Stay Awake With Nicanor Perlas

Dear Friend,

Are you staying awake? I hope you haven’t rushed to judgment on Nick Perlas for not conceding the elections because he thinks he should have won the elections, have you?! If so, you haven’t truly understood the man nor his campaign.

We ought to know better. This is an intelligent man with a HUGE and stellar track record in awakening societies, coalitions and governments (see UN, APEC, BNPP, organic farming, micro-funding, etc. track records) towards greater consciousness, responsibility and service. Think about it. (Go to www.nicanorperlas.com for his press statement.)

We ran this campaign on new politics. And, unlike others who only used the phrase to win an election, we are standing by this platform by living it now. We know Perlas did not win the elections and, seeing the way the country has voted (i.e., weak track record for #1 spot; horrible track record for #2 spot) we’re clear it is not ready for anything but a status quo, keeping it safe and mediocre-at-best government.

Actually, we’re doing this because we are not giving up hope on the Filipino’s true essence -- the true self that heroes and revolutionaries gave their lives for to free. We think the Filipino is far better than one who breathes a sigh of relief and moves on because “at least there was less violence”, “at least there were no riots”, “at least it’s not Erap or Villar”. When did Filipinos have such low standards of itself and when are we going to realize we are and deserve far better than this low-grade-fever kind of self-esteem that is running us such that we’re actually ready to do a major sweep-it-under-the-rug to defend the success of this last election?

We have till June 30, 2010 to at least get to a place of feeling good and confident that the leaders this country has chosen (whether we like/agree with the choice or not) were chosen by a true and free majority. Let’s practice our right as citizens to keep the COMELEC - given the immense power they have to shape the future of this country – truly honest and simply “doing their jobs”.

Thank you for reading on and staying awake with me!

All the Best,
Tressa

PS- Meanwhile, reports of voters who either could not vote or were given sleight of hand tricks switching ready-filled ballots, or being sent to a seminar before voting (on day itself), and countless other anomalies, not to say the rampant breakdown of machines are coming in. (Oh, sorry, would you just really rather not know and go on with your lives?) If you did experience or observe anomalies in your polls, please report it to www.bantaygarci2010.com, a joint investigative body formed by the campaign organizations of Jamby Madrigal, J.C. de los Reyes & Nicanor Perlas.)

Post-Election Analysis: HALAL to COMELEC

This is an important press statement of one Mr. Roberto Verzola from Halalang Marangal who has been closely studying automated elections for over 4 years and has been advising Comelec as an independent outsider. Halalang Marangal has a former Comelec Commissioner as a member of its Board. From a professor at UP Los Banos: “I know Obet Verzola because he is a member of our Pabinhi group. Super intelligent and credible guy, and a strong vanguard of people's rights during the elections. His involvement with Comelec goes way back, and he has always put out thorough, deep and highly credible reports.”

From: Roberto Verzola <rverzola@gn.apc.org> 
Date: May 12, 2010 9:46:20 PM GMT+08:00 
To: Philippine Greens <philippinegreens@yahoogroups.com> 
Cc: No to BNPP <NOtoBNPP@googlegroups.com>, AER_buzz@yahoogroups.com, stopthewar.philippines@lists.riseup.net, "Korakora.org List" <kuro@korakora.org>
Subject: [NOtoBNPP] Post-election analysis by HALAL, please circulate 
Reply-To: notobnpp@googlegroups.com

HALALANG MARANGAL PRESS STATEMENT (May 12, 2010)

HALAL to Comelec: Too soon to proclaim. Too many questions.

Early reports of discrepancies between machine and audit counts
in Manila highlight the need for prudence, especially since
machine-count winner Alfredo Lim was prematurely proclaimed May
11, 3 p.m., barely 15 hours after election day and without
waiting for the audit results.

People want a successful election so badly, that it is easy to
get carried away by flood of incoming election returns. Many
want to believe that a clean and speedy election has finally
happened, at last. But let not the public euphoria at the speed
of counting erase the persistent concerns about the process.

The vice-presidential election is yet to be settled. The contest
between the 12th and 13th places in the senatorial race still
has to be settled too. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of local
races also await to be settled.

Already news is coming in about delayed Election Returns (ERs),
malfunctioning, missing or otherwise questionable memory cards,
and other indicators of potential or emerging problems.

This is not to say we advocate a full return to the old manual
system, but only a prudent scrutiny of the automated process in
the light of its earlier miscounts, apart from the automated
results. In 2004, many who wanted “anyone but FPJ” embraced the
results, relieved that the elections fulfilled their
expectations, and chose to ignore the niggling questions that
eventually exploded in our collective faces as the “Hello Garci”
scandal. Let us not repeat the same mistake; let the niggling
questions be answered satisfactorily, before we finally accept
the final results.

