THE Philippines made history when it held national elections on May 9, 2016 because of several feats never achieved before by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), according to Democracy Watch, a citizen-led democratic initiative.

The group on Thursday said the elections saw the largest deployment of Vote Counting Machines (VCM) not only in the Philippines and the region but the whole world. Some glitches were reported but these incidents were negligible and did not detract from the efficiency of the polls in general.

On May 9, Filipinos created one of the largest paper audit trails in the history of elections with over 43 million voter-marked ballots and corresponding voter receipts, as well as over two million count reports, which are available for auditing.

The number of Filipinos who voted translated to an 81.7-percent turnout, one of the largest in recent memory, Democracy Watch said as it lauded the Comelec and all agencies and groups that helped ensure the holding of successful and credible elections.

“The world saw more than 44 million Filipinos troop to their respective polling precincts and made their voices heard through a process that has long been a cornerstone of our democracy,” Democracy Watch, a social initiative of advisory and research consultancy group Stratbase Research Institute (SRi), said in a statement.

“An election that is near-universally hailed as one of the most successful and credible in history should be above senseless politicking,” Claudette Guevara, the group’s secretary general, said.

She noted that the polls required the recruitment, hiring and training of more than 45,000 field technicians in less than three months and the printing of 56 million ballots in 49 days.

She added that the Comelec was able to proclaim an astounding 99.96 percent of all 18,000 or so elective positions 10 days after the elections.

“That more than 20,000 losing candidates conceded by election night further attests to a stable belief in the polls’ credibility. Foreign observers and governments were likewise impressed. Clearly, faster results mean less instability and inspire greater confidence in the process,” Guevara said.

The random manual audits completed—715 precincts—went beyond the required one per legislative district, she added.

“We also call on Comelec to conduct a speedy investigation of these claims of manipulation so that the true voice of the people will be upheld,” it said.

Technology provider Smartmatic and the Comelec had said the changing of the script of the Comelec’s transparency server was merely “cosmetic’ and did not affect the result of the polls.

President-elect Rodrigo Duterte stood by his decision to allow the burial of former president Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani as he also defended the children of the former strongman.

Speaking to reporters in Davao City early Thursday, Duterte said he accepted “full moral and legal responsibility” for his decision even as it “created division in the country.”

“It is my sole decision,” he stressed, adding that nothing will make him change his mind on the matter.

“Alam mo kapag nagbitaw ako ng salita, ‘yun na ‘yun. Magpakamatay na ako diyan [If I have already uttered the word, that’s it. I will stake my life on it,” Duterte said.

“I will do things that I promised to do. I will not die if I do not become the President. I will stake my honor, my life, and the presidency itself. Bantayan niyo ang salita ko [Pay attention to my words],” he added.

Martial law victims have warned that giving Marcos a hero’s burial would whitewash the strongman’s crimes and trigger street protests.

But Duterte insisted that Marcos deserved a place at heroes’ cemetery since the former president was part of the resistance movement against the Japanese occupation in 1940s.

“Sabi nyo si Marcos hindi dapat dyan ilibing [You said that Marcos should not be buried there]. That is on the question of his abuses. It is something that is attached to his persona forever. Marcos might not really be a hero, I accept that proposition, maybe. But certainly, he was a soldier,” the mayor said.

“Anong gusto niyo? [What do you want?] The guy is already dead. You want the cadaver to be burned? Would that satisfy your rage?” he added.

Duterte also believes that Marcos’ children should not be made to suffer for their father’s actions.

“The sins of the father, if there are any, should never be visited upon the children,” he said.
Marcos and his wife Imelda were accused of plundering $10 billion from state coffers and overseeing widespread human rights abuses by security forces.

Imelda and her children returned to power while fending off a barrage of lawsuits and criminal probes.

Imelda is a congresswoman representing the family’s northern provincial stronghold, while Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was elected to the Senate in 2010.

Marcos ran for vice president in this month’s elections against Rep. Leni Robredo but the winner is yet to be proclaimed.

In a statement, Marcos’ only son and namesake noted that it has always been the position of his family that his father deserves to be buried at the Heroes’ Cemetery.

The body of the late leader, who died in exile in the US in 1989, remains in a glass coffin in a mausoleum in his hometown in Ilocos Norte.

“Our campaign has always been toward achieving unity to move the country forward. And it is this kind of pronouncement that we hope could end the decades of divisiveness that have been imposed upon us by our leaders,” Marcos said.

“We would like to thank President Duterte for this kind, rightful and healing gesture,” he added.

Trudeau

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has joined other world leaders who congratulated President-elect Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte.

Duterte, incumbent Davao City mayor, on Thursday said Trudeau called him on Tuesday afternoon.

He described their conversation as a “civil” one, wherein the Canadian leader brought up “universal declaration of human rights.”

“I said that we are partners, may we remain partners all the time,” Duterte told reporters.

He said he apologized to Trudeau for the death of Canadian hostage John Ridsdel at the hands of the Abu Sayyaf Group.

Ridsdel was beheaded in April after the bandit group’s ransom demand was not met.

“I said I’m very sorry for the incident which resulted in the killing of your national and we will try our very best and see to it that this will not happen again,” Duterte said.

