Tanggulang Demokrasya (TanDem), a
multisectoral coalition of civil society leaders, organizations and
institutions, was launched on May 26 in a press conference.The group
also rejected the further use of Smartmatic's PCOS machines in
future Philippine elections. In a statement, the group said that the
May 2010 elections ushered in a "mechanism for fraud," which
"betrayed the electorate" and "made a mockery of (Filipinos') right
of suffrage."
Among the guest speakers during the launch was Atty. Grace
Riñoza-Plazo of Ang Kapatiran Party, who lost in the May 2010
senatorial race. She believes that the PCOS machines were
compromised that even in her hometown of Nasugbu, Batangas, she got
very little votes. Atty. Plazo also called attention to Comelec's
election results website, which she claims showed erroneous results,
but was then corrected after her party spoke about it in the media
just after May 10, 2010.
Mr. Edmundo Casiño of the Philippine Computer Society made a
presentation on the security features of the PCOS machines
that were disabled in the run-up to the elections; how
provisions of the automation law were violated by the
Comelec in its implementation
of the automated system; and serious administrative lapses
committed by the Comelec in said implementation. Mr. Casiño
also expressed his belief that the source code of the
machines used already belongs to the Filipino people (and
not to the foreign technology provider), since it has
already been made to conform with the requirements of the
Philippine electoral system. It should therefore be made
available for review by Filipino organizations.
According to TanDem, their objectives are "to bring to
people's attention serious electoral crimes; to demand
accountability; and to seek an immediate rectification of
the corrupted Automated Electoral System (AES) before any
other automated elections are held." The group is calling
for the non-use of Smartmatic's PCOS in the ARMM election
scheduled for August.
Read TanDem's statement here:
http://bit.ly/lsOIh4
Below is TanDem's video presentation on Smartmatic's PCOS:
