Source: https://www.scribd.com/document/139510838/Election-Communication-to-the-UN
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 14:43:14+00:00

Document:
1) The authors argue that exhaustion of domestic remedies has been satisfied on account of three (3) separate cases filed by some of the Authors before the Philippine Supreme Court--- the highest judicial body in the Philippines--- which were all decided with finality.
Please see Roque, et al. v. COMELEC, et al., Philippine Supreme Court case G.R. No. 188456, September 10, 2009. The Philippine Supreme Court Decision on this case can be accessed online at http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2009/september2009/188456.htm.
Please see Roque, et al. v. COMELEC, et al., Philippine Supreme Court case G.R. No. 188456, September 10, 2009. The Philippine Supreme Court Decision on this case can be accessed online at http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2009/september2009/188456.htm. 5 Please see Roque, et al. v. COMELEC, et al., Philippine Supreme Court case G.R. No. 188456, September 10, 2009. The Philippine Supreme Court Decision on this case can be accessed online at http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2009/september2009/188456.htm.
The 10 February 2012 Resolution of the Philippine Supreme Court in Roque, et al. v. COMELEC, et al., can be accessed online at http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2010/february2010/188456.htm. 7 Id. 8 Please see CENPEG v. COMELEC, Philippine Supreme Court case G.R. No. 189546, September 21, 2010. 9 G.R. No. 189546, Sept. 21, 2010.
Please see CENPEG v. 189546, September 21, 2010. 11 Id.
Id. BISHOP LEO A. SORIANO, QUINTIN S. DOROMAL, FE MARIA ARRIOLA, SERRANO, and ENGR. RODOLFO LOZADA.
Please see Guingona, et al. v. COMELEC, Philippine Supreme Court case G.R. No. 191846. The Philippine Supreme Court 06 May 2010 Decision can be accessed online at http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2010/may2010/191846.htm.
13) Further, the Philippine Supreme Court in Guingona, Jr. v. COMELEC,15 noted that just days before the 10 May 2010 automated Philippine elections, COMELEC still failed to disclose the source code for the PCOS to interested parties as mandated by Section 12, of R.A. 9262. As noted by the Supreme Court: Petitioners in Roque v. Comelec11 in fact pressed Comelec for a source code review. To this day, however, Comelec has yet to disclose the source code as mandated by law. In any case, considering the lack of material time, the Court in the exercise of its equity jurisdiction may even dispense with the requirement of proof of a prior demand in this case.16 (Emphasis and underscoring supplied) 14) Moreover, the Philippine Supreme Court took judicial notice of an alarming event in Guingona, Jr. v. COMELEC,17 specifically the recall of 76,000 compact flash cards, to wit: The Court further takes judicial notice of the fact, as widely reported in print and broadcast media, that with just six days to go before the 10 May 2010 elections, Comelec recalled 76,000 compact flash cards following widespread failure of the PCOS machines to read and tally the votes during the machine test conducted by Comelec and Smartmatic. Comelec spokesman James Jimenez was quoted as saying, Right now we are assuming that all of the machines were affected. We have stopped the testing and are pulling out all memory cards for reconfiguration.18 15) The Authors have not submitted examination under any other procedure investigation or settlement.
Id. Id. G.R. No. 191846, May 6, 2010. Id.
Government, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines, for the exclusive purpose of ensuring free, orderly, honest, peaceful, and credible elections. 5. Register, after sufficient publication, political parties, organizations, or coalitions which, in addition to other requirements, must present their platform or program of government; and accredit citizens' arms of the Commission on Elections. Religious denominations and sects shall not be registered. Those which seek to achieve their goals through violence or unlawful means, or refuse to uphold and adhere to this Constitution, or which are supported by any foreign government shall likewise be refused registration. Financial contributions from foreign governments and their agencies to political parties, organizations, coalitions, or candidates related to elections, constitute interference in national affairs, and, when accepted, shall be an additional ground for the cancellation of their registration with the Commission, in addition to other penalties that may be prescribed by law. 6. File, upon a verified complaint, or on its own initiative, petitions in court for inclusion or exclusion of voters; investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute cases of violations of election laws, including acts or omissions constituting election frauds, offenses, and malpractices. 7. Recommend to the Congress effective measures to minimize election spending, including limitation of places where propaganda materials shall be posted, and to prevent and penalize all forms of election frauds, offenses, malpractices, and nuisance candidacies.
8. Recommend to the President the removal of any officer or employee it has deputized, or the imposition of any other disciplinary action, for violation or disregard of, or disobedience to, its directive, order, or decision. 9. Submit to the President and the Congress, a comprehensive report on the conduct of each election, plebiscite, initiative, referendum, or recall.
