Not so Smartmatic

DIE HARD III

Herman Tiu Laurel

11/19/2012

Daily Tribune

On June 28, 2010, led by Ado Paglinawan and represented by counsel Homobono Adaza, with Myrleon Peralta, Don Emilion de Castro, Patricia Ilagan, we filed GRL case No. 192561 demanding the annulment of the 2010 presidential and local elections. We filed the case on the basis of the massive failure of the Comelec-Smartmatic automated elections system to deliver transparent, efficacious, clean and credible democratic elections. In violation of the Constitution, the Comelec outsourced its powers and functions to a private and foreign corporation with false claims of technical expertise and competence, financial capability and reliability — all of which are now confirmed by a case filed by Smartmatic itself against the principal election automation technology company Dominion Voting Systems International Corp. (DVSI).

The reporters covering our action asked if there was any point to our case as the new president was already to be inaugurated the next day. Adaza explained that we were putting on record with the highest court of the land, the violations of the Constitution and our electoral laws by the Arroyo government, Comelec and Smarmatic: they committed basic misrepresentation of the problem for which we spent P7.2 billion for the PCOS purportedly addressed which the late Mano Alcuaz, an information tech pioneer, incessantly pointed out: that the precinct manual voting and counting was never the problem as they were always finished by the end of election day, it was the verification and security of transmission which a range of simpler and cheaper solutions addressed — such as cellphone snapshots of the canvass board and sheets by watchers and the public to, among others.

There were the countless illegal changes in the PCOS machines safeguard provisions, such as the removal of the built-in ultraviolet ballot verification scanners to ascertain the genuineness of the ballots; the voter's printed vote receipt itemizing the voter's actual votes shaded on the ballot and replaced with a simple print out saying "congratulations" to the voter for successfully voting; the digital signature of the election official on the official election result for the electronic transmission of election results from the precinct to municipal to provincial to national canvassing, and many more enumerated in our 5,000-word petition to the Supreme Court. For two-and-a-half years now the case has languished in that court and the petitioners have heard nothing since. No hearing has been called, no dismissal of the case has been heard of.

Two months ago something happened gave impetus to a revival of our case. In the State of Delaware a court case filed by Smartmatic against DVSI provided confirmation of the problems we and many other critics of the Smartmatic PCOS machines, the Comelec and the conduct of the 2010 elections, had pointed out. Smartmatic and DVSI squabbling over huge business opportunities in the sale of voting machines and election software technologies and services, led Smartmatic to sue election software provider DVSI for withholding from it various software support to operate voting machines it markets for its clients in various countries in past, present and forthcoming elections. Smartmatic is now again exposed, as we many have reported before, to be only a "marketing company" and has no software technology capability contrary to it claims made to the Philippines for the 2010 elections. They are not-so-smart-matics after all.

Smartmatic's general counsel said: "This lawsuit is necessary because of Dominion's persistent refusal to deliver technology that Smartmatic legally licensed. We intend to recover the costs of rectifying a basic Dominion software error that nearly affected the 2010 Philippine elections, which we went to great lengths and expense to correct in keeping with our commitment to maintain the highest standards of election integrity and transparency." "Nearly affected" is a gross understatement. Most startling is Smartmatic's contention that DVSI never provided Smartmatic the "source code" for its voting machines in the 2010 election — contradicting Smartmatic and Comelec's claim in 2010 that they had those source codes in safekeeping. When the AES Watch, a group of Filipino IT experts, sought to test the source code Comelec and Smartmatic insisted in had to be at their warehouses.

The law requires that a source code must be given to the Comelec and deposited with the Bangko Sentral, which apparently never happened. What does this make of the BSP officials, the Comelec, Smartmatic, the congressional officials who were supposed to oversee the entire process? Aren't they now all proven to be liars? It's time a new investigation is called and then Comelec Chairman Melo, as well as all other commissioners then, asked to shed light on these. The final problem now is Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes' P 1.8-billion purchase of the PCOS machines for the 2013 elections which many had warned against. Those machines will be useless without the "source code" DVSI is denying Smartmatic — maybe that's why Brillantes suddenly shifted focus to the party-list disqualifications and the anti-dynasty issues.

