Anatomy of the VCM fraud (Part I)

There have always been irregularities and violations of the election laws in the past elections. Regardless of whether or not voting was using the automated machines known as PCOS (Precinct Count Optical Scanners) in the 2010 and 2013 elections – or whether it was manual voting.

In the recently-concluded national and local elections (May 9, 2016), voting was still automated. But the election machine was no longer called PCOS but VCMs (Vote Counting Machines). But whatever name you call the election machines – the machine was still automated. And the danger of massive cheating and fraud is still there. Especially the so-called pre-loading of the ballots with particular names of some of the candidates already pre-printed making the voters’ choice inutile and useless. And worse, the pre-loaded ballots are the votes reportedly transmitted to the Comelec through the Comelec transmission server. Thus disregards the ballots of the voters. Comelec says the malfunctioning of the VCM machines in some places in the country was negligible and did not affect the over-all smoothness of the elections. Probably yes for national positions. But not for local positions which needs less votes vis-à-vis votes for National position.

Let me share with you what happened in the City of Naga on election day (as well as in the seven nearby Municipalities that comprise the socalled Third District of Camarines Sur). As background information: Naga City has a voting population of 85,473. It comprises almost 34% of the total voting population (253,366) of the Third District of Camarines Sur. On May 4th, the Final Testing and Sealing of the VCM machines took place. The VCM machines were in good condition. However, on election day, the situation was far different. One VCM machine after another malfunctioned. How did this happen?

Let me explain. As early as 6:10AM on election day, one VCM machine malfunctioned. Was this an isolated case? No. One VCM after another started malfunctioning. It is as if an unseen force was directing and orchestrating the systematic VCMs malfunctioning. While there were reports of VCM malfunctioning in other places in the country – I have not heard of any place in the country where the VCM malfunctioning occurred in ninety (90) clustered precincts out of the total VCM machines assigned in the 130 clustered precincts in Naga City or sixty-nine (69%) of all the VCMs were malfunctioning. This strange situation happened only in Naga City. Coincidentally Naga City is the home base of Congresswoman Leni Robredo. Also, Naga is in the Third District of Camarines Sur where Leni’s protégé an incumbent Kagawad (Mr. G. Bordado) is running for Congress against my husband Louie.

Naga City has a total clustered precincts of 130. Because of the unexpected and unbelievably high number of VCM malfunctioning on Election Day, many Comelec regulations were ignored. And more… people especially the Polling Watchers were alarmed and getting confused of what was happening with the VCM machines. The sanctity of the ballot was scandalously disregarded. Voting continued despite the malfunctioning of the VCMs. Voters voted but were just asked to put their shaded ballots in boxes or folders. The members of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) said they (BEI) would later feed the ballots (left by the voters who went home) into the VCMs once the VCM’s were fixed or replaced by the Smartmatic Technicians.. Many of the voters were already tired after hours of waiting and entrusted the feeding of their ballots to the BEI. The voters went home. The voters who entrusted their ballots to the BEI were not able to verify if their votes were accurately reflected in the voters receipt. There were instances too where the BEI declared some of the shaded ballots entrusted to them as rejected ballots. Did the BEI have the patience to try to feed the ballots to the VCM machine four (4) times in four (4) different orientations as required by Comelec rules? Considering that the voters were not around anymore to personally feed the ballots to the VCM machine and to compare their ballots with what was printed in the voting receipts.

While the Comelec rule says under Comelec Resolution 10057 that the SD card should only be removed after the close voting and to place the SD cards in an empty envelope. Well, this regulation was blatantly ignored when some BEI members removed the SD card from the malfunctioning VCM then reinserted it in the same VCM. Unbelievably too, in another case, the Smartmatic technician removed and inserted back the memory back-up card. What is strange is that inspite of the VCM malfunctioning and the disenfranchisement of many voters, the numbers of voter turnout was consistently high in the different clustered precincts in favour of the opponent of Louie who practically did not campaign before election day. There are many more instances of VCM fraud – not only in Naga but also in the seven (7) other neighboring municipalities. All of these are being documented to be forwarded to the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on the Automated Election System headed by Senator Pimentel; to the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), an election watchdog and citizen arm of the Comelec; and of course to the Comelec – for the possible formulation of additional reforms and safeguards to further guard the sanctity of the ballots and to protect the voters’ choice.

My husband Louie (and I guess many other candidates too) lost because of the defective VCM machines. The last time Louie ran in the congressional race in 2010, he won in Naga City by about 17,000 votes and in the whole district by 91,000 votes. Louie never lost in any precinct in Naga City in 2010. Louie also never lost in any of the municipalities where he ran as a congressional candidate. This time around, after the continuous massive VCM malfunctioning in Naga during the recently concluded election, Louie lost by around 13,000 votes to a candidate (Mr. Bordado, LP) who never ran for a district or provincial position and who practically did not campaign. Many people were shocked with the election results in Naga City. The case of Naga City where 90 VCMs malfunctioned out of 130 VCMs assigned in the 130 clustered precincts is probably the only one of its kind in the Philippines where 69% of the VCM’s malfunctioned in a city or municipality. The pattern of Bordado is garnering surprisingly big votes is the same as that of Cong. Leni Robredo (LP), Bordado is Leni’s protegee. People are wondering and speculating why this is so. The only logical explanation is the pre-loading of pre-printed ballots using the VCM machines. In another town in the Third District (Calabanga) Louie lost by around 8,000 votes in the 2016 election while in the 2010 elections (when Louie last ran in the congressional race), Louie won overwhelmingly by 14,000 votes. Likewise in 2010, Louie won handily in Naga and in all the other municipalities in the Third District of Camarines Sur.

Months before the official campaign period started, we were already apprehensive of the possibility of VCM fraud and the pre-loading of ballots in the VCM machine. That is why Louie while campaigning was always saying that based on the people’s support, he will win the elections, unless there is VCM (PCOS) cheating. As the election results showed, our apprehension (as well as that of others) turned into reality. It is of common knowledge here in Naga that there is an Order from above that Louie should lose at all cost. Months before the campaign period started, there was a team from Malacanang headed by a high government official that came to Naga and was reportedly doing a “mapping” job in the Third District of Camarines Sur. The team stayed in Naga for months hopping from one hotel to another. People are still talking about this. (To be continued)

Have a joyful day! (For comments/reactions please send to Ms. Villafuerte’s email: villafuerte_nelly@yahoo.com).