Thursday, July 29, 2010

The "Pagpag" Legacy of the Yellow Administrations of the Philippines

After Ferdinand E. Marcos was deposed, democracy was supposedly restored and the lot of the Filipinos improved. Or is it? Beyond what have now been called the "yellow surveys" and official government pronouncements of economic growth, the better gauge of what our people has become is what they EAT, or what the poor people stuff their stomachs with.

The (forced by poverty) eating habit of the marginalized sector of a country speaks not only of the level of poverty of the poor but also of the indignity (or otherwise) that they are experiencing. After three successive yellow presidents--interrupted only by the brief leadership of Joseph Ejercito Estrada, the only one with the most definitive and unquestioned electoral mandate of the Filipinos--ever wonder what is the state of this country called the Philippines (but which I'd prefer to be renamed as either Taga-Ilog or Maharlika)?

The following, an award-winning sort-of documentary film, made several years after Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's "EDSA 2" power grab, perhaps best describe the continuing piteous plight of the urban poor Filipinos. A short film entry to the 56th Berlin International Film festival, it topped the competition when it was adjudged the Most Popular Short film.

While Dimadura wants to bring the point that globalization causes world hunger, his thesis is unsupported, apparently because of its delimiting mere 9-minute run. Besides, isn't it that in a country where the government is run by patriotic, moral, truly elected servants of the people who do not exploit but truly serve the nation, whatever ills globalization brings are dutifully addressed. In such countries, the table scraps (kaning baboy) are recycled for the animal consumption and definitely NOT the poor people's.

As a social reality film, Dimadura's work works to haunt the mind and the conscience. Perhaps wanting to make the rich or comfortable among us not forget nor feel indifferent, he completes the affecting, perhaps revolting, images with his own musical composition that should strike at the hearts of us all:
"Let me tell their story that no one else can hear./
How can someone's laughter bring me close to tears?/
And you'll never know cause you're never there./
After what we've seen, can we close our eyes again?/
Let me tell their story you won't think is true./
I have not forgotten so I'm sharing it with you./
For all the things we know what have we really learned?/
Though i close my eyes the images remain./
And their story begins... again."

As we remain under the clout of the ruling elites under the newly seated HOCUS PCOS Illegitimate, watch and ponder on the true, or more real, unfortunate legacy of the yellows.



Saturday, July 24, 2010

FIGHT FOR LAND REFORM, JUSTICE AND FREEDOM

by Prof. Jose Maria Sison


Message of Solidarity to the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas
on the occasion of its 25th founding anniversary
(English Translation of Pilipino Original)



WHOLEHEARTEDLY I am in soildarity with the leadership, membership and the supporters of the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas in celebrating its 25 th founding anniversary. It is important for the entire nation that we celebrate the continuous struggle of the peasant movement for genuine land reform, to honor the peasant martyrs who have sacritifed their lives and to strengthen the spirit and movement of the leaders and members for justice and freedom through land reform against the semicolonial and semifeudal ruling system.


I consider as a great honor that in July 1985 I was able to give a message of solidarity tot first national congress of the KMP despite the fact that I was still detained in Fort Bonifacio. I am even more greatly honored by giving again a message of solidarity now because of the many victories that you have harvested in the last 25 years of struggle and sacrifices for advancing the peasant movement and land reform and the general struggle of the people for national liberation and democracy against imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism.

It is commendable that KMP has a high level of political consciousness and has won significant victories, mainly in asserting the rights of the peasants over the land that they till. I salute you for the continuous expansion and consolidastion of your organization at various levels. I admire the KMP for having 65 provincial chapters and 15 regional chapters in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Your struggle against the policies dictated by US imperialism and carried out by the Arroyo puppet regime is astounding. You have opposed the policy of neoliberal globalization, especially its laying aside of land reform, destruction of food production for the people and the bargaining away of land and natural resources to foreign corporations. You condemned the policy of imperialist aggression and state terrorism masquerading as war against terrorism. And you have vigorously opposed the real terrorism of Oplan Bantay Laya and the intervention of US military forces under the Visiting Forces Agreement.

KMP has courageously fought the laws, policies and programs that aggravate the exploitation and oppression perpetrated by the by the landlord class and foreign corporations. You have intensified your resistance in response to the assasinations, massacres, torture, unwarranted arrests and detention and the displacement of the peasants from their homes and land. You have effectively fought not only the barefaced enemy but also the special agents who sneaked into the KMP and whipped up factionalism.

It is gratifying that the Alyansa ng Magbubukid ng Gitnang Luson (AGML) and the Asembliya ng mga Manggagawang Bukid have prepared your gathering inside Hacienda Luisita. Several times I stayed in some barrios there in the years of 1968 to 1972. This was the period of building the new Communist Part of the Philippines and the New People's Army in the province of Tarlac. This was also the period of organizing the Pagkakaisa ng mga Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (PMP).

It is meaningful that a thousand representatives of the regional and provicial chapters of KMP are now gathered inside Hacienda Luisita in order to hold a celebration with the theme: Twenty Five Years of Persevering Struggle for Land, Justice and Freedom. You are proving that the peasant movement is firm and militant and is advancing despite cruel acts of suppression by the landlords.

In this hacienda, in 2004 and 2005 events burst out to call the attention of the people in our country and in the whole world about the exploitation and swindling of the peasants by the landlord class, the just and courageous struggle of the peasants and the massacre and subsequent killings that were the collaborative work of the Cojuangco-Aquino family and the Arroyo regime.

Now that Noynoy Cojuangco-Aquino is the president of the reactionary government, the power of the state and the instruments of violence and deception are now directly in his hands. During the electoral campaign, Aquino said that he would continue the stock distribution option swindle under the CARPer. His family continues to frustrate land reform through corporate tricks and other cruel and deceptive tactics.

At any rate, you are prepared to fight for land reform, justice and freedom. In the face of so great a challenge, it is necessary for you to raise the level of your political consciousness, accelerate the strengthening of your organisation and engage in mobilization to advance the cause for land reform and use the campaigns to raise fighting consciousness and organizational capability.