“You can rest assured that when the time comes, we will be able to apprehend the criminals and exact justice,” he added.

Duterte said he thanked Trudeau for protecting Filipino workers in Canada.

“I’m aware there are Filipinos, a lot are working there, some are immigrants and I’m happy they have found protection in your labor laws,” he also told the prime minister.

THE tragedy that befell some concert goers in Pasay City (Metro Manila) has prompted President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to consider implementing a massive revamp at the Philippine National Police (PNP) and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

“When I reshuffle, I do not reshuffle officers. Lahat [Everybody], from chief of office down to the janitor,” Duterte, the incumbent mayor of Davao City, said.

He added that police officers deployed in Manila may be transferred to the provinces or vice versa.

“There will be a massive reshuffling so I am putting notice now to everybody. Be ready. Magbalot na kayo [Pack up],” the mayor said.

He expressed dismay over the deaths of five persons at the Close Up Forever Summer concert at the Mall of Asia in Pasay City on Saturday, blaming police for their negligence.
The NBI suspects that drugs may have been the cause of death.

In a news conference in Davao City early morning on Thursday, Duterte said a reported drug dealing in the concert party was a result of failure of intelligence.

“I am addressing myself to the police and law enforcement as a mayor and as a citizen of this republic, karaming tao diyan [there are a lot of people there]. PDEA [Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency], then police community, sali sali na ‘yan sila lahat diyan [they are all together]. There is a national team and there is a local [team] of Pasay, how come nakalusot ang bagay na iyon [how come that incident happened]?” he asked.

“It’s a failure of intelligence. Nasaan ang NBI [Where was the NBI], ang anti-drug nila or whatever that agency is called? Saan ‘yung pulis? Saan ‘yung PDEA? Bakit ganun karami ang namatay [Where is the anti-drug agency? Where is the police and PDEA? Why were there so many deaths]?” Duterte said.

He slammed the authorities for their negligence and questioned the use of the funds allotted to them.

“You are paid to do or to prevent those incidents to happen,” Duterte said.

“I’m at a loss. It was reported that there was one corner of the place where drugs were being distributed, apparently sold and it escaped the attention of the law enforcement authorities. It is unacceptable,” he added.

The PNP also on Thursday said officials are ready to present their intelligence and operations funds for Duterte’s scrutiny.

PNP spokesman Chief Supt. Wilben Mayor said the mayor has the power to scrutinize these funds and how the money was being used by the police force.

Mayor admitted that there is a need for the police to intensify their intelligence gathering, noting that they did not monitor the sale and distribution of illegal drugs at the concert area.

The PNP spokesman said it was not clear if policemen were allowed inside the concert venue.

WITH ANTHONY VARGAS

The camp of President Rodrigo Duterte wants Congress to stop its canvassing and
immediately proclaim him because his victory is unassailable.

Salvador Panelo, Duterte’s spokesman, on Thursday said there is no use for the official counting of votes in Congress for the presidential race because Duterte’s rivals have long conceded, except for Sen. Miriam Santiago.

Panelo also wants the losing candidates– former Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas 2nd, Sen. Grace Poe and Vice President Jejomar Binay–to sign a waiver for their right to official canvassing of votes.

The Constitution provides that the proclamation of the President and Vice President should be done at the same time but the spokesman insisted that this provision could be disregarded if Duterte’s rivals will waive their right to canvassing.

“I see the Marcos camp making objections [to] every COC [Certificate of Canvass]. That could take long. Baka walang ma-proclaim [No one may be proclaimed]. The Constitution does not state that separate proclamations [are] allowed, but it doesn’t mean that it prohibits [them]. If it does not prohibit [them], then separate proclamation[s] could be done,” Panelo told reporters.

He was referring to the camp of Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who is in a tight race with Rep. Leni Robredo of the administration Liberal Party.

“We are not worrying. It’s just that if we continue with this, the new President could not be proclaimed in time. We’ll have a crisis,” Panelo said.

Under the law, the winning President and Vice President should be proclaimed by June 30.

“The canvassing should not take so long. What is the need for the [official] canvassing when you already know the winner? If they waive their [losing candidates] right [to]canvassing, then it should be good. We want the canvassing for President done so that Duterte can be proclaimed,” Panelo said.

He urged Santiago to show a “pure act of statesmanship” by conceding to Duterte.

“If Senator Miriam would consider conceding today, the work of the joint congressional canvassing panel would be considerably eased, paving the way for President-elect Duterte’s swift proclamation,” Panelo said.

Amado Valdez, dean of the University of the East College of Law and also a legal counsel for Duterte, advised the camp of Marcos to urge his running mate to concede if he wants a separate canvass for the vice presidential race

“Congress, sitting as National Board of Canvassers [NBOC], the Filipino people and the international community, can thereby focus on canvassing the votes for Senator Santiago’s running mate… and all volunteer-lawyers for the Duterte-Marcos ticket can now train all their guns to protect Marcos’ votes,” he said.

Inocencio Ferrer, Jr., another lawyer for Duterte, disclosed that Panelo has instructed his team to prepare the proper manifestation to be filed with the NBOC on Friday or Monday next week.

