Nitpicking

As the old cliche goes, the elections are over except for the shouting.  Indeed, tons of shouting are simultaneously heard all over the archipelago, but there's only a single theme: "We've been cheated by the precinct count optical count (PCOS) machine!" 

Losing candidates who ran for national positions all the way down to local positions, from Luzon to Mindanao protest that the faulty machines caused them to lose precious votes.  They were citing instances of discrepancies between the official print out tally of the PCOS machine and the manual audit.

A father-son team who were losing in their province even claimed that the machines were encoded days before the elections.  As of late, they were successful in having the votes recounted here in Metro Manila.

There were also reports of losing incumbent officials actually stopping the count when they were trailing behind. They were even the ones who complained that their opponents manipulated the counting.  In a nearby city, a technician even brought home some 60 PCOS machines to allegedly protect them.

But nobody can beat the trio of cellar dwellers in the Presidential race who held a press conference to bring forth, what they claim were reports of their supporters that there were "some questions that need to be answered" in the just concluded elections.   Amazingly, to support these allegations, the trio cited the fact that the disqualified candidate received even more votes than their combined numbers.

For sheer chutzpah, nobody comes close to the leading Vice Presidential candidate who all but declared himself the winner of the election.  He even said that should he lose, it was all because he was cheated since he allegedly received reports that some "automated cheating" were happening in precincts that have not transmitted their reports.  This he said when there were still 5 million votes uncounted and his lead was a little less than 800 thousand votes.

Amidst these allegations though are some good news.  foreign observers noted that while there were glitches and irregularities in the conduct of the poll, the people and elections personnel should be commended for making these elections happen.  They agree that if it were not for the collective will of the people, the elections would not have happened at all.

Personally, I think these elections was more credible than the one held in 2004.  Results in more than 80 percent of the polling places were already known in less than a week.  This is already a record here in the Philippines considering that in the past, it took almost a month before any semblance of trend were observed.  If you ask me, complaints about the PCOS machines and the automation were just nitpicking. 

As of this post, the leading candidate is still the son of a former President.  He's ahead by 5 million votes from his closest rival, something that some corners claim as a clear majority.  How he would perform, knowing his track record, is another matter worth blogging.