Like the Arroyo regime, the Aquino regime is a running dog of US imperialism. Aquino is now the chief representative of the pro-imperialist classes of big compradors and landlords. He is continuing the evil policies dictated by the US and carried out by Arroyo. Rabid implementers of the policies of neoliberalism and terrorism who were previous adjutants of Arroyo are now the adjutants of Aquino in betraying the Filipino people and violating national and democratic rights and interests.

During the Aquino regime, the problems of landlessness, poverty and hunger will become more grave. Aquino has no interest in land reform and national industrialization. The bloody suppression of the people will escalate. Even as the economic crisis is grave. The reactionary government is bankrupt and there are scarce resources for social services, Aquino said in his inaugural address that he would give to the military and police what ask for. He indicated that he would double the strength of the military and police because the population had doubled since the time that Marcos.

In his first military command conference, he ordered the military to give priority to so-called counterinsurgency or in fact the state terrorism. Thus, the criminal officers and armed personnel of t he state continue to engage in gross and systematic human rights violations with impunity. The Aquino regime is subservient to the US-dictated policy of counterinsurgency or terrorism. Most important in this policy is the strengthening of the reactionary military and the pretenses of the reactionary government at clean and efficient governance, delivery of social services, wishes for economic development and other types and methods of deception.

The pretended wish of the counterrevolutionary state for peace negotiations is supposed to be a mere minor thing. Aquino has already declared that the priority of the military is counterinsurgency so-called. Defense secretary Gazmin has said that the revolutionary forces must surrender and thus peace negotiations are not needed. Chief of staff General David has also said without qualifications that the plan of the military and government is to decimate the revolutionary forces in three years' time. The warning and challenge to the Filipino people and revolutionary forces are extremely emphatic.

It is clear that like the Arroyo regime the Aquino regime wants to destroy the revolutionary movement of the Filipino people and perpetuate the rotten ruling system of the big compradors and landlords under US imperialism. On the other hand, we see that the people and the revolutionary forces are well-prepared to fight the escalation of exploitation and oppression as a result of the worsening of the crisis of the domestic ruling system and the world capitalist system. The revolutionary forces have declared their resolve to raise the people's war along the line of new democratic revolution from the strategic defensive to the strategic stalemate in the next five years.

As a legal mass organization with its integrity, the KMP must raise the national and democratic consciousness of the peasant masses and must promptly and earnestly face up to the many issues churned out by the crisis at the global, national and local levels. The recruitment of members must be accelerated and brought to the level of millions. The members must be recruited and local chapters must be formed (where there are yet none) through meetings to explain the constitution and program of KMP. The campaigns should be availed of by the organized masses to persuade the unorganized masses to become members of the KMP and become a firm part of the peasant movement.

I am certain that thought the simultaneous celebrations of the 25 th founding anniversary of the KMP at the national, regional, provincial and barangay levels you will be able to raise further the fighting consciousness for the rights and interests of the peasants, you will be able to put forward proposals and plans regarding education, organization and mobilization and you will be anle to expand support from various sectors in the countryside, in the entire country and the world. ###


(Reprinted with permission from Prof. Joma Sison)

________

Source:

Sison, Jose Maria. Fight for Land Reform, Justice and Freedom. 24 July 2010. http://www.facebook.com/notes/joma-sison/fight-for-land-reform-justice-and-freedom/468761858065

Photo credit: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4760404&id=75519398385

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Friday, July 16, 2010

ILP condemns murder of Azad and Pandey by Andhra Pradesh Special Intelligence Bureau

by Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson, International Coordinating Committee
International League of Peoples' Struggle

The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) condemns the summary execution of Indian revolutionary Com. Azad and the journalist Hem Pandey by the Andhra Pradesh Special Intelligence Bureau (APSIB). The Indian authorities have deceived the public by reporting through the press that Azad and Pandey were killed in an encounter.

The Communist Party of India (Maoist) has clarified in a statement what really happened. Azad and Pandey were arrested in Nagpur City around 11’o clock of July 1. They were taken by the APSIB to the Adilabad jungles near Maharashtra where they were killed in cold blood. They were murdered in the forest to make it appear that they were killed in an armed encounter. The Indian authorities even claimed that they seized an AK47 from Azad.

Azad and Pandey were unarmed when they were arrested. Azad traveled to Nagpur to discuss with his comrades the proposal for mutual ceasefire between the revolutionary forces under the CPI (Maoist) and the Indian government. Azad was a Politburo member of the CPI (Maoist) and the spokesperson of the Party. He had been involved in previous peace negotiations between the Indian government and the CPI (Maoist).

Hem Pandey was a freelance journalist who wrote for Hindi newspapers such as Nai Dunia, Rastriya Sarara and Chetana.

The APSIB which is trained by the Israeli MOSSAD is notorious for carrying out abductions and summary executions of suspected revolutionaries. And as is the practice of reactionary governments around the world confronting revolutionary movements, they cover up their crime by concocting stories of fake encounters.

The Indian revolutionaries led by the CPI (Maoist) are waging a new democratic revolution with a socialist perspective. In recent years, they have made significant strides in their struggle and in winning the support of a growing number of the peasant masses who continue to suffer from feudal and semi-feudal exploitation and of the workers who are oppressed and exploited by the big comprador-bourgeoisie and foreign capitalists. Millions of peasants and minority nationalities have been displaced from the land to give way to agro-industrial projects involving comprador and foreign capitalist firms.

The Indian Maoists have succeeded in leading the masses in these struggles. The Indian government has been alarmed at the gains of the Maoists and have launched a massive counter-insurgency campaign called Operation Green Hunt. This campaign has been accompanied by forced mass evacuations, illegal arrest and detention, torture, extrajudicial killings and other forms of gross human rights violations.