“We’re treading uncharted waters. All presidential elections since 1992 involved simultaneous canvassing and simultaneous proclamation of the President and Vice President,” Ferrer said.

Lawyers for Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. have questioned the unusually high number of “undervotes” in the vice presidential race as shown in Certificates of Canvass (COCs) opened on Wednesday, the first day of the official tally by Congress.

COUNT GOES ON Lawmakers inspect a ballot box on the second day of the official canvassing of votes for President and Vice President. As of 7 p.m. Thursday, Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. was leading by 255, 254 votes. PHOTO BY RUY L. MARTINEZ

“We have accounted ‘undervotes’ Your Honor, that’s totaling the votes cast for the Vice President vis-à-vis the votes cast by the voters, it would appear that such number was discovered from the COC Your Honor that totals 623,174,” one of the lawyers, George Garcia, said on Thursday.

The discovery confirmed Marcos’ earlier complaint that 3.3 million “undervotes” were discovered in their own quick count, Garcia added.

Because of questions involving the “undervotes,” only 45 of the 48 opened COC were officially included in the canvass.

Garcia said the three questioned COC were from the provinces of Laguna, Ilocos Sur and Davao del Norte.

These were found to have differences with the electronically-transmitted COC.

As part of the investigation, the Joint Canvassing Committee ordered the Provincial Board of Canvassers (PBOC) in the three provinces to explain the discrepancies.

Citing as an example, Garcia said the first electronically-transmitted COC from Davao del Norte did not conform with the succeeding printed four COC.

Election watchdogs and Information Technology experts earlier said “undervotes” do not usually exceed one percent of the total votes cast.

In the 2016 elections, there should be not more than 400,000 such votes at 81 percent voter turnout.

Insignificant
The camp of Rep. Leni Robredo of the Liberal Party (LP), howeve, downplayed the reported “undervotes.”

Romulo Macalintal, the lead counsel for Robredo, said the issue is no cause for alarm.

“He is saying that there are around 600,000 ‘under votes.’ But this should not be a cause for alarm because it does not indicate irregularity. Not all people cast their vote for Vice President,” Macalintal added.

He cited the Supreme Court ruling in Mathay vs. Castelo that such abstaining from voting for a particular post is a regular undertaking.

“That’s why I made a clarification that the voters need not worry. This does not mean poll rigging and is insignificant in the canvassing of voters. That happens in an automated or a manual election where people just remain neutral or abstain from voting for a particular position,” Macalintal said.

He expressed confidence that the discrepancies in the three COC can be explained by the PBOC, particularly Laguna where it took the board twice before successfully transmitting the COC.

Marcos earlier appealed to the Commission on Elections to allow his own IT experts to audit the central and transparency servers of the poll body with the participation of other interested parties.

He said only a system audit would show if a script change done by Smartmatic had triggered the sudden decrease of his almost one million lead in the evening of May 9 during the quick count of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting.
But the Comelec deferred action on his petition.

Abakada Party-list Rep. Jonathan dela Cruz, campaign adviser of Marcos, called the poll body’s decision “unfortunate.”

“We could not understand how the system audit could affect the official canvass because all election returns have been transmitted and all COC have been printed out for canvass,” dela Cruz said.

“The integrity of the whole 2016 elections is on the line here and we do not want unresolved questions and issues to linger after the proclamation. It is our position that whoever will be proclaimed Vice President by the NBOC [National Board of Canvassers] deserves a clear and unequivocal mandate once he assumes the position. We cannot allow all doubts to linger on our new Vice President which would diminish the stature of his office,” he noted in a statement.

“We will take the next legal step to ventilate our request for the sake of truth and for the millions of Filipinos who cast their votes despite the odds and limitations on May 9,” dela Cruz said.

ISE-SHIMA, Japan: The Group of Seven (G7) needs to take a “clear and tough stance” on China’s controversial maritime claims and the Russian annexation of Crimea, European Council President Donald Tusk said onnThursday.

Speaking at the sidelines of a G7 summit in Japan, Tusk warned that the credibility of the club of rich nations was on the line.

“The test of our credibility at the G7 is our ability to defend the common values that we share,” he told reporters.

“This test will only pass if we take a clear and tough stance on every topic of our discussions here… I refer in particular to the issue of maritime security and the South and East China Seas and [the] Russia-Ukraine issue,” Tusk said.

He added, “If we are to defend our common values, it is not enough these days to only believe in them. We also have to be ready to protect them.”

Beijing has angered some of its Southeast Asian neighbors, including the Philippines and Vietnam, by claiming almost all of the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

Beijing is also locked in a dispute with Japan over rocky outcroppings in the East China Sea, stoking broader concerns about China’s growing regional might and threats to back up its claims with force, if necessary.

“The policy of the G7 is clear: Any maritime or territorial claim should be based on international law and any territorial dispute should be resolved by peaceful means,” Tusk said.

“Unilateral action and the use of force or coercion will not be accepted.”

Mind your own business
Chinese state media warned the Group of Seven nations also on Thursday not to “meddle” in the sea disputes.