As in the manual system, the precinct level count is always the
fastest. Even when election inspectors, watchers and the public
counted votes by hand, most of the election results had always
been available past midnight or early morning. Even under the
manual method, the biggest challenge has always been at the
municipal level and higher, where wholesale cheating operations
occurred.

In fact, the automated election system failed spectacularly its
first truly public test a week before election day, when many
candidates got zero – a “bawas” -- and some got more than the
votes actually cast for them – a “dagdag”. The results were
worse than most manual counts. An embarrassed Comelec quickly
called off the public test, and traced the problem to misaligned
ovals on the ballot. Because of a last-minute change from
single-spacing to double-spacing in the ballot layout for local
candidates, their oval locations did not anymore match the
coordinates stored in a configuration file in a memory card
within the PCOS machine.

Reconfiguring the memory cards was somewhat easier than
reprinting ballots, so that is what the Comelec and Smartmatic
tried to do.

Smartmatic only had 18,000 spare memory cards, so in addition to
the spares, Smartmatic recalled the cards that could still be
recalled; imported the rest from Hongkong and Taiwan; edited
each of the 1,631 ballot layout configuration files (unique for
every town); programmed these configuration files into 76,340
memory cards (one for each machine); delivered the 76,340 newly
reconfigured memory cards to the waiting machines all over the
archipelago; found the right machines for the right memory
cards; replaced the misconfigured memory card; and conducted a
second round of public testing and sealing of the PCOS machines.
All within a span of five days – 120 hours. Aside from some 400
machines that malfunctioned, the rest of the 76,340 machines
worked fine and gave the country its first successful automated
elections. So they say.

Can we now trust the machine results?

These machines had grievously failed to count a few days
earlier. This was followed by a mad rush of recalls,
importations, file reconfigurations, card reprogramming,
deliveries, reinstallations, and a second round of testing and
sealing. In the rush, were security procedures and chain of
custody guidelines still observed? Did anyone see an election
inspector with an ultraviolet lamp to check for authentic
ballots, for instance? (We have not found anyone who did.) What
about more subtle potential problems that a ten-ballot test set
was insufficient to detect – ovals that were misaligned by only
one or two millimeters, for example, or oval coordinates that
were purposely changed slightly to shave votes from targetted
candidates. Were tests done at all for these potential problems?

Suppose an ATM had earlier given you only half the money than it
deducted from your account, and the bank tells you the machine
is now ok. Wouldn't you count the money yourself at least once
in subsequent withdrawals? Suppose most ATMs of a bank network
shortchanged its clients, wouldn't you demand every ATM of that
network to be carefully tested and recertified for its counting
accuracy?

For exactly the same reason, every candidate who lost – and
won – in the machine-counted 2010 elections should demand
thorough post-election testing and audit for accuracy of every
counting machine and its results.

Losing candidates should demand it, because they might have
actually won.

Winning candidates – especially those who lead by a huge
margin – should demand it, because the gross machine errors a
few days earlier and subsequent doubts about machine accuracy
have devalued their victory.

Apparent president-elect Noynoy Aquino should demand it, if only
for the sake of his running-mate. We welcome his reported
intention to revisit “all issues his camp raised during the
campaign against the automation,” especially since one of the
more than 400 counting machines that failed conked out on him.
The results from the random manual audit must be awaited, and
the issues that may arise from it resolved. Questions that were
unsatisfactorily addressed before election day and especially
about the CF memory card fiasco must be answered.

There was no time for proper testing in the mad rush to the May
10 elections because few wanted the elections postponed. But we
have fifty days before June 30, when the new set of elected
officials are scheduled to take over. Remember, haste makes
waste. We still have enough time check, double-check, and be
sure about the results of the 2010 elections.

In the meantime, the Comelec and local election authorities
should not be in a hurry to proclaim winners and to declare the
elections a success. ###

Did Your Vote Count?

Dear Volunteers and Supporters,

As part of our ongoing research in determining whether the electoral process is fair, clean, and accurate, we are going to cross check votes actually casted for Nicanor Perlas versus votes that were transmitted by the PCOS machine and tallied and counted by Comelec. We need your assistance in this task.

To those who are willing to contribute, may we know the following information:

1.  Your precinct number and area (barangay/municipality/city/province);
2.  If you voted for Nicanor Perlas;
3. The number of other people you are DEFINITE who voted for Nick in your precinct/clustered precinct (family, friends, neighbors).

We need this information the soonest.

Please e-mail us at info@nicanorperlas.com, or text us at 09088737527, 09166445806 or call at 02 4669520.

You may also verify if your vote was actually counted by checking www.electionresults.ibanangayon.ph.

Thank you for your continued support.


Tammy B. Dinopol

Is The Majority Always Right?