The ILPS condemns these gross violations of human rights and supports the struggle of the Indian masses for national freedom, democracy and social justice. We call on the people of the world to denounce the Indian authorities for their war crimes and crimes against humanity and support the just struggle of the Indian people.
#

____________

Source:

Sison, Jose Maria. ILP condemns murder of Azad and Pandey by Andhra Pradesh Special Intelligence Bureau. 10 July 2010.  http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=462458953065

Photo credit:
http://www.wprmbritain.org/

Monday, July 12, 2010

Sino si Gat Andres Bonifacio y de Castro?


(Excerpts from Filipiniana.net about Supremo Andres Bonifacio, Father of Philippine Revolution against Spain. Information is based on Hermenegildo Cruz work published in 1922.)


Kung Sino si Andres Bonifacio
Cruz, Hermenegildo. “Kung Sino si Andres Bonifacio.” In Kartilyang Makabayan . Manila: S.P., 1922. Pp. 11-13.

SUMMARY: Hermenegildo Cruz narrates the early life of Andres Bonifacio. He states that Bonifacio and his siblings were orphaned at an early age and that he supported his brothers and sisters by selling wooden canes and fans. Bonifacio is also employed by two foreign trading companies. Based on Cruz ' s narration, Bonifacio enjoys reading books such as the Bible, Los Miserables and others.


=KUNG SINO SI ANDRES BONIFACIO=


1.--= Sino si Andres Bonifacio? =--Siya ' y isang tunay na Pilipino na ipinanganak noong ika 30 ng Nobyembre ng 1863 sa isang bahay na pawid sa pook na nasa sa harap ng himpilan ngayon ng pero-karil sa daang Azcarraga, Tundo, Maynila. Ang kanyang ama ' y nagngangalang Santiago Bonifacio na ang hanap-buhay ay sastre at ang kanyang ina nama ' y Catalina de Castro. Mga taal na taga Maynila.


2.--= Nagkaroon ba siya ng mga Kapatid? =--Apat: sina Ciriaco, Procopio, Petrona at Troadio. Ang dalawang una at itong huli ' y patay na at ang babae ay buhay pa. Ang babaeng ito ay siyang naging asawa ng nasirang bayaning si Teodoro Plata, isa sa mga masikhay na kasama ni Andres Bonifacio.


3.--= Ano ang kabuhayan ni Bonifacio? =--Ang kanyang mga magulang ay mga taong dukha kaya ' t siya nama ' y isang taong mahirap.


4.--= Ano ang kanyang napagaralan? =--Siya ' y nagaral sa paaralan ng gurong si G. Guillermo Osmeña, sa pook ng Meisik, Binundok (=Binondo), Maynila. Datapwa nang siya ' y tumutuntong na sa ika 14 na taon, ay namatay ang kanyang mga magulang at dahil dito ' y naputol ang kanyang pagaaral. Siya noo ' y maalam nang bumasa at sumulat ng wikang sarili (tagalog) at kastila.


5.--= Ano ang kanyang ginawa ng siya ' y maulila na? =--Upang siya ' y mabuhay at sampu ng kanyang mga kapatid, binatak ang sariling buto ' t siya ' y nagbili ng mga tungkod (baston) at mga pamaypay na papel na ginagawa niya sa loob ng kanilang bahay. Gayon din ang ginawang hanap-buhay ng kanyang mga kapatid.

Hango sa:



Akin lamang na idadagdag ang isang bagay:

6. --=Paano namatay si Supremo Andres Bonifacio?=--


Siya ay hinatulan ng kamatayan ng isang matatawag na "Kangaroo court" na binuo nila Kap. Emilio Aguinaldo na naging heneral at pinuno ng mga rebolusyonaryo pagkaraang maagaw niya ang pamumuno mula kay Gat Andres Bonifacio.

Halos inubos nila Aguinaldo ang angkan ni Bonifacio. Magkakasama noon ang Supremo at mga kapatid nitong lalaki palabas ng Cavite nang sila ay dukutin ng mga tauhan ni Aguinaldo. Namatay si Ciriano sa pagdukot na iyon; samantala, si Procopio at ang Supremo ay magkasamang pinaslang nila Hen. Lazaro Makapagal sa utos ni Hen. Aguinaldo sa isang bundok sa kanilang teritoryo. 


__________

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Crisis of Philippine Sovereignty Series

(Pinoy Global Online News has come up with a series of articles on the the fraudulent conduct of the May 10, 2010 AES elections in the Philippines and its implications to the democracy and sovereignty of the Southeast Asian nation. The following provides previews and links to the series).  



 
 
Crisis of Sovereignty Series 17 - Philippine Computer Society sues Comelec, SmartmaticTIM
http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2010_073110paglinawan.html

Celis presents incontrovertible forensic findings
  
The Philippine Computer Society filed on June 29, 2010 with the Office of the Ombudsman, criminal and administrative complaints against the chairman and six commissioners of the Commission of Elections and six other public officials who were part of the technical evaluation committee.

The complaint also covered six private persons, including Cesar Flores and Heider Garcia, president and electoral systems manager of Smartmatic respectively; and Jose Maria Antunez and Nilo Cruz, chairman and president of Total Information Management.

The respondents have been sued for violation of the Constitution, the anti-graft and corrupt practices law (RA 3019), the code of conduct and ethical standards (RA 6713) and the government procurement reform law (RA9184).

 
Crisis of Sovereignty Series 16 - Germans bite the bullet, rule its own election unconstitutional
http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2010_071910paglinawan.html


Will the indios follow suit or just swallow the dung?

When Solidarity for Sovereignty (S4S) began this advocacy, we met all kinds of ridicule.

“Drop it”, one lady at the Philippine Computer Society forum said, “we don’t want to start a constitutional crisis.” But madam, we are not starting any constitutional crisis, because the Comelec and Gloria Arroyo have already bequethed us one. What we are trying to find out is the best way we can respond to and get out of this constitutional crisis.

“We don’t want a banana republic!” wrote one emailer. But sir, ever since Cory Aquino took over we have been a banana republic. In fact we have been a rotten banana! The changes have been illusory.

