Letter to the President re: Commissioner Gus Lagman

April 20, 2012

Dear Mr. President,

We are deeply disappointed in your decision not to re-appoint Augusto (Gus) Lagman as a Commissioner in the Comelec, and would like to add our voices to the clamor for you to reconsider that decision.

Mr. President, the explanation by Sec. Ricky Carandang as to the basis for your decision does not make sense – to spare Gus the humiliation of a rejection by the Commission on Appointments.

That suggests that there are valid grounds for rejecting which he would not want to make public. Yet what we get from Sec. Carandang’s statement is that there were feelers from some members of the House that Gus would be rejected by the Commission on Appointments without mentioning on what grounds. The only hint was a euphemistic reference by Sec. Carandang to a “difference of opinion” between Gus and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile with respect to the 1987 senatorial elections.

We assume that when you appointed Gus, you did a thorough background check on his integrity and competence and that he passed both tests. Gus was endorsed overwhelmingly by the IT community, by people who worked as volunteers in election watchdog organizations the past 28 years, by the business community, church groups, etc. because he was well-known in all those circles as an indefatigable volunteer who was at the center of citizen parallel count operations.

Gus has served our country well. He should be allowed to defend himself publicly from any accusation on his integrity and competence and the President should be the first to uphold that right by re- appointing him and sending out the message to his allies in the Congress that they better have valid grounds to reject him.

Does not “daan na matuwid” also mean that those who are willing to serve the government and have the integrity and competence to do so should be protected from the dirt of politics or the whims of politicians that cannot stand critical public scrutiny? Instead, Gus was unceremoniously set aside even if he was willing to be subjected to the harshest of possible treatment by the Commission of Appointments because he was confident that he could answer the accusations before the public. Are not people like him worthy of presidential support? Isn’t this a good opportunity to test the efficacy of the system of confirmation which is supposed not only to safeguard the public interest from unworthy nominees but is also designed to lay bare for the public to see whenever the process is used for self- aggrandizement and political blackmail?

Mr. President, we reiterate our appeal to you to reconsider your decision. We are certain, that Gus will serve this country and your government well at the Comelec, even as a lonely advocate of alternatives to public choices or as a trusted sentinel in the system of checks and balances in government institutions, particularly those with broad constitutional powers like the Comelec, and are, therefore, prone to abuse, corruption and backroom double-dealing. If you allow Gus to be cast aside for unsubstantiated and obscure reasons, the message to the Comelec is “business as usual”. That is going to be bad for the future of our electoral system, and disastrous for your Daan Na Tuwid.

Solita Collas-Monsod
Chairman
Movement for Good Governance

Milwida M. Guevara
Former Undersecretary Department of Finance

Download a signed copy of the letter here.

If the letter captures your spirit and sentiment, please authorize us to include your name as a signatory to this letter by sending us an email. You may opt to send us an electronic copy of your signature by email or you may send us a copy of the letter with your name, designation, and signature, by fax (898-2617).

Please feel free to forward this appeal to your friends and colleagues. Kindly request them to send their authorization to me personally, mguevara@synergeia.org.ph

A very good man needs our support.

Reasons to renew Gus Lagman’s appointment By Solita Collas-Monsod

In the interest of justice and fair play. In the interest of safeguarding the Philippine electoral system. In the interest of truth. Any and all of the above are reasons to justify the imperative to renew the appointment of Augusto “Gus” Lagman to the Commission on Elections, until such time as the Commission on Appointments (CA) passes on the merits of his nomination to the position.

Why should the renewal of Gus’ appointment to the Comelec serve in the interest of safeguarding the country’s electoral system? Let me count the ways.

First of all, Gus is arguably the most experienced among the present Comelec members in working for clean, honest and fair elections. He was active with the National Citizens Movement for Free Elections practically from its inception at the end of 1983 and was in charge of Namfrel’s Operation Quick Count (OQC), a parallel unofficial count based on official precinct results. He remained a Namfrel volunteer in charge of OQC for at least nine separate electoral exercises.

Second, Gus was at the forefront of the move to automate elections, together with the local IT community, of which he was an acknowledged leader. He studied the systems, their advantages and disadvantages, the safeguards necessary, and the financial resources that were required. So if anyone knows the ins and outs of automation, Gus is it.

