Unless all the problems of accuracy, transparency and credibility of the voting and counting system are addressed, AES Watch warned that the results of the next automated polls “will remain to be contested and the proclaimed winners will continue to hold office under a shadow of illegitimacy.”
“Businesses donate to candidates not because they believe in him or her but because they see it as an investment for their business. It is part of the patronage politics.” – lawyer Rona Ann Caritos of the Legal Network for Truthful Elections
Commissioner Luie Guia said the Omnibus Election Code’s prohibition on accepting campaign donations from certain corporations does not extend to corporate officers or directors. There is also no cap on the amount of campaign donations that candidates could accept. By RONALYN V. OLEA Bulatlat.com MANILA – – Two Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioners admitted that…
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Analysis Bulatlat.com MANILA — I write this with a deep sense of urgency and desperation (or is it exasperation?). The interest of the media regarding what happened during the May 2013 elections has practically died down. KontraDaya, AES Watch, and progressive groups are the only ones still persisting in raising critical issues…
Aside from the PCOS machines, Smartmatic claims that it sold to the Comelec numerous equipment worth P1.8 billion, including 5,000 mobile satellite antennas (BGAN) and 680 VSATs for transmission of results to polling and totalization centers with little or no cellular coverage. “If these really had worked, why is it that some 30-percent of the PCOS machines still failed to transmit results on election day?” – KontraDaya
“Smartmatic and the Commission on Elections should be held accountable for non-compliance to and violations of automated election laws and the unconscionable expenses for a defective and non-transparent foreign-controlled voting technology” – Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares
“Who among the elected and losing candidates from the senatorial to the local level would know how many votes had they really garnered in this election? Or if the ranking of the senatorial candidates and party list groups accurately reflect their true votes?” – AES Watch
By LUIS V. TEODORO Vantage Point | BusinessWorld Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes, Jr. thinks there’s a conspiracy afoot to discredit the Philippine electoral system. He’s identified the supposed conspirators as “those behind” the Automated Election System (AES) Watch, a coalition that has about 40 organizations and individuals as members, among them academics,…
Progressive party list groups are incredulous that they got too few votes even in areas where they have many chapter members.
Rene b. Azurin, author of “Hacking Our Democracy,” said at the AES Watch press conference that against historical trends, from the beginning to the lull in counting, the ranking of senatorial candidates did not change, even the differences between their votes were almost constant.
Read main story: ‘2013 elections a technological, political disaster’ – election watchdogs
“What happened in this election “are very serious concerns of the Filipino people….This constitutes a grave travesty of the peoples’ right to suffrage and the integrity of the votes”– AES Watch
Related Story: Comelec ‘shortcuts’ made votes vulnerable to manipulation – election watchdogs