She did not get us out of our foreign debt, in fact she mired us deeper into it. Fidel Ramos has made us pay for power even if we don’t use it; he privatized and sold the military bases in violation of his promise to his own soldiers, and worse she did not even pay off the soldiers’ dividends. Joseph Estrada stole from the poor gamblers to fill his rich pockets. We handed power to Gloria Arroyo in a golden platter, she did not return the platter and instead filled it up with billions in plunder and ran away with both platter and plunder.

All this because our military protected them at the expense of the people. I do not know what could be more banana than that.


Crisis of Sovereignty Series 15 - Root of Nullity of the Exercise is the Rape of the Constitution
http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2010_071910paglinawan.html

Smartmatic, a foreign corporation, conducted the Elections, with the Comelec acting as its Secretariat

What defines the Philippines as a democracy, what defines the Philippines as a republic, is Article 2 Section 1 of the Philippine Constitution, as it proclaims sovereignty residing in the people.

This is not the case however of the 2010 automated elections, where the exercise was not, of the people, for the people and by the people.

It is on this basis that the position of the Solidarity for Sovereignty (S4S), has become a most serious document, especially as Dean Merlin Magallona, a foremost constitutionalist from the University of the Philippines, lays down the foundation of the legal theory further bolstering the case filed by Homobono Adaza et al in the Supreme Court.

Frankly it is more of a historic document than the filing itself.

 
Crisis of Sovereignty Series 14 - Pumping Patriotic sense into the Filipino Subservient Chicken starts as a Joke…
http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2010_071510paglinawan.html


And ends with So-called errors and faults in the Poll Automation as deliberate.

An emailer once said we should really feel bad about having fake elections, afterall the United States of America, in the light of recent documentary proofs uncovered, may now be headed by a Kenyan.

Frankly I don't find that funny at all because that is a sovereignty issue.

When the Philippine Congress reverses our 200 mile limit to please China , and the President of the Philippines signs up, and not a whimper of protest did I hear from any Filipino, his sovereignty just flew out of the window.


Crisis of Sovereignty Series 13 - The Constitutional Crisis that Comelec and GMA created, So Help us God!
http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2010_071010paglinawan.html

The day before the inauguration of our first digital president installed by Smartmatic, I joined Bono Adaza and other patriotic Filipinos in filing for this case, which when the Supreme Copurt sustains, will return to us the people of the Philippines, the sovereignty guanranteed by our Constitution.

Simply put, the legal theory after everything has been said and done are two-fold:

1) The Comelec outsourced the conduct of the 2010 national and local elections to a foreign corporationm in violation of the Constitution of the Philippines, a blatant act of treason.

2) The Comelec violated the Omnnibus Election Code, the Automated Election Systems (AES)Law, the E-Commerce Act and various other laws of the Republic to tailor-fit to and accommodate a system of unabashed fraud that has been masterminded by the former President and the Secretary of Interior and Local Government.


Crisis of Sovereignty Series 12 - Penoy Clueless as Maverick Adaza strikes again!
http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2010_070110paglinawan.html


Crisis of Sovereignty Series 12 - Penoy's Motherhood Rhetorics Clueless about Real State of Philippine Sovereignty

Bono Adaza files Election Annulment Case in the Supreme Court

On his first day as the country's first digital president, Benigno Cojuangco Aquino III messed up on his inaugural protocol and lulled his audience with motherhood statements that must have sent Cory turning in
her grave.

Failing to acknowledge the presence of the outgoing President and the incumbent Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court, Aquino established the level of arrogance under which he will serve whatever is remaining
of his fake regime. There is a Spanish dictum that says “Lo cortes, no quita lo valiente.” Courtesy does not make one less valiant. So uncouth and under borrowed time, this could have been his first strategic error in presidential role playing.



Crisis of Sovereignty Series 11 - 'Pekeng Pangulo' - The Philippines inaugurates its first digital president!
http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2010_063010paglinawan.html

'Pekeng Pangulo': The Philippines inaugurates its first digital president

Today the Philippines inaugurates its first digital president, installed into office by Smartmatic.

Yesterday, Homobono Adaza, Mentong Laurel and I filed a case in the Supreme Court for the annulment of
the 2010 election.

Millions of our people flocked to the polls last May 10 to express their sovereignty through the ballot. Spending more than seven billion of taxpayers' money in order to acquire an Automated Election System, the occasion presented a historic opportunity for our government to gift us, the people with truly a fast, accurate and honest way of determining the outcome of our vote after more than fifty years of contentious experience in manual count.


Crisis of Sovereignty Series 10 - Ronnie Puno, mastermind of 2010 failure of election. http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2010_063010paglinawan.html


Emails 105 - Ronnie Puno, mastermind of 2010 failure of election

I will not belabor these emails further as they are self-explanatory and because I will come out with another op-ed today. I will only say that it was clear that the cheat machinery in favor of Gibo Teodoro was hitting a wall because of the inability of the Lakas-Kampi candidate to inch closer to the leading presidential candidate. At the end, GMA and Puno decided to monetize their prep by selling out to NoyNoy Aquino, as Linda Montayre reported in the Article 03 of this series. Welcome to the Aquinorroyo world!
From: "Ronaldo V. Puno "

Subject: Control is needed

To: "President G. Arroyo"

Received: Wednesday, 05 May 2010 10:03:47 AM

Madam,

With the most recent developments, a lot of us feel that we have pushed ourselves against the wall. If we try to go ahead with the election as scheduled. We are doing so at a risk of failing to do what we have planned all along. When I say fail, I mean not all of the targeted goals will be accomplished.


Crisis of Sovereignty Series 09 - GMA not Comelec controlled 2010 Elections

http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2010_063010paglinawan.html

Emails 104 - GMA not Comelec controlled 2010 Elections

Subtitle - Secretary Puno: "Heads will roll"

The Comelec is supposed to be a constitutional body. Yet what we read in these postings that reek of a
conspiracy of the first and highest order?

Its commissioners are not only reporting to President Arroyo with the Interior Secretary as conduit but are following instructions from the executive branch of government including lurid details that are self-explanatory they need no further editorializing.


