The Philippine Star

Time to scrap the automated election law!

- BOBIT S. AVILA

Iwas watching the daily events happening during the investigat­ion on the Dengvaxia vaccine where the latest incident happened when angry mothers confronted former Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Janette Garin as she suggested that what is happening here is nothing but a drama. Many of these mothers were wearing black shirts emblazoned with “Justice for Dengvaxia victims” and have identified themselves as members of the United Parents Against Dengvaxia (Upad) Philippine­s.

The Dengvaxia vaccine came into the country in utmost secrecy because I do not recall any news time referring to this vaccine way back in 2016. Yet nearly a million children were vaccinated with this vaccine even if the DOH officials were told that their clinical trials were still on-going. But Sec. Garin and then Pres. Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III forced the issue and paid P3 billion for this untested vaccine. Why? We still have to find out!

Naturally, if you are a mother whose sons or daughters are having health problems due to their being part of this vaccinatio­n program, you too would be as sore as they are. Matt.10: 26 reassure those angry mothers when the Lord said, “But do not be afraid of those who threaten you. For the time is coming when everything that is covered will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all!” Now the secret of Dengvaxia is out in the open!

Meanwhile the French drug manufactur­er Sanofi Pasteur refused the demand from the Philippine government to refund the P3.5 billion that was spent on the anti-dengue vaccine because they say that doing so would imply that the vaccine is ineffectiv­e! To my mind, the Philippine government should file a class suit against the French pharmaceut­ical giant simply because many of our children are having problems with the Dengvaxia vaccine. There is no point in talking with the Sanofi officials here and immediatel­y proceed not only with a civil, but also a criminal lawsuit as well! * * * This coming May will be the third anniversar­y of the presidenti­al elections that put Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte into the helm of power in Malacañang… thus breaking the exclusivit­y of Presidents coming from Luzon. But we all know that six months before the polls in May, Mayor Duterte already beat all the presidenti­ables by a mile. The early favorite front-runner Vice President Jejomar Binay collapsed from a trial of exposes on corruption.

As the elections came close, Liberal Party (LP) presidenti­al candidate Manuel “Mar” Roxas was the tailender… with Sen. Grace Poe neck to neck with

Mayor Duterte… then Duterte starting running away and clearly no one could catch him. But to our total surprise, Mr. Tail ender Roxas suddenly surged and ended up in second place. How could this have happened? There is only one answer, Smartmatic and its highly questionab­le transparen­cy server that is far from being transparen­t!

We have written numerous columns against Smartmatic and their highly questionab­le Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) since the 2010 presidenti­al elections and the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Mandaue City proved that the Compostela Mayor Ritchie Wagas won over Mayor Joel Quiño. But this was just a month before the 2013 mid-term elections. But like I said… no one cared to listen to our report.

The 2016 presidenti­al automated elections saw major discrepanc­ies that ended in the overturnin­g of the mayoralty elections in the Island of Bantayan in Northern Cebu that unseated the earlier winner Arthur Despi when the Comelec en banc declared incumbent Mayor Ian Christophe­r Escario as the duly elected mayor of the town of Bantayan. We saw this also happening in the town of Tuburan also in Northern Cebu. But the most celebrated case is the electoral contest between Vice President Leni Robredo and Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. As of late, the two protagonis­ts have supposedly signed a joint motion withdrawin­g all pending motions in the electoral protest in order to speed up the count before the Electoral Tribunal. This is good for both candidates and we can only bid them… good luck!

But the bottom line is clear… Smartmatic has not given this nation a hassle free elections, which should give us an idea that it is high time that we Filipino scrap the Automated Election Law because it has not helped give this nation free and honest elections. I dare the members of the House of Representa­tives to go and visit the various nations in the European Union (EU) and they will find out that many of these nations have abandoned the automated election systems because of so many flaws… not to mention being hacked by Russia and other interested nations. A great majority of Filipinos voted for Pres. Duterte and the change he promised us… and one of these changes is the removal of the Automated Election System.

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