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In the past few days, there have been some proclamations, allegations of cheating, and today it seems that The Senate winners are becoming a little bit more clear.

As of this writing, according to the COMELEC count, It’s eight for GO, two for TU, and 2 independents. The candidates that make the top twelve are (in order):

Loren Legarda, Chiz Escudero, Panfilo Lacson, Manny Villar, Kiko Pangilinan, Noynoy Aquino, Ed Angara, Alan Cayetano, Joker Arroyo, Gregorio Honasan, Antonio Trillanes, Koko Pimentel

The Inquirer has detailed the Mindanao Poll Fraud, saying that there were cases of vote padding (dagdag), watchers were barred, watchers barred amidst election misconducts and illegalities, COMELEC officials were supposedly in cahoots, grand strategy to the 12-0 TU sweep, and of course, Bedol was not available for comment on any of these allegations.

Kontra-Daya Post Election Report

Kontra-Daya (Citizen’s Against Fraudulent Elections) has come out with an interesting report against The COMELEC and The Arroyo Administration. The headline: COMELEC, Arroyo Administration Both Liable for Questionable May 14 Polls.

Important Excerpts:

Election Day was a picture of chaos and confusion and that Filipinos could not freely and properly exercise their right to suffrage.

Vote buying was widespread. The worst forms of vote buying and bribery came from the pronouncements of government officials who offered monetary rewards of future favors to local officials in exchange for an administration senatorial sweep.

The complaints of disenfranchisement often bore with it utter frustration and outrage over the inability of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to ensure that registered voters are able to vote in the correct precincts.

Kontra Daya notes in particular the type of violence that resulted in the death of a teacher and a poll watcher in Taysan, Batangas; witnesses point to elements of the PNP as responsible for burning the ballot boxes and the polling center itself, causing the death of the victims. We also note the abduction and murder of two young poll watchers from the party list group Kabataan in Camarines Norte, and the enforced disappearance of two other poll watchers from Bayan Muna in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

From incoming field and media reports, we can say that there is an emerging trend of fraud being committed in certain areas and that this fraud obviously favors the administration by depriving votes for the Opposition and militant partylist groups.

The COMELEC has resisted citizens’ demands for the investigation, or reassignment to less sensitive positions, of the election officials implicated in the Garci tapes. In fact, election official Rey Sumalipao, who had been implicated in the Garci tapes, was promoted to head COMELEC operations for the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), an area where massive fraud is said to be already taking place.

There are initial indications that the Arroyo administration is engaged in large-scale electoral fraud in an attempt to secure favorable results for its candidates in the national elections (senatorial and party-list).

COMELEC is directly complicit with the Arroyo administration in perpetrating the ongoing electoral fraud.

Vote Padding In Lapu Lapu City, Cebu

A few days ago, we wrote about how suspended Lapu Lapu Mayor won reelection, and the opposition candidate, acting Mayor Norma Patalinjug alleged that cheating had taken place. I had first thought that the cheating could not have had any affect but this may not be true. Recent reports coming from Sun Star Cebu say that 187,000 votes were cast. Not a surprise until you realize that there were only 148,870 registered voters.

If this is true then clearly the voter turnout was greater than expected — OR… a padding of votes took place. Let’s go with vote padding, which seems to clearly have happened here.

Let’s do some math:

If the actual voter turnout was around 90%, (that’s still pretty large), then there were around 133,983 individuals who casted their vote.

The votes counted for the candidates are:

Patalinjug = 85,000 votes
Radaza = 102,000 votes

And let’s make another conservative assumption that if Radaza cheated, then probably only his votes were padded. That would mean that Patalinjug’s vote count may be fairly accurate at 85,000 votes. The remaining votes will thus count for Radaza:

Radaza’s Votes = Actual Votes - Patalinjug’s Votes
Radaza’s votes = 133,983 - 85,000 = 48,983 votes

Of course, these are just estimates, but if, according to the current vote count, vote padding occurred, the vote margin would be enough to change the overall results of the election in favor of Norma Patalinjug.

Video: Election officer relates cheating in Maguindanao

No voting in Maguindanao, just counting. Let’s look at the writing! But Bedol says otherwise…

Video: GO bares evidence of cheating in Lanao del Norte

Closing Thoughts

Despite the 2004 election, the current administration has not learned to do right by the people. Mindanao has once again become the focus of election fraud allegations, and the Miraculous Mindanao Vote is all but a miracle, but more like a concerted effort to cheat the voting public once again.

Despite the cheating, 8 GO Senate candidates are projected to win.

The Mindanao polls were just one in many of other regions in the country that experienced cheating during the election.

But, because of watchdogs like Kontra Daya, it seems that the current Administration has found it harder to pull of a bigger miracle than that of the 12-0 showing in Maguindanao.

Let’s continue to watch the votes, take note of discrepancies, and investigate those who would undermine our democracy.

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