China’s official Xinhua news agency published an article saying the G7 — which excludes Beijing — “should mind its own business rather than pointing fingers at others.”

Xinhua writer Chang Yuan accused Japan of “attempting to take advantage of its G7 summit host status and draw more ‘allies and sympathizers’ to isolate China.”

Both Washington and Tokyo — which is locked in a separate dispute with Beijing over islands in the East China Sea — have warned against Beijing stoking tensions in the contested waters.

Chang wrote that such remarks showed “Japan’s hidden agenda: to meddle in the South China Sea issue.”

Weighing in on the South China Sea “exceeds the G7’s current influence and capability. What’s more, it reflects a lingering Cold War mindset,” he added.

The commentary came ahead of a ruling expected within weeks on China’s claims brought to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague by the Philippines.

China has warned outside parties not to meddle in the South China Sea but has also attempted to draw nations as far away as Niger, Togo and Burundi into the dispute, insisting that they support its rejection of the tribunal.

British Prime Minister David Cameron warned China that it must abide by the outcome of the international arbitration.

Beijing summoned top diplomatic representatives from the Group of Seven nations including France and Britain in April to express anger at a joint statement on the South China Sea.

AFP

President-elect Rodrigo Duterte gestures during a news conference held after midnight Wednesday in Davao City. AFP PHOTO

President-elect Rodrigo Duterte showed readiness to broker peace with rebel groups as he declared on Thursday he is willing to go to Jolo in Sulu to meet with Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) Chairman Nur Misuari.

He issued the statement apparently to appease the rebel group after its spokesman claimed that MNLF members were snubbed by the mayor when they sought him out in Davao City after the elections.

“Sabi ng MNLF inisnab sila [The MNLF said they were snubbed]. I am very sorry to say na hindi namin talaga ginawa ‘yan [I am very sorry to say but we did not really do that],” Duterte told reporters in a news conference in Davao City.

“Just to prove a point that I’m really interested… I will fly to Jolo and talk to Nur,” he said.
MNLF spokesman Rev. Absalom Cerveza earlier complained that they went to Davao on

May 16 to talk to Duterte but they were not given the opportunity.

“To be ignored is a great insult,” Cerveza said in a previous interview.

Duterte, however, insisted that there was no deliberate effort to snub the rebel group.
“Believe me, I don’t do that,” he said.

When asked about his planned meeting with Misuari, the presumptive President replied, “I’ll find time. Misuari does not want to travel. He is facing charges. He is a fugitive.”
Misuari has been in hiding since his followers attacked Zamboanga City in 2013.

Although Duterte did not say what issues will be tackled during his meeting with Misuari, a commander of the MNLF said the two will possibly discuss federalism and a peace agreement signed by the Philippine government and the group in 1996 that has not been fully implemented.

The peace pact signed by Misuari and the administration of President Fidel Ramos was set aside by President Benigno Aquino 3rd when he forged a peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The MILF is a breakaway group of the MILF.

The final peace pact signed by the MNLF paved the way for the establishment of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). Misuari was the first ARMM governor.

Had the peace agreement signed by the Aquino administration and the MILF been passed by Congress, the ARMM would be replaced by the Bangsamoro region.

Johny Siao, chief of the MNLF’s National Border Command based in General Santos City, said majority of their members support Duterte’s move to push federalism.

Siao claimed his group will choose federalism over implementation of the 1996 peace agreement because the latter only benefits some parts of Mindanao.

He said whatever agreement will be reached by Duterte and Misuari will be relayed to MNLF members during consultations before making it final.

With Duterte, according to Siao, bent on changing the form of government from presidential to federal, the chance for passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law in Congress is nil.

He said MNLF and MILF officials will meet on Saturday, May 28, in Davao City.

Siao, however, did not say what the two groups will discuss in the rare meeting.

He said Jimmy Labawan, MNLF central committee vice chairman, will be among the officials present in the meeting.

Reds
Duterte, the incumbent mayor of Davao City, said he and the National Democratic Front have reached an agreement on a framework for peace talks between the government and the NDF.

The mayor said he spent three hours talking to NDF spokesman Fidel Agcaoili on Wednesday evening in Davao City where they discussed the planned peace talks.

The NDF is the political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA).

“We agreed on the framework on how to proceed with the peace talks,” Duterte also told reporters.

“And maybe in God’s good time, I told Fidel that, merong panahon dadating sa atin [there will come a time] that we will stop talking about being left and being right,” he said.

Duterte earlier announced that he will allow the NDF to submit its nominees for four Cabinet portfolios — the Departments of Labor, Social Welfare, Agrarian Reform and Environment and Natural Resources.

The mayor said the NDF submitted an “impressive” list of people with talent.”
He, however, added that he is uncertain if these nominees will accept the job.

“I really do not know if they are willing to,” Duterte said.

THE Philippines has now a better shot at curbing the perennial problem of smuggling agricultural products.

President Benigno Aquino 3rd has signed into law the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act (Republic Act 10845) to impose stiffer penalties on the large-scale smuggling of agricultural products.

Senator Cynthia Villar, principal sponsor of the bill, said the law would boost the campaign against smuggling, which continues to threaten the livelihood of farmers and the food security in the country.

