Nth PCOS Question

            Ateneo Professor Lex Muga put it lightly when he disclosed his observation that the election results seem to reveal a 60-30-10 pattern. He did not claim that there was fraud in the election despite his discovery that in all the 16 canvass of ballots, the administration slate consistently got 60 percent of the votes, the UNA got 30 percent, while the independent candidates got 10 percent (see http://wew.interaksyon.com/article/64021/midterm-polls-a-month-after--fraud-doubts-linger-as-pcos-defects-surface).

The Comelec continues to deny the probability of electronic rigging. Contrary to the claim that the vote counts of the PCOS followed a pattern (60-30-10), Comelec is maintaining that the seeming symmetry in the results’ ratios is merely due to computer glitches caused by faulty CF cards. The results do not indicate any technical fraud or a mishandling of the elections.

Assuming that we accept this as a fact, should we feel comfortable about the workings of the PCOS?

The PCOS machines had cost our taxpayers billions of pesos. They were purchased not to make the work of the Comelec easier but to secure the credibilty and efficiency of the electoral process. As such, there should be no room for any question that will give rise to speculations and worries.

The alleged pattern disclosed by the results of the PCOS cannot just be brushed aside as product of computer glitches. The synchronized ratios that the machines have generated are alarming. They feed the people’s distrust of the technology and trigger the suspicion that the election body had played dirty with the people’s votes.

The PCOS machines had counted something more than a public opinion. They have scanned and tabulated the sovereign will of the people. Any error or possibility of error in their results must alarm us about the credibility of their functionings. The flimsy ratiocination of the Comelec will not be sufficient to dispel serious questions on the manner by which it has handled the past elections. Understandably, the Comelec will defend the PCOS against the assaults of critics since they were conceived as its saving grace from previous controversies. However, its blanket denial of the questions about the PCOS is highly reprehensible. Its constitutional duty is to safeguard the elections and not to shield any election system from public questions and scrutiny. Failing in its constitutional duty, the Comelec should be made accountable for violation of its mandate. More than giving a general response to the critics’ claim of high-handed rigging, the election body owes us a credible accounting of how it has administered the last election. 

Questions related to the 2016 Presidential election have dominated the broadcast and print media already. News about government and politics are linked to the coming Presidential election. For sure, the Comelec will find means to make its works easier again. In fact, it has intimited its inclination to use same PCOS machines in 2016. Unfortunately, such intimations have only worsened the continuing distrust on the system that the Comelec has adopted in running the elections. The Comelec officials have to deal with the doubts about the automated election system to assure that the next elections will be more acceptable and trustworthy. They should not fail in rectifying whatever mistakes that they have committed during the past elections. Whether they like or not, the PCOS is one of the biggest mistakes that they have to account for and rectify before the next election. This must be so because the future of the country is too high a price to gamble away for these dubious machines. 

New Faces, Old Problems

The difficult days of new local officials have started. By tradition, their first 100 days are expected to showcase the changes that are bound to happen under the new administration. Solutions for the most pressing problems, or at least the efforts at finding them, must be evident if the newly installed administration is to get the support of its constituents during its term.

The problems left behind by past administrations are usually intractable. They are real problems which may involve the machinery of the government or the lives of the people whom the elected officials have sworn to serve. They are not a product of simple miscalculations or indiscretion in the use of public power. For most part, they are about lack of resources and the failure of governance in the face of grave societal problems such as environmental degradation, poverty, violence, deep-seated apathy and the distrust among people.  

New officials will soon feel the crippling helplessness that others before them have felt. The dysfunctions of government and the temptation to give up at finding solutions seem inevitable as the tasks needed to address even the most basic social problems continue to pile up with the passing of time.

While finding solutions to these concerns is extremely difficult, the efforts needed to resolve them are not insurmountable. Of course, such task will demand not only resources but the best of talents as well. Resources and talents are exhaustible materials; unfortunately, they are sometimes both lacking in our local government units.   

Experience shows that the national government does not devote sufficient resources for any local concerns. Sometimes, autonomy and devolution tend to worsen the stagnation and paralysis of many poor municipalities and provinces. Most of the time, local government units have to secure loans from private and public financial institutions to carry out their development programs. Also, partnership with private companies becomes convenient leeway to build new infrastructures and acquire equipment and facilities to deliver social services to the people. Because of this, many local government units have started to become excessively entangled with the complexity and problems brought by privatization of public functions and the liberalization of public policies.

            Local governments should be encouraged to link with educational institutions to address their shortage of creative human resources. The synergy that this partnership creates will work well for both of them. On one hand, this will help local govenments find the needed skills and talents to resolve many of their concerns. On the other hand, this partnership can enrich the academics as they will have the chance to test their knowledge and theories through practice.