(Watch GNN's HTL show, GNN Channel 8, Saturdays, 8:15 to 9 p.m., 11:15 p.m. and Sunday 8 a.m., and over www.gnntv-asia.com: "Comelec-Smartmatic 2010 Fraud" with Atty. Bono Adaza, Toti Casino and Ado Paglinawan; tune to 1098AM radio Tuesday to Friday 5 to 6 p.m. http://newkatipunan.blogspot.com)

MRT, WESM, O-bomb-ma

PEOEPLE'S STRUGGLE

Herman Tiu Laurel

11/12-18/2012

OpinYon

THE three issues that should be topmost in the public's mind this week are named in out title. First, the victory the public has won against the MRT fare hike; second, the new electricity rate hike that the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM); and third, Obama II and what it means for Filipinos and the World.

Victory over MRT/LRT fare hikes
After the All Saints Day holidays DOTC secretary Antonio Abaya made an obtuse statement to the effect that the MRT fare hike he announced earlier "…must be adjusted upwards only if the railway systems service improves."

This was partially an announcement that the MRT fares would no longer be increased on January 13 as earlier scheduled, a step backwards for the DOTC and an admission of the resounding victory of the arguments put forwards by the campaign of various commuter crusaders who have battled to oppose and stop the MRT fare hike.

The Aquino III government has been pushing the MRT fare hike since Day One of its administration but never presented actual MRT figures on the cost of operations to the public without exposing the scam Aquino III's oligarchs-backers wrote into the original contract.

The DOTC secretary is also obviously reacting to this writer's article last month entitled "Lower the MRT fares" where we reported the results of research and studies made by the RILES Network (of which I am co-convenor and spokesman) with a coalition of NGOs, including Agham (a group of scientists) which found that the MRT O&M (operation and maintenance) cost per passenger is only P9.11/trip.

Agham's Giovanni Tapang used the "farebox" method, dividing the total revenues by the entire cost of O&M and found that MRT commuters are actually paying more than enough to run and maintain the MRT. Abaya is quoted saying "actual cost of transporting passengers from end to end of the railway station costs P60…. the government must subsidize P45 of the cost since only P15 is collected from the passengers as fares", there are several lies there.

Taxpayers/Commuters subsidizing scam
The P60 cost is rather the financial burden to fulfilling the sovereign guarantee to the 15% profit margin and P 60/ passenger fare in the Fidel V. Ramos contract with "investors" Sobrepeñas, Ayala, Agustines and Campos groups. These groups have cashed in their profits selling the MRT contract several times over to, among others, the MRTC3FC, Goldman Sachs and GAS of Bobby Ongpin, and then Arroyo's government buying back 80% to get Goldman Sachs' court collection suit off its back but without a single voting share. The balance of 20% is owned now by Manny Pangilinan's group which expects to takeover completely after a fare hike is made.

Abaya is covering up for these scams when he hides this truth from the public and lies if he maintains the story that government will take 100% control. Abaya inaccurately claims "…the government must subsidize P45 of the cost …." The Aquino III government is not paying the subsidy. It is the taxpayers, you and me, as well as the MRT/LRT commuters paying the subsidy. The State includes the people, the government or administration is not the people.

Commuters are also already P5 for that subsidy, over the P 9.11/ passenger O&M cost. Investments in improvements can already be made based on the present fares since the MRT commuters pay P 5 over the O&M already, if they take the scam cost-burden out.

Columnist Michael Tan of the Inquirer wrote supporting the fare hike "if there is an improvement", that inaccuracy is a disservice to the millions who take the MRT/LRT on a daily basis; media has a responsibility to fully understand the issues and inform the public accordingly.

Lower the MRT/LRT fares
The Palace is saying "P6 MRT 3 fare hike is a 'good compromise'," so the fare hike is not off the table at all. From the very beginning of the MRT fare hike controversy I wrote that the P10 fare hike was a ploy and only a negotiating position. I told my two youngest sons who take the MRT/LRT to their respective universities every day, "The government is really aiming for a P 5 fare hike, starting at P 10 and scaling down to half that they hope the public will eventually, easily swallow."