With smuggling now a non-bailable charge, Villar said the process of prosecuting violators would largely improve.

“Harsher penalties [will] serve as deterrent to smuggling activities,” she said in a statement on Friday.

RA 10845 defines economic sabotage as “any act or activity which undermines, weakens or renders into disrepute the economic system or viability of the country or tends to bring out such effects and shall include, among others, price manipulation to the prejudice of the public, especially in the sale of basic necessities and prime commodities.”

The law provides that the smuggling of sugar, corn, pork, poultry, garlic, onion, carrots, fish, and cruciferous vegetables totaling at least P1 million, or rice with a minimum amount of P10 million will be considered economic sabotage.

Violators will face a penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of twice the fair value of the smuggled agricultural product and the aggregate amount of the taxes, duties and other charges avoided.

“Economic saboteurs deserve to be severely punished under this new law,” Villar, chair of the Committee on Agriculture and Food, said.

“They threaten the livelihood of small and subsistence farmers because the presence of smuggled products unjustly lowers market price, making it almost impossible for locally-produced goods to compete,” she added.

Apart from this measure, the President also signed two of Villar’s priority bills for the agricultural sector, such as the Farm Tourism Development Act (RA 10816) and the Philippine Halal Export Development and Promotion Act (RA 10817).

RA 10816 encourages the development of farm areas to attract tourists for production, educational and recreational purposes, while RA 10817 creates the Philippine Halal Export Development and Promotion Board to promote the growth and ensure the integrity and quality of Philippine halal exports.

“Although there’s still a lot to be accomplished in terms of legislative support for the agriculture sector, we are thankful to the President for seeing the merit of these bills in helping our farmers and farm workers create additional sources of income,” Villar said.

About 10.5 million Filipino families remained poor in the first quarter of the year, while some 6.9 million others see themselves as having barely enough food to eat, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.

The survey, conducted between March 30 and April 2 and first published in BusinessWorld on Friday, showed that the poverty and food poverty figure were “multi-year lows” under the Aquino administration.

It showed that 46 percent of respondents, or about 10.5 million families, rated themselves mahirap or poor. This was better than the 50 percent or 11.2 million in December 2015.

SWS also noted the 46 percent was the lowest in over four years or since December 2011’s 45 percent, reflecting drops across all regions except in Mindanao.

“The 4-point decline in self-rated poverty rate nationwide in the first quarter of 2016 was because of a decline in the Visayas, Metro Manila and Balance Luzon, combined with a 2-point rise in Mindanao,” SWS explained.

The highest self-rated poverty was at 55 percent in March 2012, December 2013 and June and September 2014.

The SWS survey also found that 31 percent or an estimated 6.9 million families consider the type of food they eat as “food-poor,” two points below the 33 percent or 7.4 million logged in December last year.

It matched the record low of 31 percent first recorded in March 2010.

The SWS attributed the April dip to the reported declines in self-rated food poverty rates in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.

The pollster reported a steady score in Metro Manila and a three-point rise in Balance Luzon.

Meanwhile, the median self-rated poverty threshold or the lowest monthly home expense budget needed by the poorer half of poor households not to consider themselves as such, remained at P20,000 in Metro Manila and P10,000 in Balance Luzon, in the Visayas and in Mindanao.

The minimum home budget, SWS explained, is less than the minimum income that a household needs because it excludes work-related expenses like transportation.

On one hand, the median food poverty threshold or the lowest monthly food budget needed by families so as not to consider themselves as such, was P9,000 in Metro Manila and P5,000 in Balance Luzon, the Visayas, and in Mindanao.

SWS said the April 2016 median self-rated food poverty thresholds in the Visayas and Mindanao were the highest levels ever reached in those areas.

SWS, which polled 1,500 adults for this round, said its survey has sampling error margins of ±3 points for national percentages and ±6 points each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

Meanwhile, Malacañang welcomed the SWS’ latest survey findings, saying all this has resulted in the “strengthening of our economy and the expansion of opportunities for our countrymen.”

“For the past six years, we in the Aquino administration have remained unwavering in our commitment to sustainable and equitable progress. Believing that good governance is good economics, we have sought to better the lives of Filipinos by making appropriate investments in areas such as health, education, infrastructure and job skills development,” Palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a statement.

“Not content with trickle-down growth, we have also pursued more direct interventions such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program,” he said.

Lacierda then cited the latest studies from the Department of Social Welfare and Development showing that the program has “not only successfully lifted millions above the poverty threshold, but has also placed families in a better position to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty.”

“Now, with the world’s eyes on the Philippines, it is up to the next administration to ensure that our remarkable growth story continues—toward even greater success for the country and even better opportunities for the Filipino,” he added.

Trump

BILLINGS, Montana: White House hopeful Donald Trump claimed victory on Thursday in the Republican nomination race, while shrugging off criticism from the man he aims to replace, President Barack Obama, who blasted the billionaire’s ignorance and arrogant attitude.

Trump vaulted past the threshold of 1,237 needed to win the party’s primary race when a group of unbound delegates from North Dakota said they would back him.

