Measures readied to anticipate 'threats' from 'enemies of the State'

The Philippine government is currently preparing measures to anticipate "threats" coming from "enemies of the State" such as communists and secessionist rebels. Preventing such threats were among the subjects discussed during a National Security Cabinet cluster meeting in Malacañang, Executive Secretary Leandro Mendoza said, in an ambush interview at the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA). Based on reports, "enemies of the State" such as the New People’s Army — the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) — and rogue members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) were planning activities to disrupt the elections, Mendoza said. However, he declined to elaborate. “It’s all about the preparations of the institutions for the coming elections…of course (we) discussed possible threats that the government is facing…" he said. "They have plans but we are addressing them already." Although the threats are not major, Mendoza said the government continues to hope that they too in government would be able to cast their votes on Monday. For his part, Presidential spokesman Ricardo Saludo said that military and police forces, besides being prepared for any eventualities. “The Armed Forces and the police are ready to ensure the integrity of our elections and to safeguard the sanctity of the ballots, and the safety of our voters of our election workers including the teachers and the transmission of results and the proper canvassing of votes…Lahat ito ay ating pangangalagaan at ito ay mahalaga para sa ating demokrasya," he said. (All of these will be taken care of because these are important for our democracy.) He added that no foreigners have actually been hurt in the country during previous elections, despite foreign government’s issuance of advisories to their nationals in the country. “We had elections before as you as far as I know I do not know any great number of foreigners hurt in those elections," he said. "We do not take it against these countries warning their nationals but again I will look back on the records of elections as far as I know there are no foreign nationals who have been hurt in great numbers in those elections and we do not expect any of these casualties will happen in this election." The governments of Canada, United Kingdom and Australia issued a warning to their nationals about election related violence in the country during the election period. Both Mendoza and Saludo also confirmed that the glitches discovered in the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines were also discussed, prompting the government to renew its offer of assistance to the Comelec if the need arises. The Commission on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) already explained what took place and what the Comelec and Smartmatic TM are doing to address the issue, Mendoza said. “Ang isang masisiguro ko sa inyo na wala kailanman na binanggit na hindi magkaroon ng halalan. That option is not on the table anywhere in any government discussion. I mean I can say that categorically. Iyung no election is not an operative or serious scenario anywhere that I have attended," Saludo added. (What I can guarantee is that at no time during the meeting was the no election scenario discussed.) Protest actions may still be expected if problems occur during automated counting, he said. “We have seen such problems even before…in a manual count," Saludo said. "Kung medyo ang tingin medyo nagkakaproblema sa bilingan nagaalma ang tao..(If problems are experienced during the counting, the people take to the streets) I mean this is nothing new. It would be in a probably predictable that if you have problems in the machine counting, you will have similar reaction from people," he added. At the same time, the Department of Education (DepEd) also gave assurances on Thursday that their teacher-volunteers who would serve as Board of Election inspectors (BEI) during the elections are “ready, willing and able" to do their duty. “DepEd is ready and prepared. Magandang experience nga ito dahil ang mga educators ay sanay na sanay na dito. Ang paggamit ng OMR, ito ay nagamit na 20 years ago sa mga examinations," said Education Secretary Mona Valisno. (This is a good experience because they are used to the technology that they have been using in examinations.) Technology used in automated elections such as optical mark readers (OMR) has been previously used by teachers in checking their students’ exams, she explained. BEIs chosen to serve for the coming elections were former BEIs in the 2004 and 2007 polls. They underwent additional training and their ability to facilitate the automated election process have already been certified by the Department of Science and Technology. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV