant corruption in the agency. What he really wanted to say was that  he did not want to serve as an administration bagman in fund-raising for the 2016 elections.

Sevilla’s sin, if one can call it that, is one of omission. Sevilla himself had not been directly involved in any reported shenanigans at  Customs, unlike his deputy Jessie Dellosa whose men had been tagged in several extort complaints.

But Sevilla’s resignation is the exception to the rule because the norm is for thick-skinned government officials to cling on to their posts like leeches despite facing graft and plunder cases.

Aside from Dellosa, there’s Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala who hangs on as if he has not brought President Aquino enough shame and ignominy. The latest on Alcala is that his DA squandered P14.2 billion of taxpayers’ money on ghost projects.

Just the same, Alcala was correct when he said that the report of the Commission on Audit (COA), which blew the whistle on him, was some sort of a “guide.” But Alcala was wrong in thinking the COA report was a “guide” on how the anomalies can be corrected.

As in the many graft and corruption cases that elicited guilty verdicts from the Sandiganbayan, COA reports serve as a “guide” for the Ombudsman in prosecuting erring officials.

Nope, it’s already past the point of corrections for the plunder of public funds at DA. What the people want now is for government officials behind this latest case of plunder to spend their remaining years in our correctional facilities. -end-