Crisis of Sovereignty Series 08 - Hocus PCOS is commonsensical
http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2010_062910paglinawan.html

Emails 103 - Hocus PCOS is commonsensical

A recent headline of the Philippine Star read "Hocus PCOS, not possible".

The last email sent by a certain Gary Hardaway to Interior and Local Government Secretary Ronaldo Puno belies this intended balm of the Belmonte-owned newspaper, and in gruesome details at that. The newspaper was definitely adding to the euphoria established by the first automated elections in the history of the Philippines that dished out millions of tallied votes at lightning speed but accompanied by a thunder of doubt as to its accuracy and integrity.


Crisis of Sovereignty Series 07 - The Integrity of the IP Address and Hacking the Count
http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2010_062410paglinawan.html

Email 102 - The Integrity of the IP Address and Hacking the Count

In Emails 101, we included a March 12, 2010 posting of Interior and Local Governments Secretary Ronaldo
Puno to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, citing his conversation with a certain William Burns of the US State Department calling attention to the fact "Smartmatic has disabled the (PCOS) machine's ultraviolet ray reader of each ballot's barcode."

Secretary Puno added that "the information they have about Smartmatic's move to disable the UV Ray Reader was supposedly confidential and yet they know about it, which points to the fact that we discussed,there is a mole among our people."

This conversation between the chief executive of this country and her interior secretary is so revealing of a self-explanatory cloak-and-dagger operation, happening at the blind side of the Filipino people but has been intercepted by US intelligence.


Crisis of Sovereignty Series 06 - First Set of Damning mails (Backgrounder)
http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2010_062310paglinawan.html

Damning Emails 101: Backgrounder

It is now common knowledge that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was caught on tape discussing gruesome details about how she stole the elections from Fernando Poe Jr.. The smoking gun was her conversation with Comelec official Garcillano,reporting on conditions in the field and where she was giving specific instructions to dagdag-bawas votes in her favor.

This time, there will be less talking, more of writing, but where it will be obvious that President Arroyo and Secretary Ronaldo Puno of Interior and Local Government were in direct communications discussing sensitive election matters.

Curiously, the US State Department becomes part of the loop on the matter of easing out specific ballot safeguards and certain justices of the Supreme Court on constitutional matters involved in the possibility of a no-proclamation for president and vice-president.


Crisis of Sovereignty Series 05 - It's an GloriAquino world afterall!
http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2010_062210paglinawan.html

If we are to believe what Dai Montayre says and in the series of emails that I will soon serialize here, Gloria Macapagal and Mike Arroyo have won their golden parachute to subsequent exoneration and continuing impunity under a Noynoy Aquino administration, despite the zarzuela that is being painted by mainstream media of an apparent animosity between the outgoing and incoming regimes.

Investigative reporters and chroniclers of history ought to take a serious look at these allegations. It tells us it's a GloriAquino or Aquinorroyo world afterall!

I would like to specifically call the attention of those who voted yellow to take a close look at this series. Looks like you have all been taken for a ugly joyride!


Crisis of Sovereignty Series 04 - An Appeal to Dick Gordon
http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2010_062210paglinawan.html

As early as March 2009, i issued a public statement that my personal vote goes to Dick Gordon for president of the Philippines.

This is why when I read this  ABS-CBNarticle on Father's Day, I was so disappointed.

But I am not yet giving up on him.

After being abducted, raped and returned without honor nor integrity, "The 2010 Automated Election Law" has been left without any defense from its very father, Senator Dick Gordon.

Dick knows what evil has befallen this law. Even before the voting snd the counting began, the Comelec had already mangled it, in violation of the Consttitution, our E-Commerce laws and the ruling of the Supreme Court on the motion of Harry Roque, removing all the safeguards against a clean and honest elections.


Crisis of Sovereignty Series 03 - Smoking Gun There Was No 2010 Election Whatsoever
http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2010_061710paglinawan.html

Smoking Gun There Was No 2010 Election Whatsoever Hackers and Smartmatic chose our Leaders, Not the Filipino People

Try explaining to your computer-savvy son or daughter, why you did nothing and sold out his and her future to acquiescence, after you have read this posting. If you blood is not boiling by now, have your doctor check you out, you may be sick of at least a denial syndrome.

Nelson Celis, President of the Philippine Computer Society, assisting the IT Teams of the House, Senate and Comelec doing a forensic on the PCOS machines in Antipolo, has found out that the PCOS machines have programs that do not correspond to the official PCOS program escrowed in Central Bank.

THIS CATEGORICALLY SHOWS THAT THESE PCOS MACHINES WERE PROGRAMMED TO DO OTHER THINGS THAN WHAT WAS ORIGINALLY INTENDED.


Crisis of Democracy Series 02 - E-Garci, Part Two
http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2010_061410paglinawan.html

Garci noon, e-Garci naman ngayon?

Hackers dangerously compromise integrity of 2010 elections

Part Two of a  Statement for the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association (ARBA) for the Solidarity for Sovereignty People's Congress, Club Filipino, June 3, 2010, by ARBA Spokesperson Ado Paglinawan

What is becoming more and more self-evident is that there has been a failure of elections.


CRISIS OF SOVEREIGNTY SERIES 01
http://www.filamimage.com/articles/2010_061110paglinawan.html

Now that Noynoy Aquino and Jejomar Binay have been proclaimed and the  adrenalin of the yellow forces have somewhat simmered, this posting begins the real moment of truth regarding the crisis of sovereignty in  the Philippines.

Garci noon, e-Garci naman ngayon?

Hackers dangerously compromise integrity of 2010 elections

A Statement for the Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Association (ARBA) for the Solidarity for Sovereignty People's Congress, Club Filipino, June 3, 2010, by ARBA Spokesperson Ado Paglinawan

Even before the euphoria for an apparent success of the country's first automated elections could start, Nicky Perlas of the Green Party took exception to the slew of conceding candidates began by Manny Villar of the Nacionalista Party. The reason was simple - Perlas was the first to get wind of another grand design to frustrate the people's will, this time however electronically, fast and rapid but fraught with fraud.

