In the works

EDITORIAL

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05/17/2007

Malacañang is said to be fuming mad over the media coverage of the elections, as media show the many election irregularities, along with poll violence, as well as the exit polls showing a clear anti-administration vote, with the exit polls showing a 6-4-2 result, although it really should have been 7-3-2, favoring the Genuine Opposition, as the Palace, clearly aided by the Abalos-led poll body, os doing everything to blank out GO candidate Alan Peter Cayetano.

That this is major work of wrecking the GO bet’s electoral win of the Palace can be traced to the fact that the Department of Education (DepEd) had even issued a memorandum to all the teachers who were to serve as election inspectors/registrars to the effect that all votes that say “Cayetano” should not be read and are deemed stray votes.

What business does the DepEd have in ordering its teachers to do such? And the DepEd is under Gloria. Is there any other doubt that there is a move to blank out Cayetano from the winning Senate slate, and naturally, to put in his stead, Gloria’s bet?

Then too, TV caught on video a green van in the Pasig area, where the canvassing was to be held. The van was later found to have carried election returns (ERs) of both the dominant majority (Lakas) and minority parties (LP-GO) that Malacañang had reportedly ordered the MMDA chief, Bayani Fernando, to deliver.

The question is, why were the ERs supposedly for the minority party with Malacañang?

Naturally, by the time Comelec chief Benjamin Abalos Sr. came into the picture, the claim was reduced to claim that the ERs found belong to the Lakas party.

Malacañang is mad because what Gloria wanted to project to the world was that the conduct of elections was fair, clean, peaceful and orderly, which was really far from that image. Besides, the cheating always is in the canvassing of votes, which cheating no doubt, is already in the works at this time. It wouldn’t surprise anyone either if detained Magdalo leader Lt/SG Antonio Trillanes IV will also be made to lose, since his victory will be a big slap on Gloria and her military leaders’ faces.

But the reason Gloria and her candidates are visibly upset over the exit polls, the media quick count and at the moment, the National Movement for Free Elections count is that, unlike in 2004, Malacañang appears to have little control over the surveys and the media quick counts.

It will be recalled that during the 2004 presidential polls, there were early charges of manipulated pre-election survey results which showed Gloria winning the race. There was also the Metro Manila exit polls, which showed the metropolis vote going for Gloria, which was already questionable even then.

These National Capital Region exit polls, when the official count was finally out, the data were shown up to be contradictory to the actual count, as the opposition standard-bearer won the Metro Manila vote.

There were also reports on massive electoral fraud then, including the military generals’ participating in the cheating, along with reports of the Comelec commissioners themselves in the thick of massive electoral fraud. All these allegations were denied by Malacañang, with aides claiming that proof of her clean victory could be found in the survey results, the exit polls, the certificates of canvass (CoC), the national canvassing and the proclamation. Gloria even threw in the report of the foreign observers of clean polls, even when the report pointed to the fraud.

That there was massive fraud committed, and as reported by the Tribune then, was proved to be accurate — a year later, after the “Hello Garci” tapes were exposed, and which Gloria and her aides tried to cover up.

This time around, it is Malacañang and its Team Unity camp that are questioning the exit polls and the count, claiming the count is skewed and biased in favor of the opposition and that from its own count, there are anywhere from six to eight TU bets making it to the “Magic 12.”

This is, of course, what is to be brought about through the administration cheating machine. Already, there have been too many reports of the canvassing being delayed. This is the usual door of opportunity opened for the cheating operators to come in and alter the results, to favor the administration bets — from national to local.

The longer the delay in counting, the more likely the incidents of cheating through the fabricated ERs and CoC. Everybody knows just who has control over the cheating machine — and it certainly is not the opposition, which is definitely going to lose some of its seats already won.

If the elections were clean and honest, there is absolutely no reason for ballot boxes to be snatched, for ERs to be switched, for all these delays in canvassing, for all the political murders and other forms of political violence to happen , or even engage in vote-buying.

The polls are dirty and cheating is at play again.

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