SEC. 12. Section 10 of Republic Act No. 8436 is hereby amended to read as follows: "SEC.14. Examination and Testing of Equipment or Device of the AES and Opening of the Source Code for Review. - The Commission shall allow the political parties and candidates or their representatives, citizens' arm or their representatives to examine and test. "The equipment or device to be used in the voting and counting on the day of the electoral exercise, before voting start. Test ballots and test forms shall be provided by the Commission. "Immediately after the examination and testing of the equipment or device, parties and candidates or their representatives, citizen's arms or their representatives, may submit a written comment to the election officer who shall immediately transmit it to the Commission for appropriate action. "The election officer shall keep minutes of the testing, a copy of which shall be submitted to the Commission together with the minute of voting." "Once an AES technology is selected for implementation, the Commission shall promptly make the source code of that technology available and open to any interested political party or groups which may conduct their own review thereof." (Emphasis and underscoring supplied) 20) The source code for the AES is essential and very important since it is the mind of the AES. A source code is defined in Section 2 of RA 9369 as the "human readable instructions that define what the computer equipment will do."
21) On 07 January 2009, COMELEC submitted to the Department of Budget and Management a P13.9 Billion-budget for the automation of the May 2010 Philippine elections. 22) On 05 March 2009, the Philippine Senate passed the P11.3 Billion supplemental budget for the automation of the May 2010 Philippine elections. 23) On 19 March 2009, eleven (11) prospective bidders obtained bid documents from COMELEC for the automation of the May 2010 Philippine elections. Only seven (7) bidders passed the bidding requirements. 24) On 24 March 2009, Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law Republic Act No. 9295 which allocates funds for the automation of the May 2010 Philippine elections. 25) On 30 March 2009, COMELEC held a pre-bidding conference. 26) On 04 May 2009, COMELEC conducted the public bidding, originally set on April 27. The bidding was moved to another date due to the request of four bidders which needed additional time to modify their respective proposals. 27) The COMELEC- Special Bids and Awards Committee (COMELEC-SBAC) disqualified Avante and Indra Systems Consortium for failure to comply with bid requirements. Indra Sistemas S.A, Hart Intercivic and Strategic Alliance Holdings Inc. did not submit an ISO certification. Avante was stricken out of the list after it failed to submit documents proving that it has engaged in three similar projects.
Please see CENPEG v. 189546, September 21, 2010.
political party or groups which may conduct their own review thereof.20 32) On 27 May 2009, the consortium of Smartmatic and Total Information Management (TIM) allegedly met the COMELEC bid requirements and offered the lowest bid at P7.2 Billion. 33) Nevertheless, Smartmatic violated the Bid Specifications of COMELEC by not putting in their Financial Bid any amount for the provision of the Digital Signatures of the Board of Election Inspectors- therefore making Smartmatics proposed Automated Election System non-compliant with RA 9369 and COMELECs Terms of Reference (TOR). 34) It was clear in Bid Bulletin No. 10, issued in April 2009 by COMELEC that Smartmatic was supposed to propose a WORM (write once, read many) Technology for data storage, but instead Smartmatic used the compact flash (CF) Cards which can be written over many times and therefore non-compliant. 35) Just like Avante and Indra, Smartmatic International, the Registered Bidder, is not ISO-Certified. Smartmatic used the ISO Certification of Jarltech of Taiwan, one of their Suppliers, which was not a member of the Smartmatic-TIM Consortium. But when Jarltech could not manufacture the required number of PCOS machines on the specified time-table, they dropped Jarltech and got a manufacturer in China. 36) Smartmatic is not the owner of the Technology but outsourced the Automated Election System to Dominion International, in violation of the Bid Specification of COMELEC and the Philippine Procurement Law.
Please see CENPEG v. 189546, September 21, 2010. 28 Id.
Id. Please see Roque, et al. v. COMELEC, et al., Philippine Supreme Court case G.R. No. 188456, September 10, 2009. The Philippine Supreme Court Decision on this case can be accessed online at http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2009/september2009/188456.htm. 31 Please see Roque, et al. v. COMELEC, et al., Philippine Supreme Court case G.R. No. 188456, September 10, 2009. The Philippine Supreme Court Decision on this case can be accessed online at http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2009/september2009/188456.htm. 32 Id. 33 The 10 February 2012 Resolution of the Philippine Supreme Court in Roque, et al. v. COMELEC, et al., can be accessed online at http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2010/february2010/188456.htm.
G.R. No. 189546, September 21, 2010. G.R. No. 189546, September 21, 2010. 36 BISHOP LEO A. SORIANO, QUINTIN S. DOROMAL, FE MARIA ARRIOLA, SERRANO, and ENGR. RODOLFO LOZADA.
