While thousands of people converged in Makati yesterday (Feb 29) for the inter-faith rally seeking President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's ouster, the shape of the country's future leadership is being designed via the automated ARMM elections (August 11, 2008 as per RA 9333), a test pilot leading to the 2010 presidential elections (May 10, 2010).

In Resolution 8415 promulgated on February 6, 2008, the Commission on Elections enbanc resolved to accept the recommendation of the Advisory Council (created by Republic Act 9369 in January 23, 2007, to "recommend the most appropriate, secure, applicable, and cost-effective technology to be applied in the (Automated Election System), in whole or in part, at that specific form in time") that (1) the 2008 elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) be fully automated; (2) Decline the recommendation that DRE technology be used in only two cities or municipalities in the ARMM; and instead (3) use Direct Recording Electronic (DRE) Technology for the Province of Maguindanao, and Optical Mark Reader Technology (OMR) for the rest of the Autonomous Region.

With Automated Election Systems under question in many countries and DRE technology still under controversy in countries that have implemented them (especially in the US), the Philippine government is still pushing for a nation-wide Automated Election System, using taxpayers' money and the ARMM as guinea pig.

Remember that Maguindanao has not yet resolved its election irregularities in the May 2007 senatorial exercise, where Lintang Bedol, the province's former election supervisor who as also named in the infamous "Hello Garci" scandal, remains at large following an arrest order for contempt for continuously failing to explain why there were missing election documents in his area of assignment. The Arroyo administration's Team Unity recorded a controversial 12-0 sweep in Maguindanao, with 19 of 37 senatorial bets - including several leading opposition candidates - not getting a single vote in the entire province of about 200,000 voters.

Recently, Malaya newspaper came out with a report that the once dubbed "landmark" South China Exploration agreement to jointly explore parts of the disputed islands in the Spratlys is actually a "treacherous sellout of Philippine interest and Philippine sovereignty in exchange for overpriced loans for anomalous projects which include the ZTE-NBN deal, the North Rail and South Rail projects, the Department of Education's Cyber-Ed project among others."

According to Malaya columnist Ellen Tordesillas, the terms of this Exploration agreement, which began in 2004 as a "joint oil exploration", was to be sold to the public as the Arroyo administration's answer to rising oil prices. When the agreement ran counter the Constitutional prohibition that "the exploration, development, and utilization of natural resources shall be under the full control and supervision of the State", the term "seismic study" was used instead of "exploration."

Thus, Tordesillas reported, what was signed was an "Agreement By and Between the Philippine National Oil Company and the China National Offshore Oil Company on Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking in the South China Sea" to "gather and process data on stratigraphy, tectonics and structural fabric of the subsurface of the area."* (See Tordesillas on http://blogs.gmanews.tv/joe-torres/archives/33-Arroyo-deal-impacts-on-ba...)

The terms of such an agreement was never made public nor the exact location of the seismic study area revealed.

February 26, following the Malaya report, detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV filed Resolution No. 309 asking a Senate probe into the agreement signed by President Arroyo with China.

In the midst of ouster and resign Arroyo campaigns, the scrutiny for truth and accountability in the numerous deals and machinations within government must not be overrun by "People Power." There are so many issues that have not yet found proper closure: cheating in the 2004 Presidential elections, the Hello Garci Scandal, the Fertilizer Funds Scam, the controversial $503-million North Rail project, the anomalies in the 2007 Senatorial elections, and now the NBN/ZTE deal where ZTE allegedly paid $41 million in kickbacks to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, her husband and the so-called "Gang of Four."

Evidently, the US is interested in Senate probes, not so much for stamping out corruption and restoring the integrity of our political systems, but in the interest of its own power within the region.

February 18, United States ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney described the ZTE controversy investigations as a "lively, noisy democracy." She even likened the controversy to the US presidential campaign. (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/81025/ZTE-controversy-Lively-noisy-democracy...) But if only the Automated Election Systems be subjected to just the same noise! Why isn't this under scrutiny? And what else in going on in Mindanao that leaves the US seemingly not so much interested in the gas field just off Palawan?

Whilst north of the country is being sold to Chinese interests, the south is being sold to the US's, with corrupt local political patsies getting their share of the deals. But at the end of the day, the one who controls the election controls the country.

Relevant Links:

COMELEC Website http://www.comelec.gov.ph/index.html
James Jimenez COMELEC Spokesperson http://jimenez.wordpress.com/
COMELEC Blog http://comelec.wordpress.com/