BANTAY BOTO BULLETIN NO. 2

At the rate the newspapers and TV newscasts are exposing real evidence of electoral fraud since 29 May 2007, Bantay Boto ng Bayan cannot help but feel vindicated when it exposed the Oplan Mercury Rising. The numerous dagdag-bawas reports accurately quoting by the hundred thousands of vote leads for Team Unity candidates in the 13^th to the 16^th slots give due credence to the Oplan. The provinces where the calumny occurred are the same provinces mentioned in the Oplan. The named Comelec officials are the same persons identified in the Oplan.

1. The delay of the Comelec en banc as the National Board of Canvassers in tallying the provincial COCs and more specifically the canvassing slowdown, particularly in the Oplan Mercury Rising provinces are indicators that this major Oplan strategy is being implemented.

It has deferred canvassing in Maguindanao, Sulu, Caloocan City, Taguig-Pateros, Davao del Sur, North Cotabato, and South Cotabato for varied reasons, including allegations of massive cheating, yet no charges and complaints were filed against any Comelec and public official involved.

It has yet to receive CoCs from Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Shariff Kabunsuan, Lanao del Norte, Sultan Kudarat, and Surigao del Norte.

This delayed sequence and pattern of submitting and canvassing is the same as in the fraudulent 2004 elections and is one of the closing strategies of the Oplan.

2. Here is how this will affect the results of the 10th to the 12th slot of the senatorial elections:

a. Based on the latest tally this afternoon, the standings are:

10 Honasan	10,642,506
11 Trillanes:	10,270,345
12 Pimentel	10,055,335
13 Zubiri	9,905,764
14 Recto	9,745,485
15 Defensor	9,072,865
16 Pichay	9,836,825

The vote leads of:

Honasan (10)over Zubiri (13) is only 736,742.

Trillanes (11) over Recto (14) is only 524,860.

Pimentel (12) over Defensor (15) is only 982,470.

Pimentel (12 over Pichay (16) is only 1,218,510.

b. Where will the necessary vote leads come from except from the COCs of the Oplan Mercury Rising provinces that are currently delayed in canvassing or have not yet been received by the Comelec:

Basilan	181,373
Davao del Sur	1,232,053
Lanao del Norte	484,091
Lanao del Sur	722,396
Maguindanao	336,774
North Cotabato	556,474
Sharif Kabunsuan	198,280
South Cotabato	628,676
Sultan Kudarat	354,385
Sulu	250,387
Surigao del Norte	262,648
TOTAL	4,881,863

At 85% turn-out 4,149,584 > the Mindanao VOTE BANK of Oplan Mercury Rising

From this vote bank, it would be easy to “withdraw” even 1 million vote leads, as exemplified by the Maguindanao full fraud of a 12-0 shut-out.

3. Mike Defensor’s conceding is an opportune act that can be viewed as a tactic to cover up the Oplan’s real intent to replace rear-enders Grtingo Honasan, Koko Pimentel and Sonny Trillanes by Migz Zubiri, Ralph Recto and Pichay or Defensor. Such move of Defensor was presented to assuage the feeling of the Oppositionists but it may in effect be a diversionary move.

The Comelec and its deputized agencies have been duly forewarned that a repetition of the fraudulent 2004 elections will no longer be tolerated by the election watchdogs and the public. Their reaction was to merely push under the rug those highly classified but knowingly leaked intelligence of the Oplan. They asked for evidence. .

Now, the people, the election watchdogs, concerned media people and involved Board of Election Inspectors (as in Maguindanao) have come out of the open. Even Commissioner Sarmiento has been caught on TV with his “hands dipping on the [fraud] cookie jar.”

Comelec and their deputized agencies have only themselves to blame. They could have pre empted the peoples’ reaction. Now, there could be a backlash we all will regret.

The fraudulent acts committed and continue to be committed by Comelec with the active assistance of some military and police elements is a direct assault to the sacred freedom to choose their leaders through elections. Bantay Boto ng Bayan continuously receives urgent inputs and reports on the deplorable state of our democracy and the direct attack of our civil liberties. The challenge to remain calm is great to critical.

The people are now seeing the disastrous attack of the electoral system. The Administration and Comelec wants the people to believe the election is clean and honest. All of these are farce and insulting to our belief in democracy. People have started to protest. Again, the challenge to remain calm is blinding and deafening. Most of the agencies mandated by law to protect the state and the people sit idly by and watch the democratic process shattered by Comelec and its deputized agents. The law is clear.

We are sending a very strong message on the eventual and probable loss of Honasan, Trillanes and Pimentel, as clearly being shown by the current events.

We know that the rule of law will ultimately reign. Concerned Comelec officials must now choose whether they prefer the law of the jungle instead.

Bantay Boto ng Bayan is making this statement after due consultation with the convenors of the uniformed active and retired member organizations and with the explicit support from their allied civil society groups.

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Commodore ISMAEL D. APARRI (Ret.)

BANTAY BOTO NG BAYAN 31 May 2007

philippine election 2007