Get Real 2010 Elections

Many of the articles in Solita Colas-Monsod's Get Real column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer I missed when they came out but having read them I realized the treasures they bring for voter education during the campaign period of the Philippine National Elections 2010 that culminated on May 10. Monsod is a member of the group distinguished for its commitment to provide undisclosed information about candidate information that may not have been done so for self-interest reasons, the Movement for Good Governance (MGG).

Requirements to Cheat in the Polls

Noynoy's Lead and Binay's Surge [30 April 2010]
From an assumption that respondents of the most recent Pulse Asia survey do not change their mind come election day, Monsod believes that it will take so much cheating to defeat Aquino in the presidential contest: "That 19-percent difference, plus or minus 2 percent, means that, assuming a voter turnout of 80 percent (translating to about 40 million voters) and there’s no change in the voters’ minds, the cheaters will have to manipulate between 7.6 million and 8.4 million votes just to achieve a tie.


If they spread the cheating evenly over the roughly 76,000 precincts, that will further mean (using the lower 7.6 million votes) a “dagdag-bawas” of about 100 votes per clustered precinct. That is going to take some doing—because that will mean a cheating rate averaging 20 percent (the average number of voters will be roughly 500 per precinct), and at the very least 10 percent (for clustered precincts with 1,000 voters). That will be relatively easy to detect—although, alas, later rather than sooner because of the reported decision of the Comelec not to allow the results of the random manual audit (assuming it is properly carried out) to affect the proclamation process."



About Jejomar Binay, LDP-United Opposition vice-presidential candidate

Noynoy's Lead and Binay's Surge [30 April 2010]
Monsod gathered important information that voters need to know first. The PCIJ noted that for a three-month period (Nov 2009-Jan 2010) Binay already spent P75 million in political ads, 1.6 times higher than even Estrada's. That can hardly explains the fact that "hindi siya pinanganak na mayaman, 'di rin ilustrado." Newsbreak in 2001 that Binay, after less than 10 years as mayor of Makati, "accumulated at least P80 million worth of real estate in Makati and Batangas, which he kept undeclared. The amount excludes P12 million in declared investments." The question asked is: how does he get the funds?


About Manuel "Manny" Villar Jr., Nacionalista Party presidential candidate

Awesome (Claims) [27 March 2010]

Unraveled lie number 1: Dirt poor. Having "no money to buy medicine/proper healthcare" contradicts his younger brother's 13-day hospitalization in FEUH and Funeraria Paz's involvement in the funeral arrangement. To top all that, his father's capability to purchase a 560-square meter lot at San Rafael Villa, a subdivision equivalent to today's price of P1.226 million, belies dirt poverty.

Unraveled lie number 2: Doing business as a private person makes more money. "Going back to doing business as a private individual to make more money" claim in the ad got clearly contradicted by the proof provided in his own Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) that after 9 years as a congressman and 8 years a senator his net worth shot up higher and faster to P1.047 billion.

Refuting Manny's Defenders [5 February 2010]
Villar legal counsel Ma. Nalen Rosero-Galang never refute Monsod's earlier display of facts on C-5, and claimed instead that Villar has no hand in the C-5 project. Here's what Monsod replied: "May I remind you that per the Department of Public Works and Highways, Senator Villar conceptualized and initially funded both the CX-5 and the Las Piñas-Parañaque Link Road project. That is in black and white in the DPWH project feasibility studies."

About Gilberto Teodoro Jr., Lakas-KAMPI-CMD presidential candidate

Scraping the Bottom [Date Unknown] There was only one issues that then Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr was accused of in a complaint against him with intention towards impeachment--graft and corruption in the disbursement of the Judiciary Development Fund (despite the fact that COA said there was "no material misstatements"). And Monsod noted: "To justify their groundless impeachment of Davide, the complainants have mounted a costly publicity campaign aimed at destroying his reputation." This "Complaint for Impeachment" was filed on October 2003 by Tarlac First District congressman Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr. and Camarines Sur 3rd district congressman Felix William B. Fuentebella at the House of Representatives. In an interview with Mars Mosqueda Jr. of the Manila Bulletin on 5 April 2010, recently retired Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations Hilario Davide Jr said of that attempt at impeachment: "It was not so much a case against him than a case to destroy the independence of the judiciary."