The accomplishment caps an extraordinary rise by a political neophyte whose campaign was widely derided as a distraction and a publicity stunt last June, when Trump announced his candidacy.

Trump eventually swept 16 Republican rivals aside, and was the last man standing when his remaining two challengers quit the race early this month.

“The folks behind me got us right over the top from North Dakota,” he told reporters in Bismarck, standing with some 15 unbound delegates from the Midwestern state who committed their support to the real estate tycoon.

“I’m so honored.”

Several US media outlets, citing their own analysis of pledged delegates and unbound delegates who announced their commitment to Trump, said earlier Thursday that Trump reached or surpassed the 1,237 mark.

The Republican Party will not make the delegate results official until its national convention in July, when delegates vote for their nominee.

Trump was already the Republican presumptive nominee, following a spectacular and unlikely run for the White House that thoroughly upended American politics.

On Thursday, he took a victory lap of sorts, addressing a crowd in Billings, Montana, where he mapped out a bit of his future campaign strategy to focus on swing states like Florida, Ohio and Michigan, as well as California.

“I want to focus on 15 or so states,” Trump said.

“Because we have to win, and I want my energy to be put into states where it could go either way.”

Trump still faces the daunting task of unifying skeptical Republicans, with turmoil continuing to dog his campaign as conservatives grapple with their party’s direction.
Democrats have gleefully highlighted Republican anxiety about their nominee.

Speaking in Japan, Obama plunged into the fray, telling reporters that world leaders are “rattled” by some of Trump’s policies.

“A lot of the proposals that he has made display either ignorance of world affairs or a cavalier attitude or an interest in getting tweets and headlines,” he said.
AFP

Boxing legend Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao on Friday said he would skip the Rio Olympics even if professionals were allowed to compete, knocking out the Philippines’ best chance of winning its first gold medal.

Pacquiao, who was this month elected to the Philippine Senate and harbors dreams of becoming the country’s President, explained that he wanted to instead focus on his political career.

“I have decided to prioritize my legislative duty as I owe it to the people who voted for me,” the eight-time world champion and national hero said in a text message to Agence France-Presse.

Pacquiao, 37, had previously said his victory over American Timothy Bradley last month would be the final fight of his career so he could pursue his political ambitions.

But he never fully closed the door on his boxing career, saying he could be tempted out of retirement for a chance at Olympic glory in August or another mega-bucks fight against arch-rival Floyd Mayweather Jr.

In a highly controversial move, the International Boxing Association proposed a few months ago allowing professional boxers to compete at the Rio Games, and will put it to a vote at its congress in Lausanne next week.

Pacquiao’s American promoter, Bob Arum, was among the many critics of the plan, saying putting amateurs into the ring against seasoned professionals would be “total madness.”

But in anticipation of a successful vote, the International Boxing Association had already invited the international ring icon.

Pacquiao did not wade into the controversy on Friday, saying only he wanted to be prepared for his new job as a senator starting on June 30.

“So I believe I don’t have enough time to prepare [for the Olympics],” he said.

The Philippines is an Olympic minnow, having only won nine bronze and silver medals since debuting at the 1924 Paris Games.
Five of those medals were in boxing.

Pacquiao has never competed in the Olympics, although he was the country’s flag-bearer at the 2008 Beijing Games.

Pacquiao had told sporting officials he hoped to compete in Rio as a way of giving back to the Philippines, Association of Boxing Alliances of the Philippines executive director Ed Picson told AFP.

He, however, may have been concerned about criticism over his poor attendance record in Congress, according to Picson.

Pacquiao served two three-year stints as a congressman from 2010 but barely turned up at sessions of the House of Representatives as he pursued his boxing career.

“I expected he might have second thoughts because he received brickbats about being absent in Congress and that’s a fresh wound. It was used against him during the campaign and he’s probably still smarting about it,” Picson said.

Just 11 Filipino athletes have so far qualified for Rio, two of whom are boxers.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres Bautista could be impeached over “undervotes” and for disallowing a system audit of its transparency and central servers, according to an information technology (IT) expert.

An undervote occurs when the number of choices selected by a voter in an election contest is less than the maximum number allowed for that contest.
It also occurs when no vote is cast for a single-choice contest.[

For instance, a voter who is permitted to cast one vote for a presidential candidate and does not select a candidate has undervoted.

The IT expert and lawyer Glenn Chong, a former congressman of Biliran province, on Friday said Bautista could not just set aside the three million undervotes in the vice presidential race since they represent about 8.53 percent of the total number of voters.

“It [ignoring the undervotes] is simply obstruction of justice, a betrayal of public trust, which is an impeachable offense,” Chong told a news conference where another witness, Baser Utto, the defeated vice mayoral candidate of Datu Saudi Ampatuan in Maguindanao claimed pre-shaded ballots were fed to Vote Counting Machines (VCMs) in his town.

The Comelec is one of the few constitutional and independent bodies whose chairman and commissioners could only be removed through impeachment.

Chong said the source of official and unofficial tallies are the transparency and central servers, which once audited will reveal if the change of hash code in the evening of the May 9 elections, or a few hours after the closing of the polls, had triggered the questionable and mysterious decrease of vice presidential candidate Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos’ almost 1 million lead over closest rival Camarines Sur Rep. and administration bet Leni Robredo.