So, let's not be fooled. There is absolutely no justification for any fare increase. There are still other sources to raise fund without any fare hike, like reversion of revenues from ancillary business such as advertising and real estate values to the MRT operations, maintenance and improvements; or change of overpricing maintenance contractors like Sumitomo to other s or to in house maintenance that would be cheaper.

The RILES Network has started the petition signing campaign for a "Lower the MRT fare" crusade. We are scheduled to start on November 13 and will appear again at different MRT stations to commuters to sign on and ensure justice for the millions of MRT/LRT passengers. There is no compromise in Truth and Justice in a democracy when it comes to the people's welfare.

The only rule to follow is "The greater good for the greater number of people", and the Aquino III government and its DOTC secretary is still trying to hoodwink the 95-million Filipinos to favor the vested interests of not more than a dozen individuals in the Philippine oligarchy and their foreign financial partners. We the people have won one victory in the MRT/LRT fare hike struggle – we must carry to the next level: Lower the MRT/LRT fares!

Power hikes again
"Power rate hike looms", the newspapers headlined last November 9, allegedly due to higher generation prices in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) the reports say: "There was a de-energization of the Luzon-Visayas interconnection from October 8 to 13, 2012, so that Luzon's supply from Visayas was reduced. During this period, market prices rose significantly."

This means cheaper geothermal sources in the Visayas failed to deliver to the grid and higher cost power from oil fed generations were tapped. Power rates were expected to drop due to the hydro-electric reservoirs being full and consumption of air conditioning being lower. This problem of rising power rates when it should go down is due to privatization and apportionment of the State power assets to countless private companies, losing the benefit of economies-of-scale.

A breakdown in one generating unit cannot be compensated for by another unit; instead during such disruptions private generating company increases its rates to profit from the opportunity, selling through the WESM (Wholesale Electricity Spot Market). Last month the price at the spot market went up because, Meralco said, "two coal-fired power plants underwent repair and maintenance, the 647-megawatt Pangasinan Sual 1 power plant had shut down … while Sual 2, which generates 647MW was also closed… "There is no incentive to maintain reliability at all times since breakdowns are also opportunities to increase rates. Meanwhile, Meralco will start collecting on the "bill deposit" January, completely unjustifiable but apparently approved by the ERC which never held a public hearing on this. We'll have to organize and oppose this in the streets and in court when January comes.

O-"boom" or "bomb"-ma?
Some commentators opine that a Democratic U.S. president is going to be good Filipinos for being more open to immigration. That helps individuals but not the nation. The Philippines will always be a market to pry open wider and wider for predatory business interests such as "hot money" investments, businesses repatriating profits, as well as goods and loan shark services.

Obama II will generate U.S. jobs by exporting – that means a strategic devaluation of its Dollar to reduce imports and push U.S. goods and services into other markets. The recent loss of the Peso exchange rate to the Dollar is the effect of what Guido Mantega, Brazil's finance minister, call "currency war". Obama's victory will bring no "boom" but bring an economic "bomb", and the Philippines must pick up the courage to set up the "bomb shelters" - institute safety net policies such as "currency" and "capital" regulation to contain the damage to our OFWs, exporters, BPOs and all other sectors.

(Watch GNN's HTL show, GNN Channel 8, Saturdays, 8:15 to 9 p.m., 11:15 p.m. and Sunday 8am, and over www.gnntv-asia.com: tune to 1098AM radio Tues. To Fri. 5 to 6pmhttp://newkatipunan.blogspot.com)

Extension of misplaced values

BACKBENCHER

Rod P. Kapunan

11/17-18/2012

Manila Standard Today

I am appalled by the furious reaction of the so-called academic community by their filing of a complaint against Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III for allegedly plagiarizing his speech that centered on another controversial issue—the reproductive health bill. Specifically, the complaint came amid the letter sent by Kerry Kennedy, daughter of the late Senator Robert Kennedy, claiming that portions of Sotto's speech were lifted from her father's writings. Kerry said that Sotto had no claim for the use of those words simply because he used Tagalog instead of English. Such an argument has no merit, she said. She demanded an apology for the alleged unethical and unsanctioned theft of Kennedy's intellectual property.