__________


*Pinoy global Online News is a Web-accessible news service offered to the Filipinos globally residing in the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Philippines


(updated 2 August 2010)

Pre-Hello Garci: How ABS-CBN, SWS, & NAMFREL Misled the Filipinos on the 2004 Poll Count

by ex-Sen. Francisco "Kit" Tatad


Because of the unduly large role being played by the polling agencies in choosing national and even local candidates, I am rerunning this article that first appeared during the 2004 presidential elections to help the reader gain a sober and intelligent perspective on the credibility of these agencies.

FST Documentary Service
All inquiries to Sen. Kit Tatad, Tel. No. 9283627

—-


HOW ABS-CBN AND SWS MISLED THE PUBLIC ON THE POLL COUNT
On May 10, 2004, after the counting of votes at the precincts, ABS-CBN began broadcasting a Quick Count. There was no attempt on the part of government to stop it. That would occur much later, when the Commission on Elections and the Department of Justice stopped ABC-Channel 5 from conducting its own count, and ordered the Daily Tribune not to carry ads containing hitherto unpublished election results supplied by the Opposition.
As of 4 a.m. of May 11, 2004, the first 1.224 million votes counted were distributed as follows:
NCR — 20.46 percent
Luzon —39.60 percent
Visayas —18.58 percent
Mindanao —21.36 percent
These were shared as follows:
Candidate National NCR Luzon Visayas Mindanao
FPJ 480,207 100,486 212,098 62,518 114,105
GMA 466,294 70,182 157,527 143,470 95,107
LACSON 202,929 56,954 80,452 18,655 46,858
ROCO 93,100 22,245 45.045 13,570 12,239
VILLANUEVA 102,249 27,102 40.973 13,254 20,920
At this time of day, Mr. Mahar Mangahas appeared at ABS-CBN to deliver the first results of the ABS-CBN/SWS exit poll. Based on 528 NCR respondents, this poll reported the following findings, as of 2:30 a.m.
GMA ————– 31 percent
FPJ ————— 23 percent
LACSON———- 20 percent
VILLANUEVA—10 percent
ROCO————– 8 percent
NO ANSWER—– 7 percent
Notice the big difference between the Quick Count's figure and this one. Yet the votes of SWS's 528 respondents tried to reverse the impact of the 276,969 NCR voters who had put FPJ ahead of GMA by at least 30,304 votes. In the SWS survey, FPJ was now 8 percent behind.
Mangahas did not find his NCR poll conclusive. In a text message to Ms. Susan Tagle, FPJ's communications aide, received at 3:30 a.m. of May 11, 2004, Mangahas said:
"Frm Mahar: Sori 2 disappoint. She has lead, but inconclusiv sins many kept silent. Ds is ncr only. On d way to abs now. "
Despite such inconclusiveness, he submitted the results anyway.
Given the wide discrepancy between its own Quick Count and the SWS survey, ABS-CBN management did not quite know how to proceed. They could not possibly present to the public two sets of conflicting data and still claim any credibility. According to inside informants, Mr. Dong Puno could not decide, so they woke up Mr. Gaby Lopez at 5:30 a.m. But Mr. Lopez himself could see no way out either.
Someone then proposed that the Quick Count be made to support the thrust of the SWS survey, which would eventually show GMA leading FPJ nationwide. They proposed to revise the geographic distribution of the vote count, by increasing the percentage for the Visayas (where GMA was leading FPJ) and bringing down the percentage for NCR, Luzon and Mindanao (where she was trailing FPJ).
The proposed new distribution was as follows:
NCR — 18.38 percent
LUZON — 35.84 percent
VISAYAS — 26.05 percent
MINDANAO— 19.73 percent
This proposal was accepted, and Mr. Lopez immediately left for the United States.
At 7:18 a.m. same day, the Quick Count showed the following results:
Candidate National NCR Luzon Visayas Mindanao
GMA 587,027 76,893 168,555 237,616 103,963
FPJ 562,976 105,646 229,033 102,709 125,588
LACSON 231,195 60,273 88,685 29,525 52,712
ROCO 109,902 24,270 47,925 24,150 13,557
VILLANUEVA 122,881 29,618 44,211 26,406 22,646
Just by readjusting the geographic distribution of the count, GMA was able to wipe out her deficit of 22,903 votes at the 4 a.m. report, and post a lead of 24,051 votes at the 7:18 a.m. count. This tends to show that GMA had posted an additional 46,954 votes while FPJ posted zero. In reality, neither the votes nor the margins in NCR, Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao changed; only the percentage distribution of the votes did. Perception of reality changed, but not reality itself.
As of 7:18 a.m. of May 11, the Quick Count had counted a total 1,613,981 actual votes for all the presidential candidates. In this count, FPJ led GMA in NCR, Luzon, and Mindanao. The only place where GMA led FPJ was the Visayas whose percentage share of the count had been changed, from 18.58 to 26.05 percent.
At 1:00 p.m. of the same day, however, the SWS exit poll, using a base of 4,627 respondents, reported the following results:
Candidate National NCR N/Cen. Luzon So. Luzon Visayas Mindanao
GMA 41% 31% 32% 24% 62% 50%
FPJ 32 23 41 38 21 35
LACSON 9 20 9 11 4 5
ROCO 5 8 2 11 3 2
VILLANUEVA 5 10 5 6 2 4
NO ANSWER 8 7 11 9 7 4
Notice that GMA now leads FJP everywhere, except Luzon.
This trend has since migrated to the Namfrel count.
Namfrel has clearly adopted the same formula used by ABS-CBN and SWS. Simply by concentrating its Quick Count on areas where GMA has more votes than FPJ, while delaying the count in bigger areas where FPJ is leading GMA by wide margins, it is able to show GMA leading FPJ across the nation.
Thus, as of 4 p.m., May 17, Namfrel already counted 1.68 million or 51.13 percent of the 3.29 million votes of Region VII, while counting only 1.19 million of Metro Manila's 6.9 million votes, and an average of 22.12 percent for the other regions..
In Central Luzon, where FPJ's advantage was never disputed, except in Mrs. Arroyo's home province of Pampanga, the same Namfrel report showed Mrs. Arroyo leading FPJ, 693,461 to 252,794. The only possible explanation was that the votes were taken mostly, if not entirely, from Pampanga.
This manipulation of public perceptions need not automatically affect the integrity of the entire data, if there were no attempt to change the same. But it is precisely part of the operation to alter the data. Once the trend is accepted, even the most militant would tend to drop their guard, and accept anything that follows, even if it was the result of invention or fraud.
The twin motu proprio orders of the Department of Justice and the Commission on Elections stopping the independent broadcast by ABC-Channel 5 of the results of elections, and the refusal by the pro-Arroyo newspapers to carry paid advertisements by the KNP containing hitherto unreported results of the elections, followed now by the Comelec order to the Daily Tribune not to carry the same ads – all these must be seen in this light. They are an integral part of the effort to steal the elections.
In the past, such attack on press freedom and the right of the people to be informed on matters of public concern would have ignited a rebellion in the ranks of the press. Not now. The mainstream media, both print and broadcast, have chosen to look the other way, while two of their own must fight for their freedoms. This shows the depth of the sinful collaboration between so many media owners and the administration. This has become the gravest danger to the democratic system.