For sale

Chong, vice chairman and spokesman for the Reform Philippines Coalition (RPC), an election watchdog, said he has received a video showing how a former election officer was selling the Automated Election System (AES) that would guarantee, for example, the mayoral post for a politician in the Visayas.

“I have heard of the system being sold for P12 million for one candidate to as high as P200 million depending on the number of candidates programmed to win but this is the first time I have received a concrete evidence of how it was peddled to candidates,” he added, without naming names.

Chong said he will reveal the identities of members of the syndicate selling the AES before a Senate hearing.

Showing a screen grab of the video, the RPC spokesman claimed that the election officer offered to make the candidate win by giving him the database of voters in his area.

The candidate will then choose the voters who will be retained in the database and the edited database will be given back to the election officer.

The election officer will then replace the discarded voters with other names complete with biometrics and those names will be used in the elections.

“Of course the candidate will just retain the names of his supporters in the database and discard those from the other party. That is the reason why many were disenfranchised with names missing or transferred on Election Day,” Chong said.

The technology in the particularly video, according to Chong, was sold for P12 million.

He refused to show the video, saying he will show it to a legislative panel, particularly the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee in the Senate headed by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel 3rd.

“I will show this whole video in the JCOC [hearing] so that everything will be public and official and the witness [will be] very willing to testify,” Chong said.

He bared that the same technology had also been sold to a party in a province in Luzon for P200 million as it involved the whole provincial slate. “I already predicted way back as three months ago that a whole provincial slate from the governor down will win and the rival party will get nothing because I know for a fact that they talked to the same people on the AES. I am right because they whole ticket eventually won and the other party was wiped out so don’t tell me I’m a fortune-teller. I know because they had this same system.”

He disclosed that he is also receiving many feelers from witnesses of election fraud and he is the process of evaluating each and everyone of them and the evidence they have.

Chong disputed lawyer Romulo Macalintal downplaying the millions of undervotes in the vice presidential race.

Macalintal is in the Robredo camp.

Highly suspicious
Chong said international election expert and election book author Douglas Jones, a professor at the University of Iowa, said undervotes should not exceed 1 percent of the total votes cast.

He added that according to Jones, if the number of undervotes reaches 5 percent, it is suspicious and if it reaches 10 percent, it is highly suspicious.

Chong said that given the very suspicious high number of undervotes together with the injection of the “cosmetic” script change made by technology provider Smartmatic in the transparency server at the height of the transmission on May 9 coinciding with the sudden downward spiral of Marcos’ numbers and the refusal of the Comelec to conduct a systems audit at this point, it is safe to say, the IT lawyer added, that indeed the May elections were not credible.

Smartmatic should explain
Meanwhile, George Garcia, a lawyer for Marcos, said Smartmatic owes the public an explanation over discrepancies found in the electronically-transmitted Certificates of Canvass (COC) in several provinces.

Garcia pointed out, for example, that in the provinces of Nueva Ecija and Ilocos Sur, the provincial Canvassing and Consolidation System (CCS) transmitted the COC when there was incomplete transmission of results in the municipal level.

“How can the provincial CCS transmit [the COC] to the Comelec when the program says it should be 100 percent transmission of all municipalities in that province?” he said.

Garcia cited that in the case of the two provinces the respective Provincial Boards of Canvassers (PBOC) were unaware that the municipal transmissions were incomplete until the Comelec en banc ordered them to recheck and recompute the results.

They later found out that the election results in one municipality were not included in the first provincial COC transmitted to the Comelec.

“How can this happen when Smartmatic assured us that their machines are accurate and reliable?” Garcia said.

“It’s their [Smartmatic] obligation to the Filipino people. They were the ones who supplied to us the machines, they were the ones who supplied to us the system, they were the ones who assured that it will be 99.9996 percent accurate, then an explanation is a must,” he added.

Garcia said unless clarified and addressed properly, such issue would likely raise questions over the results of the elections.

“What if there was double transmission or no transmission at all yet the results reflect there was one?” he added.

Undervotes uncovered
Because of the discrepancies and the unusually high percentage of undervotes uncovered during the official canvass for the position of President and Vice President, Garcia said, losing candidates in other positions are probably now rechecking the results in their own area to find out what really happened.

The public, according to him, also has the right to know why there was such a high number of undervotes for the position of Vice President, which totaled about 3.2 million for the first two days of the official canvass.

He explained that they arrived at the figure by deducting the total number of votes for the position of Vice President from the total number of votes cast.

“It’s true that some voters opted not to vote for a certain position and that’s normal. But take note of the percentage, that’s 3.2 million voters who did not vote for Vice President,” Garcia noted.

With such hotly-contested elections and the high voter turnout of over 80 percent, he said the high number of undervotes should be explained.

Garcia added that areas where large number of undervotes occurred were in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Earlier, the Marcos camp sought a systems audit of the central and transparency servers of the Comelec over the introduction of a new script by a Smartmatic official–Marlon Garcia–without proper authorization from the Comelec en banc.