NOTE: We usually send you to read a really good post right on their blogsite -- and you should go there anyway because Light and Shade (and everything in between) is such a source of sensible and profound wisdom. But, we so resonated with this one blog post, we want to feature it here, too! Thank you, Mary Anne! (We're following you!)

Our voting history somehow does not give much hope. We say, “We need change.” Unfortunately, it seems that such a statement for hunger for change is just a lip-service. We are not serious about wanting change. We just like how the words sound. As if by saying those words, we are truly becoming nationalists. Are we, really? I don’t think so.

Because come May 10, 2010, we are still voting for the old politics. The old bananas. Noynoy Aquino. Manny Villar. Gibo Teodoro. Dick Gordon. Loren Legarda. Mar Roxas. Bong Revilla. Lito Lapid. Juan Ponce Enrile. Ralph Recto. And the list is endless. I give my thanks and respects to the old guards like Sen. Enrile but…

What is the most tragic part here? We are voting for a president based on popularity and emotions. Not by platform or a genuine promise for a new day. (I certainly do not favor a Villar presidency. Let me reiterate my stand once again: I am voting for Nicanor Perlas.)

And so today, I woke up with sadness. Because I realized that Noynoy Aquino may just win the presidential race. The latest INC endorsement for the presidential bid of Noynoy Aquino may have just clinched the tide in his favor.

I fear another Aquino presidency.

Why do I fear his brand of politics?

I fear his brand of politics because it looks like it is based on opportunism. With all due respect to him and his Mother (I am still a Cory fan), I really think that deep in our hearts, we know that Noynoy will not even consider running for President if his Mother were alive. And that if Tita Cory is still alive now, and her son still decided to run, I am fairly sure that she will not give his blessings to him. Why do I believe so? Because Tita Cory is a woman of intelligence and discernment. She knows the capacity of her son and being a president is certainly not one of his strong competencies.

Sadly, however we look at it, the death of Tita Cory gave him the idea and motivation to run. Not even the dreams of Mar Roxas stopped him from wanting the top post. Never mind the ultimate dreams of Mar. The swelling of yellow colors right during Tita Cory’s funeral march told him, “run, run, run!” These yellow-bearing people need another hero and you are the hero, Noy! Are you, really?
In the deepest of your heart, do you really think you are the hero that we are hungry for? In the deepest of your heart, do you honestly believe your Mom wants you to run?  Mga kababayan ko, is he really “the One”? Why are you voting for him?

Popularity? The emotional pull of Tita Cory’s death? His ‘clean’ image? Are these reasons enough? Aren’t we looking at the wrong reasons? We certainly need honesty and integrity. Oh, we are all crying for that! Making it No. 1 criteria for choosing the next president. But is Noynoy the only one who has that? Look at the other candidates: Nicanor Perlas, Eddie Villanueva, and JC de los Reyes; they seem to me people of integrity and better yet, had not been tainted with the colors of old politics. They are new and fresh faces. Why couldn’t we try them?

Oh yes, we go back to popularity. See now? We always end up to voting for those who are popular. And then later we blame the government for the poverty around us. Haven’t we learned enough? We certainly deserve the government we voted for. We voted for popular names and so we live with it. This is not even about Noynoy per se. It is about us, Filipinos. The way we squander our voting power.
Under a Noynoy presidency, you give up the right to complain if you voted for him. If our poverty level remains the same during a Noynoy presidency, I will blame you for it. Because you, the majority, those who belong in the yellow army, took away my voice.

Noynoy reminds me of an old salesman who never really sold anything in his long career as a salesman but will suddenly earn the CEO post in his company because the owner (who is loved by millions) suddenly died.

So the millions who are enamored with the dead owner cannot let go of his memories and suddenly, just like magic, turn their hearts and souls to the son whom they think will save the company from downfall. Because he is the son of the old hero.

Sadly, the voice of the minority who knows a much better and competent manager (but who is not a relative of the dead owner) will just slowly fade away in the deafening and almost-hypnotic screams of the millions who believe that the son is indeed the savior.

Is Noynoy really clean? No one can judge. But what is ‘cleanliness’ really? Is it enough that he did not steal? That he was never associated with any scandalous transactions in government? I don’t think so. Cleanliness and integrity, when it comes to the top post in the political ladder, should always be associated with making one’s powerful position very useful. I said it once before: positions of power are privileges. You are not voted into power and then just sit there, listen, vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ or ‘abstain’, go home, and sleep contentedly at night. The votes were given to you because you are entrusted with the task of making a BIG difference. Voting for laws is NOT making a difference. Not stealing from the public coffers is certainly NOT making a big difference. Being honest is certainly not something that should earn our politicos the accolades. We thank Noynoy and vote for him because he is clean and honest? Napaka-baba naman yata ng standards natin for a President! 