Yes, plagiarism is unethical, but I do not agree it should be classified as an "intellectual theft." The words used by the author or writer whose idea was plagiarized were definitely not coined by him, but lifted from the dictionary used by people with English as their mother tongue. Maybe, it is on how the author or writer phrased the sentence, but surely what he wrote can never be made equivalent to a formula or to an invention to give him that exclusive right that he alone can use it by sealing in it a stamp of ownership.

Claim of ownership to a mere written idea, to my mind, is the most brazen form of intellectual imperialism. No author of a book, novel, article or pamphlet has a monopoly of ideas, written or otherwise. It is man's medium for intellectual growth, although in many finer points, what he has learned and what he is saying are not original to him. Thus, if we are to make an issue out of every sentence, phrase or paragraph one has copied is to impose a law that could seriously imperil intellectual growth.

Nonetheless, copying has also been rampant in other countries. They copy written articles which are a violation of the copyright law, formulas or inventions resulting in the violation of patents, or copy products called counterfeiting. In our case, the issue has grown out of proportion because the one accused is a senator, although it is more of an amor propio. This I say for what is in that Sotto copied for the hypocrites to sizzle? Yet, for want of any sensible issue, they zero in on plagiarism which has nothing to do with the RH bill. In fact, this column is also against the RH bill, and has to come to the defense of Sotto because the debate has now descended to the gutter level. The so-called intellectual community is raving like mad dogs when there is really nothing in it, except for their pricked ego.

Maybe they want to instill phobia in Sotto so for him to never again open his mouth on controversial issues. But people like Sylvia Claudio of the UP Center for Women's Studies, Antonio Contreras, former dean of the DLSU College of Liberal Arts, Red Tani of the Filipino Freethinkers, Inc., and Barry Gutierrez of Akbayan party-list should do more to elevate the debate to a more sensible level than accuse one of cheating. They must come out with their own ideas why they are for or against the RH bill; not as the Vatican would tell them or as some self-indulging moralists would propose. In like manner, the proponents should have a better argument other than parroting the USAID and the World Bank like saying we are now overpopulated.

Moreover, the issue is a dead one because countries that were once considered basket case economies like Japan, China, India, and Brazil are now the fastest growing economies in the world, and it was their burgeoning population that propelled their growth. The hypocrites wriggle like worms every time one is accused of plagiarism without them thinking that they are in fact highlighting their own stupidity that has deterred us to intellectually advance all for fear that anything we might say has already been patented or copyrighted by the imperialists.

Rather, our patriotic duty is to get hold of the technology and ideas as fast as we could because it is out gateway to progress. We cannot forever keep on producing manpower to do the work for them here and abroad, but for us to produce manpower that can come out with our own quality products we could sell. We cannot remain in constant fear of being accused of violating the intellectual property rights and shunned by the so-called international community.

We are not even sure that what they dangle as their patented property was also pirated from others. Many local businessmen suspect that the arrest of violators of the international copyright and patents has become a lucrative business because the reward given to law enforcers comes from the heavy penalty imposed. We are being fried in our own lard. Later on, this could hamper us from producing our own quality products which many industrialized countries did in their quest to industrialize.

Other countries that achieved a high level of industrial and technological development are still fighting to ward off the imperialist imposition of intellectual property rights. For one, Samsung is fighting attempts by Apple to ditch its Galaxy notebooks out of the market. In the World Health Organization, the battle continues to rage on how to delist from the international patent certain medicines because many countries have succeeded in producing them using or accidentally using the same formula to cure some illnesses that have plagued mankind.

Their production is being opposed on the premise that it violates their patents, although it is apparent that Third World-produced medicines could be sold at a much cheaper price than those sold by international pharmaceutical corporations that have been acting as living gods in deciding between life and death.

rpkapunan@gmail.com