It was shortly after Garcia’s move, according to Marcos, that he began to lose his lead over his closest rival and eventually was overtaken in the unofficial partial results of the elections posted by a poll watchdog.

The senator insisted only such an audit would clear doubts on the results of the elections.
The Comelec, however, turned down such request.

The camp of Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday said they will continue to fight and file within 15 days a protest before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) to contest the official outcome of the canvassing of votes showing Rep. Leni Robredo as winner of the vice presidential race.

The PET has jurisdiction over disputes involving the presidential and vice presidential election results.

The National Board of Canvassers late on Friday released the official results of the vote counts for President and Vice President, giving Robredo an edge of 263,473 votes over her closest rival, Marcos.

Marcos’ political adviser Jonathan dela Cruz said among their demands is an audit of the Smartmatic system, a request that had been denied by the Commission on Elections.

Marcos’ camp will also pinpoint areas where massive cheating was committed, he added.
A third complaint will present witnesses, including defeated Liberal Party candidates, who the group claims, are also victims of similar fraud.

Meanwhile, political analyst and professor Antonio Contreras from the De la Salle University, said in a Facebook post : “There is no glory in winning a highly questionable election. The ghosts of fraud will haunt you. And you will go down the annals of history as a product of that fraud. And worse is when you eventually lose in a protest. You will end up as a blighted footnote.”

Using as basis the statistical graph on the margin of votes between Marcos and Robredo formulated by a statistics expert from Ateneo de Manila earlier this month, Contreras noted that the movement of the votes on the graph appeared to have been manipulated.

“I will continue to support the process of exorcising the electoral process of the fraud that I, together with millions of Filipinos, believe happened,” he added.

LAST MAN STANDING Tally board on the third day of canvassing in Congress shows Leni Robredo leading Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the vice presidential race. (Below left) Former Maguindanao assemblyman Bassir Utto testifies about alleged massive cheating in Maguindanao. PHOTOS BY RUY L. MARTINEZ

Just as Leni Robredo predicted her victory, the last man standing in the race for the second highest position of the land is a woman.

Robredo, Camarines Sur Representative, won the tightly contested vice presidential race with 14,418,817 votes – 263,473 votes more than Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s 14,155,344.

With the stirring win, the congresswoman completed her rags-to-riches story of starting at 1 percent in the surveys before slowly but steadily rising to the vice presidency despite running against more seasoned politicians such as Marcos, Sen. Alan Cayetano, Sen. Francis Escudero, Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th and Sen. Gregorio Honasan.

Robredo first wrested the lead from Marcos, Jr. at about 3:47 p.m. on Day 3, Friday, of the canvassing of votes in Congress after booming wins in the Visayan and Mindanao provinces – a lead that she never relinquished since then.

And she could not have gained victory at a better time – on the day of what could have been the 58th birthday of her late husband, former Interior and Local Government Secretary and Ramon Magsaysay awardee Jesse Robredo.

She overwhelmed Marcos in Antique (119,055), Iloilo City (137,662), Zamboanga del Norte (209,491), Northern Samar (111,461), Maguindanao (220,125) and Lanao del Sur (180,539).

Robredo beat Marcos by 74,000 votes in Antique and crushed Marcos in Iloilo City and Zamboanga del Norte by 100,000 and 120,000 votes, respectively.

Her emphatic wins in Maguindanao and Lanao del Sur saw her obliterating Marcos there by 139,534 and 124,296 votes, respectively.

The lone woman in the vice presidential race also frustrated Marcos in Northern Samar with a lead of 38,247 votes.

Robredo also had a good day among overseas voters during the third day of canvassing.
She won in the Vatican (135), Myanmar (89), Switzerland (939), Australia (1,280), Papua New Guinea (362), The Netherlands (220), India (22) and Indonesia (630).

“Gusto ko magpasalamat sa lahat ng naniwala sa atin kahit noong umpisa, nag-umpisa ako sa wala (I would like to thank everyone who believed in me even if I had nothing going for me at the start), Robredo, a former lawyer for the poor, said in a radio interview.

Marcos, on the other hand, came so close to victory because of a solid win in Leyte–the hometown of his mother, Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos–and Sulu, as well as his continued dominance in absentee voting.

He beat Robredo by 164,855 votes in Leyte and by 81,219 votes in Sulu.

Marcos also clobbered her in the local absentee voting, 11,683 to 2,341.

The overseas voters were all for Marcos in at least 35 countries that included: Kuwait, (4,777), Poland (57) Cambodia (420), Thailand (1,284), Iran (47), Oman (1,477), Hungary (116), East Timor (177), Brazil (91), New Zealand (768), Mexico (118), Belgium (356), Chile (147), Norway (515), Pakistan (116), Argentina (18), France/Monaco (661), South Africa (131), Bangladesh (134), Nigeria (131), Germany (540), Czech Republic (90), Portugal (237), Brunei Darussalam (1,904), Jordan (903), Israel (3,350), Egypt (391), Greece (1,346), Turkey (299), combined Certificates of Canvass from Vietnam, Maldives and Sri Lanka (132), Laos (285), Kenya (176), Russia (566), Canada (8,622) and Austria (272).
The senator also won the detainees’ votes, 607 to Robredo’s 393.