Please see Guingona, et al. v. COMELEC, Philippine Supreme Court case G.R. No. 191846. The Philippine Supreme Court 06 May 2010 Decision can be accessed online at http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2010/may2010/191846.htm. 38 Id.
Id. G.R. No. 191846, May 6, 2010. Id.
Please see CENPEG v. COMELEC, 189546, September 21, 2010. 43 G.R. No. 189546, Sept. 21, 2010.
see CENPEG v. COMELEC, 189546, September 21, 2010. 45 G.R. No. 189546, Sept. 21, 2010.
Please see CENPEG v. 189546, September 21, 2010. 47 Id. 48 Id.
(Attached as ANNEX E are relevant pages of the redacted version of the Smartmatic complaint filed last 11 September 2012 in the US.) 67) As of now, no such source code has been made available to CenPEG, to the Authors, or to the Filipino public. 68) In a 17 February 2013 Philippine Star online news, it reported that the Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) composed of the COMELEC, the Department of Science and Technology and the Commission on Information and Communications Technologyin a resolution noticed the lack of [a] certified source code50 69) Moreover, in the same 17 February 2013 news report, even the current COMELEC Chairman Sixto Brillantes admitted that: One argument is that in 2010, we had an election although no one actually saw the source code. Nobody even knew what was inside the Central Bank (where the source code was supposedly kept), he said. 51 (A copy of the 17 February 2013 Philippine Star online news is herein attached as ANNEX F.) 70) The same AES provided by Smartmatic and TIM during the May 2010 elections will be used by COMELEC for the forthcoming 13 May 2013 automated Philippine elections.
Last accessed 20 February 2013. 50 http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2013/02/17/909767/comelec-no-more-mock-elections Last accessed 20 February 2013. 51 http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2013/02/17/909767/comelec-no-more-mock-elections Last accessed 20 February 2013.
73) The Philippines is a state party to the ICCPR. Hence, it has the treaty obligation to ensure the Authors right to the free expression of their will as electors---as guaranteed under Article 25 of the ICCPR, during the past 10 May 2010 and the forthcoming 13 May 2013 automated elections.
General Comment No. 25, Article 25: Participation in Public Affairs and the Right to Vote, Human Rights Committee, 57th Session, U.N. Doc. No. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.7 (07/12/1996) (hereinafter General Comment No. 25), par. 20.
22. State reports should indicate what measures they have adopted to guarantee genuine, free and periodic elections and how their electoral system or systems guarantee and give effect to the free expression of the will of the electors. Reports should describe the electoral system and explain how the different political views in the community are represented in elected bodies. Reports should also describe the laws and procedures which ensure that the right to vote can in fact be freely exercised by all citizens and indicate how the secrecy, security and validity of the voting process are guaranteed by law. The practical implementation of these guarantees in the period covered by the report should be explained. 53 (Emphasis and underscoring supplied) 76) Hence, the General Comment No. 25 of this Committee implies that these guarantees that should be indicated in the report by State parties, are indispensable in their fulfillment of their state obligations under Article 25 of the ICCPR. 77) Nevertheless, the Philippines violated the Authors right to the free expression of their will as electors during the 10 May 2010 automated elections, and continues to violate such right in its conduct of the 13 May 2013 automated elections.
Comment : Chief,	how	were	the	following,	in	correct	terms,	violated?	A)	secrecy	b)security	c)	validity	of	the	voting	process?
General Comment No. 25, Article 25: Participation in Public Affairs and the Right to Vote, Human Rights Committee, 57th Session, U.N. Doc. No. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.7 (07/12/1996) (hereinafter General Comment No. 25), par. 22.
VALIDITY OF THE VOTES MADE OR MIGHT BE MADE BY THE AUTHORS.
Commission. For this purpose, there is hereby created an information technology department in the Commission to carry out the full administration and implementation of the System. The Commission shall take immediate steps as may be necessary for the acquisition, installation, administration, storage, and maintenance of equipment and devices, and to promulgate the necessary rules and regulations for the effective implementation of this Act. (Emphasis and underscoring supplied) 80) COMELECs constitutional mandate is consistent with the Philippines state obligation under Article 25 of the ICCPR to ensure the Authors right to the free expression of their will as electors. Relating this to the Committees General Comment No. 25, the Philippinesthrough COMELECshould have ensured the secrecy, security and validity of the voting process. 81) Thus, the Philippines violated Article 25 of the ICCPR when COMELEC abdicated its constitutional mandate (a) to enforce and administer all laws relative to the conduct of elections, and (b) to decide all questions affecting elections, by signing the 10 July 2009 Contract with Smartmatic. 82) And Article 3.3 of the 10 July 2009 Contract stipulates that Smartmatic shall be in charge of the technical aspects of the counting and canvassing software and hardware, including transmission configuration and system integration (Attached as ANNEX G is a copy of the 10 July 2009 Contract). Quoting Article 3.3 of the 10 July 2009 Contract: Article 3.3 The PROVIDER shall be liable for all its obligations under this Project, and the performance of portions thereof by other persons or entities not parties to this Contract shall not relieve the PROVIDER of said obligations and concomitant liabilities.
might be made by the Authors during the May 2010 Philippine elections.
GAVE CONTROL OF THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE KEYS TO ALL THE PCOS MACHINES TO SMARTMATIC, AGAIN COMPROMISING THE SECRECY, SECURITY AND VALIDITY OF THE VOTES MADE OR MIGHT BE MADE BY THE AUTHORS.
21.4 This Contract, together with the Contract Documents, constitutes the entire agreement between the parties. xxx56 92) A contractual stipulation that gives Smartmatic and TIM the power to assign the digital signatures to all the members of the BEIs, the BOCs, the COMELEC, the Senate President, and the Speaker, clearly gives complete control of the 10 May 2010 elections to an entity other than COMELEC.
Bid Bulletin No. 10, issued by Public Respondent COMELEC-SBAC on 15 April 2009. Id. Pp. 21-22 of 10 July 2009 Contract.
Pp. 6-7 of the 10 July 2009 Contract.
Quoted in footnote no. 42 of the Dissenting Opinion of Justice Antonio T. Carpio citing Prof. Manalastas at http://pmana.multiply.com/journal/item/68/Harry_Roque_vs_COMELECSmartmatic.
Please see footnote no. 42 of the Dissenting Opinion of Justice Antonio T. Carpio citing Manuel A. Alcuaz, Jr., Mapping the Future: Is the Smartmatic-TIM-COMELEC Contract FrontLoaded, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 20 July 2009, p.B2-2.
Once an AES technology is selected for implementation, the Commission shall promptly make the source code of that technology available and open to any interested political party or groups which may conduct their own review thereof.
G.R. No. 191846, May 6, 2010.
Id. G.R. No. 191846, May 6, 2010. Id. G.R. No. 189546, Sept. 21, 2010.
that for the DCS, since the DCS was a "system used in processing the Lists of Voters which is not part of the voting, counting and canvassing systems contemplated by R.A. 9369." According to COMELEC, if the source code for the DCS were to be divulged, unscrupulous individuals might change the program and pass off an illicit one that could benefit certain candidates or parties. Still, the COMELEC apparently did not release even the kinds of source code that it said it was approving for release. Consequently, on July 13, 2009, CenPEG once more asked COMELEC for the source code of the PCOS, together with other documents, programs, and diagrams related to the AES. CenPEG sent follow-up letters on July 17 and 20 and on August 24, 2009. On August 26, 2009 COMELEC replied that the source code CenPEG wanted did not yet exist for the following reasons: 1) that it had not yet received the baseline source code of the provider, Smartmatic, since payment to it had been withheld as a result of a pending suit; 2) its customization of the baseline source code was targeted for completion in November 2009 yet; 3) under Section 11 of R.A. 9369, the customized source code still had to be reviewed by "an established international certification entity," which review was expected to be completed by the end of February 2010; and 4) only then would the AES be made available for review under a controlled environment. Rejecting COMELECs excuse, on October 5, 2009 CenPEG filed the present petition for mandamus, seeking to compel COMELEC to immediately make its source codes available to CenPEG and other interested parties.67 108) Hence, on 21 September 2010or four (4) months after the 10 May 2010 automated elections, this Supreme Court issued a Resolution in Center for People Empowerment in Governance v.
G.R. No. 189546, Sept. 21, 2010.
Id. http://www.scribd.com/doc/110048368/Smartmatic-Complaint-Vs-Dominion Last accessed 20 February 2013. 71 http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2013/02/17/909767/comelec-no-more-mock-elections Last accessed 20 February 2013.
One argument is that in 2010, we had an election although no one actually saw the source code. Nobody even knew what was inside the Central Bank (where the source code was supposedly kept), he said. 72 114) Hence, it is clear that there is no method by which to determine whether the votes by the Authors during the 10 May 2010 elections were counted accurately by the source codes used by Smartmatic. Since the source codes were not made available to the public---as mandated by law, and consequently never reviewed by interested parties, these source codes remain suspect.
116) Alas, the serious omissions committed by the Philippines through the Comelec in the 2010 elections are once again present in the forthcoming May 13, 2013 elections.
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2013/02/17/909767/comelec-no-more-mock-elections Last accessed 20 February 2013. 73 G.R. No. 189546, Sept. 21, 2010. 74 Id.
H. HARRY L. ROQUE, JR.

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