By Ducky Paredes
THE move by the original group that lost to Smartmatic when the country decided to try automated elections is at it again. This time, a 19-page petition for certiorari, filed by Homobono Adaza and co-petitioner Jonathan Sinel are asking the Supreme Court to stop the used of the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines in the 2016 voting.
Smartmatic is the supplier of the PCOS machines used in the elections in May 2010 and in 2013.
The petitioners said the Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion for its failure to resolve pending legal questions on its deal with Smartmatic.
Adaza and Sinel say the Comelec should first conduct an inventory and technical and forensic testing of the more than 80,000 PCOS machines procured for the 2010 polls.
According to the petitioners, Smartmatic-TIM was awarded the contract in 2010 even if it failed to comply with the requirement provided for in Section 12 of Republic Act 9369, also known as the Election Automation Law.
The law mandates that the system procured for the 2010 and succeeding elections “must have demonstrated capability and has been successfully used in a prior electoral exercise here or abroad.”
Because of this, Adaza and Sinel say that Smartmatic “should be summarily excluded from the bidding.”
This is the same argument of the Citizens for Clean and Credible Elections (C3E) that wants to ban Smartmatic and its local partner, Total Information Management Corp. (TIMC), from joining the bidding for the procurement of 23,000 automated election systems (AESs) to be used in the 2016 presidential elections.
C3E spokesperson Dave Diwa said Smartmatic should be barred from participating in the bidding because it violated the elections law in the past and for its failure to deliver the required services in a specified period.
“For the past two elections, we’ve been made fools by Smartmatic. We ask the Comelec to reconsider its stance on the blacklisting of Smartmatic.”
Unfortunately for this group of losers, the rest of us are very pleased with elections that are not marred by “dagdag-bawas.” Why C3E wants to bring back “dagdag-bawas” is simply not acceptable. Give up already and let’s move on.
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“I hope it’s clear: You have our full support and we are on your side,” the President told coconut farmers in Filipino in a meeting in Malacañang. “May you continue to trust [the government]. Help us in the struggle to achieve our singular objective for coconut farmers and the rest of the Philippines.”
The farmers wore green shirts with the words, “Nakaw na Coco Levy, Ibalik sa Niyugan.” For the meeting, the President assembled a powerhouse group of his Cabinet men: Presidential Assistant on Food Security and Agricultural Modernization Francis Pangilinan, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Environment Secretary Ramon Paje, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa, and Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras.
These 71 farmers walked 1,700 kilometers in 66 days from Davao City to Malacañang beginning Sept. 21, the 42nd anniversary of martial law, to dramatize their plight.
They want to take control of and actually benefit from P71 billion in coco levy funds collected from coconut farmers during the Martial Law years.
“The best course of action I see is to craft a law. This would ensure that the next generation would enjoy the benefits brought by the coco levy fund and we would be spared from any legal obstacle in the future,” Mr. Aquino told the farmers.
But pending such a law, the President was open to issuing an executive order ensuring that the coconut industry, especially small farmers, would enjoy the benefits of the coco levy fund.
“I also agree that we will use only interest income from the coco levy fund so that even the next generation of farmers would benefit from it,” he said.
At the outset, the President reminded the group that the Supreme Court had yet to decide on the motion for partial reconsideration of its 2012 ruling that the government owned the 27-percent block of shares of San Miguel Corp., the Coconut Industry Investment Fund (CIIF).
They were “to be used only for the benefit of all coconut farmers and for the development of the coconut industry, and ordered reconveyed to the government,” the high court said.
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Fewer travelers from China are visiting Southeast Asia, casting a shadow over the region’s tourism industries.
Newfound frugality on the part of Chinese amid the economic chill at home is one reason. But Malaysia and Thailand have image problems that are also keeping the tourists away and taking a toll on Singapore.
Malaysia welcomed 12% fewer visitors from China for the January-July period compared with a year earlier. The Malaysian airliner that vanished in March carried mainly Chinese passengers, and Chinese tourists have since thinned out.
Thailand’s political unrest, military coup and martial law have affected tourism from around the world. January-September visitors from China declined 17%.
In Singapore, tourists from China plunged 29% for the January-August period. China is the biggest contributor to the city-state’s tourism, and trails only Indonesia in visitor numbers. But many tour packages offered in China combine Singapore with Malaysia and Thailand for a three-country Southeast Asian vacation.
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The Liberal Party will be fielding re-electionists Senate President Franklin Drilon, Senators Teofisto Guingona III and Ralph Recto, food security czar Francis Pangilinan, rehabilitation czar Panfilo Lacson Jr. and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima. The LP announced its senatorial bets even as rumors that its candidate for President could be the House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. facing off with the presumptive standard bearer, Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II.
Senator Cynthia Villar, meanwhile, said Wednesday her husband, former Senate President Manny Villar, was not running for vice president following reports her husband was being eyed as the running mate of some presidential candidates for the 2016 elections.
“Some are saying that but he doesn’t listen,” said Cynthia.
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Readers who missed a column can access www.duckyparedes.com/blogs. This is updated daily. Your reactions are welcome at duckyparedes@gmail.com or you can send me a message through Twitter @diretsahan
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