He was sincere in trying to help the Comelec from the outside, but had the tiresome habit of blowing the whistle when Comelec contracts were overpriced, or when products and services were being contracted unnecessarily or in an irregular manner. It was he and his group who filed suit in the Supreme Court (in 2001) to nullify a contract crafted by Benjamin Abalos for automated voting machines—a suit he won, to Abalos’ great chagrin. In other words, he seems to be among the first to have recognized Abalos’ penchant for arranging contracts that would later turn out to be disadvantageous to us.

Why should the renewal of Gus’ appointment to the Comelec serve in the interest of justice and fair play? Here’s the answer: His predecessors in the Comelec (his was the most recent appointment) all had their day in court, so to speak, in the sense of having been given the opportunity to appear before the CA and submit to its scrutiny, even if it meant the repeated renewal of their ad interim appointments.

Examples: people like Manolo Gorospe (of “Kissing Lolo” notoriety), whose “ad interim” appointment was renewed at least nine times by President Fidel Ramos before the CA confirmed him. Or Luz Tancangco, who accused Namfrel of rigging the 1987 elections, but whose “research” and “analysis” were torn to bits by her colleagues in the academe (UP), who pointed to her sloppy methodology and conclusions unsupported by the data. In other words, there was no basis for finding that Namfrel cheated. Nevertheless, she too, had her day in court with the CA, which, one is sorry to say, confirmed her appointment (her “padron” was a presidential brother-in-law).

In contrast, Gus Lagman with an impeccable reputation in the IT community and civil society, has not been given the opportunity to face his detractors and defend himself in the CA. Supposedly because Malacañang wants to spare him from the “humiliation” of rejection by the CA (hey, folks, Gus is a big boy, and can take the blows).

And what does Malacañang say is the reason Gus will be rejected? Because, believe it or not, there is a “difference of opinion” between Gus and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile (JPE) with respect to the 1987 senatorial elections.

Rejected because of a difference of opinion? Incredible.

Finally, why should the renewal of Gus’ appointment be in the interest of truth? Answer: Because the CA hearings will, hopefully, bring it out. Assuming that the “difference of opinion” between him and JPE regarding elections held 25 years ago is indeed the reason for his rejection, we will find out what exactly is this difference of opinion.

Apparently, Gus (and Namfrel) is accused of cheating the opposition senatorial candidates in 1987—by padding the votes of each of the 24 administration candidates by 2 million votes. The basis for this belief? A computer diskette supposedly from Namfrel headquarters, which gives explicit instructions (how convenient!) to that effect.

The charge was made by Homobono Adaza at that time (even while the Quick Count was still going on). My daughter, Toby, was in OQC, and she recalls how strict Gus was with regard to validating precinct tally forms before posting them on the board. In any case, when apprised of the charge, Gus had a simple answer: He invited Adaza to bring his “diskette,” and compared its “count” with the Namfrel one. Gus gave three conditions: that the audit be done by an independent auditor, that the recount be done in front of the media, and that should the Adaza diskette prove to be fake, there be a public apology from the opposition candidates. There was no response to his invitation (the Tancangco charges—discredited—came four years later).

Understand, Reader, that if indeed Gus was involved in those machinations, the implication is that Cory Aquino (who was President then), her Comelec, and Namfrel were all in conspiracy to cheat the public.

Which would mean that Namfrel and its hundreds of thousands of volunteers participated in cheating, that Cory and people power were a sham, that Cory was a cheat, and that Marcos must therefore have won the election in 1986.

A revision of history. With P-Noy’s blessing, albeit unwitting.

This article appeared in Prof. Monsod’s column “Get Real” in the Philippine Daily Inquirer published on April 20, 2012.

My stint as Comelec commission​er has ended – Gus Lagman

The following is an e-mail sent by Gus Lagman to friends after his appointment as commissioner was rejected by the Commission on Appointments. It has been published on the MGG website with his permission.

To my friends,

Without a new appointment, I cease to be a Comelec commissioner.

It is common knowledge among senators, Malacanang officials, and some members of the Lower House, that Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Chairman of the Commission on Appointments, will reject the confirmation of my ad interim appointment as commissioner of the Commission on Elections. As such, Malacanang explained to me that they thought it best not to renew my appointment in order to save me from having to go through the ordeal of a confirmation hearing where I could be rejected. I truly appreciate their concern and, initially, I also thought that that would be best. However, after thinking about it the last few days, I am now convinced that I would much prefer to be given my day in court, i.e., go through the confirmation process despite the risk of a rejection.

JPE’s objection goes all the way back to 1987 … 25 years ago! It’s about time the truth comes out and the matter finally put to rest. The question is … what is JPE’s issue with me?

The following letter that I submitted to Sen. Koko Pimentel’s Senate committee in January, 2012, explains everything. JPE was furnished a copy of the letter and I understand that he has read it. Malacanang was also sent a copy.

January 26, 2012

Hon. Aquilino “Koko” L. Pimentel III
Senator, Republic of the Philippines and
Chairman, Committee on Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation
City of Manila

Dear Senator Pimentel:

During the January 19, 2012 Public Hearing called by the Select Oversight Committee on Suffrage joint with the Committee on Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile brought up the matter of how he and the Grand Alliance for Democracy (GAD) candidates were cheated  in the 1987 Senatorial  elections.

I am aware of GAD’s belief that NAMFREL manipulated the results of the 1987 Operation Quick Count (OQC) to favor the candidates of then President Cory Aquino’s political party. Since I was involved in the management of that parallel count, I made a brief remark during the hearing, in our defense. (I managed the automated parallel counts of NAMFREL from 1984 to 2007, a total of ten elections.) I also promised to submit to the committee a detailed response and an explanation of this accusation.

What are the specifics of this issue?

After the 1987 senatorial elections, some of the losing candidates accused NAMFREL of having manipulated the results of the OQC in order to favor the administration candidates. They claimed that while the NAMFREL count was unofficial, the trend that it set was meant to prepare the public’s mind to accept the also-manipulated COMELEC results. Why NAMFREL would be put to task in such a conspiracy more than the COMELEC, whose count was official and therefore determined the winners, is still puzzling to NAMFREL to this day.

The accusation is that NAMFREL added 10,000 votes per district to each of the administration candidates. Based on 200 districts, that would mean that 2 million votes were added to each of them. To prove the claim, they produced a diskette, supposedly containing a copy of NAMFREL’s computer programs. They even showed the program listing on TV, focusing on the specific instructions that did the adding. Sure enough, there were instructions for the computer to add 10,000 votes to each of the administration candidates, presumably per district. To further prove their point, they brought attention to the program name, which was “Magic”.

With all due respect to those who believe the accusation to be true, we would like to state that they were apparently misinformed on the issue. Please consider the following:

  1. Adding 2 million votes to one candidate would be extremely difficult to hide; adding 2 million votes to each of twenty-four candidates would be too obvious. Sigurado pong bubukol ito! Especially because in 1987, there were only half the voting population today.
  2. If NAMFREL even tried to commit a small part of what was claimed, it would have faced a walk-out – short of a mutiny – of its volunteers that would have been much bigger than the 1986 walk-out at the PICC. NAMFREL’s volunteers at Greenhills were young, intelligent, and very idealistic. They would have easily detected it and strongly protested against it!
  3. If there was such an operation, it would have been a big conspiracy between COMELEC officials and NAMFREL, with Malacanang involvement. This operation would have been bigger than the “Hello Garci” fiasco, where only a million votes and one candidate were involved.
  4. The members of the Commission on Elections then were: Ramon H. Felipe, Jr., Chairman; Haydee B. Yorac; Leopoldo L. Africa; Anacleto D. Badoy; Andres R. Flores; Dario C. Rama; Tomas V. de la Cruz. On the other hand, the NAMFREL chairman then was Christian S. Monsod. It is very difficult to imagine that these people would agree to engage in any cheating.
  5. If the objective of this grand conspiracy was to make the 24 administration candidates win, (the “program” they showed on TV was supposed to add 2 million votes to each of them) then something must have gone very wrong because two candidates from the opposition won – now Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and former President Joseph Estrada.
  6. In 1987, “hacking” was not even a computer-related word. Make the same accusation today and the public would most likely ignore it or assume that someone hacked NAMFREL’s program before it was shown on TV. (Today, even pictures can easily be “photoshopped”.)
  7. Actually, even then, it was quite simple to disprove the accusation. NAMFREL had already published its final results at that time and our input data were still intact. All that was needed was : to re-run our program using the same input data … and that would surely have produced the same results as what we have published; and then to run their version of our program using the same input data … which would have produced results showing 2 million votes more for the administration candidates, thus proving that their version of our computer program was modified. This exercise would have easily proven the accusation to be wrong. NAMFREL publicly challenged the accusers to engage in such tests, but they never took it up. Thus, their “myth” remained alive.