Let us not forget that Noynoy had three terms in Congress and one in Senate and yet we all know he did not really deliver exemplary performance. He is talking so much about corruption in his TV ads but what did he really do while he was within the system? Suddenly, now, he is talking about corruption? Naman…

Please think about your vote for another Aquino. Noynoy is of the same mold as old politics. He is not the ‘newness’ that we say (?) we need now, more than ever. He comes from an old lineage of politicos who own vast tracts of land and who up to now, refuse to relinquish ownership that would have otherwise improved the lives of thousands of farmers and workers. This is not even about the rich and the poor. I also believe that all classes should have equal rights. I never liked the campaign lines that say, “Para sa Mahirap” because it is already divisive. It is like saying one’s poverty already earns him certain privileges. I do try to avoid that kind of thinking. But yes, it is important for a presidentiable to know what to do when he is in the seat of power. Noynoy had the chance to work for meaningful changes while in Congress and Senate. At least he could have tried to do something for the farmers of Hacienda Luisita.

You may say, “But he has promised to distribute the Hacienda Luisita to the farmers in five years!” Really? But why is he saying that only now?

Because he needs your votes and sadly, you will give it to him.

LAKARAN! PASYON, REBOLUSYON, RESUREKSYON

Join us on Friday, April 30, 2010 to walk the way of Our Collective Pasyon.

11:30am-2:00pm

Media Spreading the New Story of a New & Different Campaign

Media Conference at Handuraw, Lahug (11:30am-1pm) 

Drop-in Interviews with DYLA, DYRF (1:00pm-2:30pm)

3:00pm-7:00pm 

Lakaran! Seis Palabras Para Sa Bag-ong Pilipinas 

          

Starting with Mass at Basilica del Santo Niño (3:00pm)

Stopping at Six Public Sites for Each of Six Pillars toward the New Philippines 

7:00-7:30pm

Prayer Walk from Guadalupe Church to Langub, the Guadalupe Pilgrimage Site

8:00pm-10pm

Resurrection of the New Philippines: Ika-Siete Nga Palabra 

          

Reflections and Conversation with Nicanor Perlas on What It Will Take to Rebirth a Country

Earth Day & Greenest Presidential Candidate Nicanor Perlas, An Easy Fit!

Independent presidential candidate Nicanor Perlas was named the “Greenest Candidate” by the GEI survey conducted by the independent organizations Greenpeace and EcoWaste Coalition in time for Earth Day 2010 on April 22. 

Supporters and volunteers of Perlas congregated at the Earth Day Festival of the new shopping center, Persimmon, in Mabolo to celebrate Mother Earth and they rocked the night away with musicians and artistes like TaPati, Jim Perez, Cattski Espina and Zarah Smith.

The Earth Day theme was carried in the songs the artistes chose for the jamming session. “Organik Magsasaka” (working title) by Rom Dongeto is about going organic and how pesticides and chemical fertilizers poison our land, first, and then, us. “Agila” by Joey Ayala was sung by TaPati & Jim, likening people to eagles, and the state of our endangered forests will also endanger the Agilas. Cattski’s “Hero” sang to the hero in all of us, waiting to be awakened and to take responsibility for the world we want to create.The songs all reminded the visitors and viewers at the shopping center to Think Earth, It is our home, afterall!

There were fun activities for children, organic food stalls, books on organic farming, associative economy and sustainable development, recycled chairs, tables and loveseats by quintessential artist Budoy at the festival.

A buyer of organic peanuts, and the healthiest organic bokchoy and arugula from the San Gimignano Wellness Farm vegetable stand expressed the sentiments of the earth day celebrators when she commented, “If you truly love Mother Earth, you must choose for the leader who loves Mother Earth! Perlas ta bay!”

Nicanor Perlas Campaign Caravan Comes to Cebu

Nick Was Here! On April 7 he reached out and touched the hearts of many Cebuanos from Carcar to San Fernando to Mandaue to all the hot spots in Cebu City.

The beauty of it is? That the people he and we met along the way reached out and touched us right back with their excitement and sheer delight to have him among them. They were incredulous at seeing him walk among them, stopping to chat and listen, pose for photos with them, share their "butong" and "pan" with them. Through them, they could see with their hearts and what they saw in Nick was authentic and new and hopeful.

Watch this video to see portions of this magical, sun-drenched, heartwarming, spirit-lifting day! and listen to the campaign jingle that our own Cebuano artists and youth brought together from their own hearts. For only from our hearts, will the Truth be freed -- and set us free!



Spread this good news around. You can also find this on our Perlas Cebu YouTube. <<-- Click this to go to YouTube and spread the word about the true love between Nick and the Filipino people!