PCOS glitches part of ‘Oplan Rafael’ to keep Arroyo in power—Bayan Muna

Militant group Bayan Muna on Wednesday said that the malfunctioning of the voting machines to be used in next week's polls is part of some master plan to postpone the elections and retain President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as head of state. "There is no longer denying the signs that Macapagal-Arroyo is orchestrating moves to ensure that the May 10 polls will fail," said senatorial aspirant and Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo during a press briefing in Intramuros, Manila. Calling the plan Retain Arroyo through Failure of Elections (Oplan Rafael), he cited supposedly ominous signs like Defense chief Norberto Gonzales' reported warning about a failure of elections and the Comelec's "unresolved" automation problems. Ocampo issued the statement after some precinct count optical scan (PCOS) units tested last Monday failed to read some votes accurately, forcing the Comelec to pull out all the compact flash (CF) cards in the voting machines. (See: Some poll machines fail to read votes accurately) Aside from these glitches, fellow Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño said that other elements included in “Oplan Rafael" are: • the increased participation of the Armed Forces in the elections; • the supposed appointment of "Hello Garci" generals; • the possibility of the Senate not having its own president to succeed the outgoing President in case no new President is chosen; and • the midnight appointment of the Supreme Court Justice. "Everything is falling into place," Casiño said. To prevent “Oplan Rafael" from succeeding, Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares said that the Comelec should restore the specific PCOS feature that shows the voter that his votes were indeed read correctly — which the poll body disabled — and also allow for a parallel manual count. He likewise asked the poll body to conduct a simultaneous nationwide testing of the CF cards on Friday to ensure that they indeed work properly. The three Bayan Muna representatives called on all opposition parties and candidates to "unite against election failure and to push for a parallel manual count as a way to prevent massive fraud." "With the polls just around the corner, it's imperative that all opposition forces cross party-lines and unite behind the common goal of thwarting the Arroyo government's plans to sabotage the polls," Ocampo said. "The last two months have seen the standard bearers and candidates of the major opposition parties flinging mud at each other and discrediting each others' records. It's about time that the mudslinging stop and for everyone unite against a common enemy: the Macapagal-Arroyo administration and its schemes to throw a monkey wrench in the polls and if possible extend its stay in power indefinitely," he added. Earlier in the day, the Comelec said that it has no plans of conducting a parallel manual count. It will, however, conduct a random manual audit of five precincts per congressional district after voting closes. The poll body likewise said that it will resume the testing and sealing of PCOS machines on Thursday.—JV, GMANews.TV