(Reprinted with permission from ex-Sen. Kit Tatad)

________

Source:

Tatad, Kit. How ABS-CBN and SWS misled the public on the poll count. 5 March 2010. http://kittatad.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/how-abs-cbn-and-sws-misled-the-public-on-the-poll-count-2/

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Unelected and Illegal Government of Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Cojuangco Aquino III

 by Nicanor Perlas


TODAY, June 30, marks the transition into power of all government officials elected during the recent May 10, 2010 automated elections. Many believe that these officials, including the President, Vice-President, and Senators were duly elected by the will of the people.  Unfortunately, and no little thanks to the complicity and spin of many mainstream media establishments, this new set of local and national government officials were all illegally installed. They are the beneficiaries of a silent de facto civilian coup engineered by the country’s elitewho perpetuated massive fraud in the nation’s first automated elections.

Photo by Reuters

This “electronic Garci” dwarfs the manual cheating done by Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner “Garci” in the 2004 presidential elections. In effect, we now have a “new” government by virtue of corrupt operators who subverted our democracy. Consider the following.


Legal Violations of RA 9369 by Comelec

From the very beginning, Comelec, tasked by the Philippine Constitution to ensure clean and honest elections, did the very opposite of their mandate and responsibility. Comelec violated practically every major provision of Republic Act 9369, popularly known as the law mandating the use of an Automated Election System (AES).

Among others, Comelec violated the following provisions of RA 9369:

  •  No pre-testing of AES in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao;
  • No public examination of the source code to be used by the Precinct Count Optical Scanner (PCOS) machines;
  • Dismantling of the PCOS UV security system;
  • Removal of the Voter Verification feature; remember the infamous “congratulations” you got on the PCOS machine instead of a list verifying your vote?;
  • Re-configuration of Compact Flash (CF) cards without proper oversight;
  • No digital signatures (on Electronic Returns) as defined and required by RA 9369 and the Electronic Commerce Act;
  • No clear inventory and accountability of millions of unused ballots;
  • CF cards carried to canvassing center without security;
  • Random Manual Audit (RMA) not done in the polling place and on the day itself and remained incomplete weeks after the elections;
  • Hash codes in the Antipolo PCOS machines do not match published Comelec Hash Codes, showing that the Antipolo PCOS machines are illegal.


Highly Suspicious Activities

In addition, a few days before the elections, Comelec quietly sent out 20 CF cards and 2 “burners” to all provinces in the country, or a total 1600 CF cards and 160 “burners”.  If one is computer literate and has access to the appropriate software, then this provision basically gives the necessary tools to operators to fraudulently tamper with election results, which they did. (See related discussion below.)

Despite warnings by the IT community, Comelec continuously assured the voting public that there will only be minimal problems with the electronic transmission of votes. Yet, on election day itself, there was a massive failure of transmission of votes, affecting more than 30% of all votes. The transmission failures gave political operators the opportunity to manually and electronically manufacture the votes.

Again, despite warnings by professionals and concerned citizens based on time and motion studies, Comelec assured the general public that there would be no delays in the voting. But during election day, there were very long lines. Many voters waited in line for hours in order to vote. But a significant number went home after experiencing delays lasting more than 6 hours. Five to eight million voters were disenfranchised in the process.

Even worst, because of transmission problems, Comelec lowered the threshold for canvassing of votes from 100% precinct returns, to sometimes, less than 70%.  So even those who voted were disenfranchised because, in the end, their votes were not counted. And these figures do not include the highly problematic “null votes” numbering in the millions, votes that were also cast aside uncounted.


Common Pattern of Fraudulent Operations

Because Comelec dismantled key security features of the AES, political operators, including Comelec employees and Smartmatic technicians, were able to hijack the system and manufacture the “winners” of the May 2010 elections.

The House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms conducted investigations on the fraud committed during the recent elections. A significant number of candidates for congressmen, governor, and mayor testified in the Committee hearings. Significantly, their independent stories converged into a pattern of fraudulent operations that manufactured the “winners” of the recent elections.

  • Candidates were offered victory at the polls. The offer presented precise numbers and percentages of voters who will vote for the candidate.
  • The operators sold their illegal “services” for a price ranging from P10/vote to as high as P500/vote.
  • When the candidates refused the offer, the operators offered the same package to the opponents of the candidates. 
  • Oftentimes, these opponents were not as popular as the candidates who refused the offer to cheat in their behalf. The opponents did not have large crowds in campaign rallies and did not campaign as much as the candidate. The opponents, certain of their “victory” also displayed arrogant and cocky behavior towards the candidate testifying in Congress.
  • Yet their opponents win according to the predicted numbers and percentages.
  • In one instance (candidate Ace Barbers), the political operator who approached him predicted, in November 2009,that a re-configuration of flash cards would occur before the elections. Barbers was incredulous until Smartmatic and Comelec announced on May 4 that they would re-configure 76,000 CF cards. When Barbers heard about this, he said in his testimony that he felt like cold water was poured all over his body and that he almost had a heart attack. 


Modus Operandi of Fraud

The Committee hearings and other evidence revealed how the political operators manufactured the results of the May 2010 elections.  Their method relied on:
  • Pre-programmed Primary CF Cards
  • Pre-shaded ballots
  •  Interception of Transmissions
  • Collusion with Smartmatic Technicians and Comelec officials

Contrary to the repeated claims of Smartmatic technicians, the Primary CF cards can be programmed. During the congressional technical audit of the PCOS machines from Antipolo, the writer saw first hand how Smartmatic technicians, with the proper programs in the CF cards, could enable the PCOS machines to do all kinds of functions. As IT experts have observed in the YouTube upload, “Hacking Democracy”, if a CF card has a program inside together with voting data, then the CF card can be programmed to give the desired manufactured voting result. This is one reason why fraudulent political operators were so cocky about being able to engineer and predict the outcome of the elections.

But this was not all.  Audit logs obtained from the Antipolo PCOS machines, that were found illegally stored in the house of a Smartmatic technician, showed people were voting at an average of 20 seconds per vote. What happened to all the highly visible long waiting times and long lines displayed by TV during election day? The evidence points to one person inserting pre-shaded ballots into the PCOS machines.

Even Congressman Teodoro Locsin, Chairman of the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms, in his Committee Report, makes this observation as reported in the 29 June 2010 issue of the Daily Tribune:

“Voting logged as taking place hours after the close of voting hours, with ballots logged as having been fed to the voting machine at a fast and unvarying rate consistent only with one person doing it, are not just suspicious but invalid as well.”[Emphasis added.]

Another fingerprint of fraud is the mismatch between Smartmatic’s internal data and the transmission figures reported by TV stations on the evening of election day and newspapers the following day.  On May 10, 2010, Comelec announced on 11:11pm, barely 4 hours after elections, that 57% or 21 million votes were already received from precincts all over the country. On the contrary, according to the congressional Committee testimony of the operations manager of LRA, which handled the secret Smartmatic National Data Center, their field technicians were reporting that only 20% of the precinct votes have come in.

Obviously the big question is why the huge difference between the two figures? Clearly an unknown data source was broadcasting fake election results into the central server of Comelec.


Conditioning/Reinforcing Factors

A number of mutually reinforcing factors made fraudulent election results convincing.

First fabricated surveys conditioned the mind of the public to expect certain candidates to win. Time and time again, this writer has been told by a number of people in different parts of the country that survey outfits, including Pulse Asia, did not include the writer’s name even when voters mentioned the writer as their preference for presidential candidate. Other presidential candidates had similar experiences with fraudulent surveys conducted by outfits, including Social Weather Station.

Media bias further reinforced the mind conditioning done by survey companies. Many mainstream media including ABS CBN, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippine Star, and to a lesser extent, GMA7 selectively covered the news, devoting lopsided airtime and newspaper space to candidates they preferred. And when the results of the elections came out, they brainwashed the public to believe not only that the election results were accurate and honest. They also incessantly repeated that the Philippines, by inference, had just achieved a world record, being the only country in the world to immediately transition from manual counting to electronic canvassing in one election. And when news of massive fraud was uncovered, these same media outlets either ignored the stories or gave the news an unacceptable slant.

Not to be left behind, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) became a de facto watchdog for Comelec instead of the voting public. Despite the massive evidence of fraud emerging at the local and national levels, PPCRV’s silence on the matter was defeaning.

Yes, there were political operators selling manufactured votes and corrupt politicians spending millions to buy their illegal services. And yes, Comelec had failed to do its regulatory duty and opened the floodgates for massive cheating. But, in the end, fraud would have not taken place at the massive scale that it did without the silent complicity of survey outfits, mainstream media, and the PPCRV.


Legal Transgressions of Congress

The one constitutional body, Congress, which could have stepped in to raise a red flag, did not question the massive fraud that pervaded the country’s first automated elections. Worse, Congress itself further aggravated the crime by engaging in its own fraudulent activities.

In violation of the Constitution, both the House of Representatives and the Senate did not convene a Joint Session to canvass the votes for president and vice-president. Instead they established a Joint Committee to canvass the votes and proclaim the winners of the presidential and vice-presidential elections. And, in a further violation of the law, specifically RA 9369, both Houses of Congress canvassed electoral returns that did not contain any digital signatures. Thus, Congress, together with Comelec, legitimized the election of national and local officials on the basis of election returns that did not contain digital signatures. Clearly both had violated the spirit and the letter of the law.


May 2010 Elections: Invalid and Void From the Beginning

If an election process wantonly violates the law, can one consider the election results valid? The obvious common sense and legal answer is a resounding “No!”. The recent national elections were void and invalid from the beginning. Therefore, the national and local officials who were “elected” by this fraudulent process cannot claim to be the authentic and legitimate beneficiaries of the “will” of the electorate.

Many are longing for a new beginning with the incoming government. Do not hold your breath.  A new government conceived in fraud cannot become the center of a moral and systemic transformation that this country is longing for.

It is obvious that a moral and effective governance cannot arise on the basis of massive fraud. Citizens have to act now to challenge the new de facto civilian coup that the recent elections have placed in power.

In Part II of this article, we will explore some of the ways concerned citizens can take to defend and advance democracy and integral sustainable development.


(Reprinted with permission from Mr. Nicanor Perlas)

__________

Source:

Perlas, Nicanor. Unelected and Illegal Government. 1 July 2010. Nicanor Perlas Site. http://www.nicanor-perlas.com/News/unelected-and-illegal-government.html

total pageviews since july 2010