And because the “myth” remained alive, some people took advantage of it. One such was Luzviminda Tancangco, who, three years later, wrote a supposedly “academic” study, which study was debunked by noted U.P. professors (Drs. Jose Encarnacion, Mercedes Concepcion, Mahar Mangahas, Raul Fabella), basically saying that it was a badly-conceived paper.

Now, what actually happened?

Apparently, two of our volunteers at Greenhills copied NAMFREL’s computer programs, added instructions to it (which, most people know now, is so easy to do; any programmer with a few months programming experience could have done it), then “sold” it to our accusers. The latter then came out in public denouncing NAMFREL for trending and for conspiring with the COMELEC to cheat.

How were they able to get a copy? Well, as in elections previous to 1987, nothing was kept secret to the volunteers. Any volunteer, therefore, who knew a little about computers, could copy any program that he wanted. Each PC that was used had a copy of the programs. (No networking yet.) Security was not an issue at that time. Obviously, now it is. An investigation that was conducted by NAMFREL’s Systems Group pointed to two of our volunteers – brothers, in fact – as the primary suspects. We didn’t have enough hard evidence, however, to bother seeking them out although we did publicly challenge them to the test mentioned earlier.

What about the program name “Magic”? Unfortunately, that was really the name that the NAMFREL programmer chose. Before he became a programmer, he was a basketball player in a minor league. According to him, his idol was Magic Johnson. He even nicknamed his first son Magic. And it was after his son that he named this particular program. Bad choice! But who would have thought that that innocent choice would put NAMFREL’s reputation in jeopardy?

I would like to thank you and the committee for this opportunity to relate the real story behind this “myth”. Should there be points in the above explanation that need to be further clarified, please let me know. I would be very happy to meet with you to make the necessary clarifications. Otherwise, I hope that this issue can finally be put to rest.

Sincerely,

Augusto C. Lagman

I was officially with the Commission for ten months and nineteen days. I believe I was able to make significant contributions to the work of the Comelec during my stay. I am preparing a report about it that I will also send to all of you soon. My only regret now that I’m gone is that being the only IT person among the Commissioners, there’s a lot more that I know I can contribute towards the improvement of its operations.

Gus Lagman

MGG supports competitive public bidding for 2013 AES; Calls for disqualification of Smartmatic-TIM

PRESS RELEASE

MGG supports competitive public bidding for 2013 AES; Calls for disqualification of Smartmatic-TIM

The Movement for Good Governance (MGG), a coalition of reform advocates, joined the urgent call of various citizen groups for a more secure Automated Election System (AES) for the 2013 polls.

MGG, through its Chair, Solita “Winnie” Monsod, expressed the view that Smartmatic-TIM’s track record made entering into another contract with the technology provider simply unacceptable.

“The major technical and procedural lapses during the 2010 automated elections raise serious questions on the credibility of Smartmatic to secure its system against unauthorized network intrusions and unwitting loss of information,” said Monsod.

“A repeat performance by Smartmatic would once again throw into question the integrity of election results. As responsible citizens of this country we cannot allow the voting results to be compromised.”

MGG’s position is based on discussions with its affiliated organizations that were actively involved in monitoring the 2010 automated elections, namely: the Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE), TransparentElections.Org.Ph, AES Watch, the National Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL), Tanggulang Demokrasya (TanDem), the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG), and Alyansa Agrikultura.

MGG fully supports the recommendation of the Comelec Advisory Committee (CAC) to have a competitive public bidding for the 2013 AES.

The Movement also backs the recommendations of the CAC calling for the adoption of following technical features in the 2013 AES which were not provided by Smartmatic in 2010 AES:

  1. Use of standard and verifiable digital signatures for the machines and personnel and provision for accurate, reliable and universal time stamps;
  2. Appropriately secured machine access facilities and forensics of the hardware;
  3. Availability of on-screen voter verification of his/her vote;
  4. Scanner should store the raw scanned date and provide ballot authentication feature, with printouts showing serial numbers, time stamps and unique machine identifiable features;
  5. Source code and circuit schematics should be open for review, including audit logs.

“We should learn from the lessons of the past lest the vulnerabilities in the AES be used by some unscrupulous operators to manipulate the results of future elections,” said Ma. Corazon Akol of TransparentElections.Org.Ph, who is also the President of the Philippine National IT Standards Foundation (PhilNITS).

“We sincerely hope the Brillantes Commision does not repeat the errors of the Melo Commision,” added Ernest Ordoñez, Chair of Alyansa Agrikultura.

MGG and its affiliates believe that the Comelec should continue to explore a total solution meeting the basic technical requirements of accuracy, reliability, auditability and transparency decreed by the poll automation law.

Available for download:

In the news:

Comelec’s response:

MGG Expresses “Strong Objection” to COMELEC Purchase of PCOS Machines

PRESS RELEASE

MGG Expresses “Strong Objection” to COMELEC Purchase of PCOS Machines,
Cites “Many Deficiencies of Smartmatic”

The Movement for Good Governance (MGG), a coalition of reform advocates, joins the watchdog groups Legal Network for Truthful Elections (LENTE) and TransparentElections.Org.Ph in expressing its “strong objection” to a planned move by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to purchase the same Smartmatic PCOS machines that were used in the 2010 elections.

MGG, through its Chair, noted economist, professor, and media personality, Solita “Winnie” Monsod, expressed the view that such a move would again throw into question the integrity of election results.

As Monsod pointed out, “there are numerous legal and technical grounds for our objection, and as responsible citizens of this country we cannot allow the voting results to be compromised.”

MGG appeals to the COMELEC not to enter into another contract with Smartmatic, citing position papers by LENTE and TransparentElections.Org.Ph. Both LENTE and TransparentElections.Org.Ph were actively involved in monitoring the 2010 automated elections and draw from the expertise of their members in the law and information technology fields. Neither group is politically aligned.

MGG shares LENTE’s position that the COMELEC can no longer exercise its option to purchase the Smartmatic PCOS machines.

According to LENTE, there are legal impediments such as the fact that the option no longer exists. Under the contract, the option expired on December 31, 2010. Any extension of the period to exercise the option beyond December 31, 2010 amounts to a new contract that requires new bidding under the Government Procurement Reform Act or R.A. 9184

MGG also supports TransparentElections.Org.Ph’s position that Smartmatic failed to meet the obligations initially agreed upon in the Terms of Reference (TOR) given by the COMELEC when it bid out the Automated Election System (AES) for the 2010 National Elections and should therefore no longer be considered as a contractor.

TransparentElections.Org.Ph listed ten deficiencies of the Automated Election System (AES) of Smartmatic that were observed during the conduct of the 2010 elections, among which are the following: the failure to detect fake ballots, the removal of the Voter Vote Verification from the PCOS machine, the disabling of the Digital Signature, and the failure to certify “99.995% accuracy” of the PCOS machines. For the latter, this was “not done for each and all units before use in the elections,” according to Ma. Corazon Akol of TransparentElections.Org.Ph, who is also the President of the Philippine National IT Standards Foundation (PhilNITS).

“Any one of these deficiencies could have compromised the integrity of the system. Given that many of these deficiencies were PCOS-related, we see absolutely no reason why we should support the use of these same PCOS machines in the 2013 elections,” Monsod pointed out. “These are serious threats to the validity of any vote cast on these machines.”

“Prudence dictates that Smartmatic ought to be blacklisted. We should learn from the lessons of the past lest the vulnerabilities in the AES be used by some unscrupulous operators to manipulate the results of future elections,” said Akol.

Monsod reiterated, “We urge the COMELEC to heed our call for Smartmatic to be banned and blacklisted from automating the 2013 elections.”

The position papers of LENTE and TransparentElections.Org.Ph will be made available on the MGG website. For more information, or to tie up with the MGG for election-related activities leading up to the 2013 polls, contact Aissa Ereñeta of the MGG Secretariat at 898-2617.

Available for download: