FIRST 10 PAGES NG CASE NG BALLOT BOXES NA HINDI NILA BINILANG AT NGAYON NASA SUPREME COURT PO ITO SINCE LAST YEAR 2013 -versus- G.R. No. COMMISSION ON ELECTTONS constituted as the National Board of Canvassens for Senators and COtilMtSStON ON ELECTTONS, Respondent. . PFT|I]ON FOR CERTTORART Under Rule 65 of the Rules of Court I. STATEMENT OF THE CASE The petition is a spial civil action for certiorari under the provisions of Rule 65 of the Rules of Court. This is a citizens suit conceming an issue involving a matter of transcendental importane in the process invoking thii Honorable courts exercise of the expanded judicial po\irer under the provisions of the 1987 Phalippine constifirtion, Articre VIII, sec. t, zd plr. The petition seeks the declaratisr of nullity, on the ground grave of abuse of discretion arnounting to lack or excess of ju-risdiction, of the proclamations of duly elected senatols in the May 13, zoli national and local elecfions made by the commission on Election constituted as the National Board of canvassers for senators issuing for the purpose NBoc Resolution No. 0004-13 dated May 1g, 201I (-c_!ilg true copy of which is hereto attacfred ,JRnne* a1 inJ NBoc Resolution No.0oo-13 dated 5June 2013 and the senatoriar lalvass Report No. 17, in mnnection with the May ,ti, zol3 National & Local Elections. (A ceffmed true copy of NBoc Resolution No. 0010-13 dated s June zglg is attached is Annex c of this petition, and a certified true copy of senatorial canvass Report No. 17 is also attached as Annex ff of this petition.) Petitioners have no appear or any prain, speedy and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law. Petitioners. eamesfly urge the Honorabte court to take cognizance of the above-entiiled case, overfook technicalities, ino decide the same on the mertts. This will with finality anpa tne oounts, pervasive and widespread, on the pafi of the Filipino people aboui the legality, a@uracy, and reliability of the 2013 automated national and local elections. They are furthermorc entiiled b the authoritative declaration by this Honorable court on wrretner government or not the agencie-s gnd public officials charged with the enforcement of election laws to insure free, ordertyl peacetul anJ credible elections have made a mockery of their right of suffrage. II. THE PARTIES A. The petitioners are: 1- RrcARDo pENSoN, Firipino and a registered voter with residence at vafle verde 1, pasig cig. He shail be referred to as PENSON. 2. HANS CHR|STAN SEftERES, Fitipino and a registered voter with residence at 21 Miranda street, philamlife Homes, Las pifias, Metro Manila. He shall be referred to as SENERES. 3. RrzAlrro y. DAVTD, Firipino and a registered voter with residele- at l cavalry Drive, .cavalry Hills-Village, gjit Rembo, Makati city. He shart be referred to as DAVTD. 4. BALDOMERO C. FALCONE, Fitipino and a registered voter vvfth residence at /s scarlet stieei. concepcion Dos, Marikina cig. He shall be referred to as FALCONE. The above individuals shall be collectivety refened to as petitioners. The peti{-oners are represented by Atty. samson s. Arcantara, suite 1402,14tr Floor, Maniia Astral rower, 1330 Tafr Avenue corner Padre Faura st., Ernita, Manila, through *rro* ne petitionr, r.nry be served with preadings, orderc, no*ces, cocumehts, and other papers. B- The public respondent, the commission on Etections, is a body empowered by the phirippine co*stitution, with among others, to enforce and administer all laws and regulations relative to the conduct of an election It is constituts by Republic Act No. g436, as amended by Repu$ic Act No. 9369 as the National Board of canvassers for senators. It shall hereinafter be refened to for orevitv as the public respondent The public rspoldent may be served with pleadings, orders, notices, documents and other papers at their office at the palacio dei Gobernador, lntramuros, Manila. 1- on Decembr 22, i99r, Repubric Act No. Repubric Act NO. 8436, AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE COMMISSION ON ELECTIONS TO USE AN AUTOIIIATED ELECTION SYSTETU IT.T THE MAY 11, 1998 NATIONAL OR LOCAL ELECTIONS AND IN SUBSEQUENT NATIONAL AND LOCAL ELECTORAL EXERCISES, PROVIDING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER PURPOSEd was approved. Its sec 23 constituted the cfrairman and members of the commission on Electbns as the national bard of canvassers for senators. 2. On January Zg, ZOAZ, RepuHic Act No. 9g69 was approved. lt amended RepublhAct No. 9436 to read, among others, as follows. Sec. 23 of Rep, Act No. g946 to nead as ,SEC. 27. Nationat Baard of canvasserc for senafors and party_List Represenfafives. - The chairman and members oi the commission on Election sitting en banc, shall compose the national board of caftvassers for senators and party_lisi representatives. lt shall canvass the results by consolioitinj tne certificates of canvass electronhally transmitted. Thereafter] ffre national bogrd shall proclaim ne winning candidates for senators and party-list representatives. A new section 2g to Rep. Act No. 9346, is hereby provided to reads as follows: sEC 29. Random Manual euait. - where the AES is used, there shalt be a random manual audit in one precinct per mngressional districf randomly crrosen oy the commission in each provirre and city. nny oiner*n between the automated and rnanual count will result in the determination of rmt cause and initiate a manual count for those precincts afiected by the computer or prmedural eror., II. STATEIiEHT OF FACTS AND A new section 30 to Rep. Act No. g346, is hereby provided to read as folbws: sec. 30. Authentication 6t Electronically Transmitted Elec,tian Ress,rs. - The manner of determining the authenticity and due execution of the certificates shall confonn with the provisions of Republic Act No. 7106 as may be supplement or modified by the piovision of this Act, where applicable, by appropriate autnentication and certification procedures for eledronic signatures as provided in Republic Act No. grg2 as well as the rules promutgiteo by the Supreme Gourt pursuant thereb. 3. on tr{ay r0, 20tB the initiar stage of serection of the corresponding samses for the raMom rnanual audit was conducted at the session hall of the publh respondent. on Plcc, May 12, zafi at the there was rtect{ me p*onty and mniingency sampre clustered precincts for eactr selected ciiies and municipaliiies. The distribution of the sample of the 234 dustered precin&s is one for each legislative district {tsn, p. 1i, senate Hinrlng certified true copy attached as Annex ?) 4- on May 13, zafi the nationar and rocar erection for senators was held. 5. The actual counting was made by the Random Manual Audit ream or the RMAT. In counting, the Autornated Election system (AES) was @{nparcd versus the manual ount. so, if there,s any difference betrreen the Automated Election system (AES) count and the RMA (Random Manual Audit) ount this ii retened to as the variance in absolute value. The variane was computed for each candidate and eacfi selected precinct- And thse were further validated by an RMA validation group at the comelec to review the initial audit results submitted by the RMAT. (tsn, p. 12, senate Hearing certified true copy attached asAnnex.R_i) All the random rnanuai audit reports were processed by the NSo (National slr{stics ffice). otrt of 234 sampte dusltered precincts, the NSo has enmdd or processed 212 RlvlA reports oi 90.6 percent of the total (tsn, p. 13, senate Hearing certified true copy attached as AnnexA-Z,) COMELEC commissioner Lim then proceeded to explain the varignce.by saying ttrat Ii of the precinas were rcferred to the Technical Evaluation cornmittee $/hile the remaining 11 could not be accounted due to various reasons. {tsn, pp. 1s-20; senate Hearin! certified true copies atfached as Annex:A-Ab to R_af1 v 6. After the said May 13, 2013 elections the COMELEC sitting as the National Board of canvassers for senators and party- List Representatives proceeded to canvass the results 5v consol idati ng the certificates of ca nvass electronically tran sm itted. 7. On May 18, 20i0, the COMELEC sitting en banc as the National Board of canvassers issued NBoc Resolution No. 0004-13 which declared the following as duly eleted senators of the Republic of the Philippines in the May 13, zafi national and tocal elections to serve for a tenn of six (6) years @inning on June 30, 2013 in accordance with Artide vl, section IV of the constitution of the Republic of the Philippines: ANGARA, JUAN EDGARDO M. BINAY, MARLq LOURDES NANCY S. CAYETANO, ALAN PETER S. ESCUDERO, FRANCIS JOSEPH G. LEGARDA, LORNA REGINA B. LLAMANZARES, MARY GRACE P. AQUINO, PAOLO, BENIGO IV A. PIMENTEL, AQUILINO MARTIN III D. TRILLANES, ANTONIO IV FEJERCITO, JOSEPH VICTOR G. HONASAN, GREGORIO B. VILLAR, CYNTHIA A. A certified copy of COMELEC - NBOC Resotution No. 004-13 dated May 18, 2013 is hereto attactred as Annex 8. COMELEC - NBOC Resolution No. 004-13 also stated the following: 7.1 On May 16, 2013, the COMELEC as the National Board of canvassers proclaimed the following (in alphabetical order) as duly electd Senators of the Republic of the Philippines in the May 13, 2A1g nalionaland localelections: ANGARA, JUAN EDUARDO M. BINAY, MARIA LOURDES NANCY S. CAYETANO, AIAN PETER S. ESCUDERO, FRANCIS JOSEPH G. LEGARDA, LORNA REGINA B. LIAMANZARES, MARY GRACE P. 7.2 On May 17, ZA1g, the COMELEC as the Nationat Board of Canvassers also proclaimed the following (in alphabetical order) as duly elected senators of the Republic of the Philippines in the May lg, zarg nafional and local elections: AQUINO, PAOLO BENIGNO IV A. PIMENTEL, AQUILINO IVIARTIN III D. TRILLANES, ANTONIO M F. 7-3 The COMELEC as Nationar Board of canvassers also declared the fotrlowing as duly elec*ed senators of the Republic of the philippines in the May 13, 201g national and local elections: EJERCITO, JOSEPH VICTOR G. ESTRADA JV (EJERCtTO, HONASAN, GREGORTO B: (HOIIASAN, GRTNGO) vlLLAR, CYNTHT{ A. (vtLLAR, cyfurnn HANEPBUHAN 8. On June 5,2013, the COMELEC NBOC, after conducting its canvass for the results appertaining to the senatorial elections, terminated the proceedin$i dedari-ng twelve ttil candidates for senator (ananged in alphabetical oiler) as winnlrs, and proclaimed them as dury erected sbnators of the Ripubric Philippines in the May 13, of the zo13 automated national and local elections cpnsidering that the remaining votes that hive not yet been canvassed would not materially affect the resufts. ANGARA, JUAN EDGARDO M. AQUINO, PAOLO BENIGNO IVA. BINAY, MARIA LOURDES NANCY S. CAYETANO, ALAN PETER S. EJERCITO, JOSEPH VICTOR G. ESCUDERO, FRANCIS JOSEPH G. HONASAN, GREGORIO B. LEGARDA, LORNA REGINA B. LI.AMANZARES, MARY GRACE P. PIMENTEL, QUILINO IVIARTIN III D. TRILTANES, ANTONIO IV F. VILLAR, CYNTHIA A. A certified copy of coMELEc - NBoc Resotution No. 0010_18 dated June s, 2013 (attached as Annex -c and ienator canvass Report is hereto attacfred as Annex.D). I During the December 10, 20x3 hearing conducted by the Philippine senate committee on Erectorat neroHi and people,s Participation, the following took place: g1 MR- VARONA- .--But at the senatoriar have rever we also taburated^qgarraey rate oy caMidates. so for Grace Poe, we have gg9gg1; Loren Legarda, gg.gg02; Escudero, 99.9876. So thats it, sir. THE CHATRITdAN: so, how wiil you get the average of the averages ? Tama ba iyon ? Tama ba iyon-we should _ MR- VARONA- This is a simpre arithmetic average of the key-results. THE CHAIRrylry. Ah, okay. So that,s your conctusion ? tfhwagtds ey okuor bang sabihin iyon, the-rowest number sa ibaba ? so concrusinn ? The machines rrgg.gaiaccurate z MR. VARONA. Yes, sir. THE CHATRITAN- Question rang. rf the raw or the contract Tys the machines must be gg.gg5 percent accurate, did the machines compty per your repo.t Z MR. VARONA, TechnicallS it s not THE CHAITMAI. Okay, So your report has been given to the Comelec, right ? MR. VARO$- y* {l!n p. 28, Senate Hearing certified true copy attached as Annex oA-4!, emphasis,uppfiOl 9.2 MR- VILLORENTE: mu xxx )ofi So these PCOS, we sugected to diagnostic scanning. we secure the diagnostic card,-.. bailots and then we performed the diagnostic scanning to assess whether or not extraneous lines or mafi(s are prcient in fte ballot image. so based on that, we then determined that the pGos machine generated these entnaneous rnarks on the ballot image. lt did not image. s-aop pear on the bartot it appeared on the bailot because of this, welnspec*ed the pcos machine by..physically disassembling and using actuat anJ oiagnostic ballot images as guide aJ uritten rrvhat was ruring marks in the these baflot image. And oh this basis, *;; finarizing the report already. (Fn pp- 34-35, Senate Hearjng ftind copy attached as Annex A4ar to true 3*4b, emprrasis and paraphrasing supplied) 9.3 MR- BRILI-ANTES. Tama ho iyon, Now, with this report of the TEC-tama ho iyon, Then we willjust have to look at it. Wala ho namang problema, Oho, titingnan natin. pati siguro iyong mga senador, tingnan na rin natin. Baka nga ho nagkaruon karni ng accldental na na-proctaim.,, (tsn p. 55, Senate Hearing certified true copy attached as Annex A-5,, emphasis supplied) 9.4 MR BRILIANTES_ Because if these were true, which we are really surprised kung mayroong linya, ang sinasabi ko lang ho, noong 2010 dapat nakita na natin iyong linyang iyon, Meaning, ngayon lang lumabas, Kung mayroon talaga, ngayon lang lumabas, hindi ho ba ? * ZO1g. Because apparently, nothing came out in the gg protest cases before the comelec in the over 50 or 60 pmtest cases in municipal courts or in the regionaltrial courts and about another 3g in the HRET. wala naman hong nagkaroon rq isyu sa lines, marami kaming dinekrip (decrypt) noon. Noong 2010, walang lines. So ibig sabihin, kung mayroon ngayon, this must be something new na ngayon lang nangyari ito. so we better investigate this. Because we are now going to 20i6 and this thing must not happen. (tsn p. 54, Senate Hearing cer$fied true copy attached as Annex 4-6, emphasis supplied) 9.5 MR. MANAIASTAS. I woutd like to ask an important question for Engineer Mllorente. Engineer Mllorente was saying that the procedure used for opening the files in the CF card is, first, to decrypt the files and then to hash, to ensure that the resutts of their investigation cannot be changed anymore. But he never mentioned the checking of digttal signature either by the machine or by the BEl. Does this mean that the files in the cF card were never digitally signed ? THE CHAIRII,IAN Engineer, did you hear the question ? can you please ansvrer ? tloes tftis mean that the files in the GF cards were never digitally signed ? MR. MANAIASTAS. Either by the machine. THE CHAIRMAN, Either by the machine or by the BEl. Sige po, give us your opinion as an IT expert. MR. VILLORENTE. Ill have to review because - MR. tirANAl-ASTAS, Did you do a checking of the digitalsignattrre ? MR. VILLORENTE. The files are encrypted thats why we had to encrypt it. MR. MANALASTAS. But encrypting a file is different from digitally signlng it MR. VILLORENTE. Gorrect btrt the signing is on the transmitted result. THE CHAlRIrltAN, So the answer is no, mali ? The files from the GF card were not digltatrly slgned. MR. MANAIASTAS, I thought that the fites in the CF card and the fansmitted ftles are functionally equivalent. because the CF card is accepted in the - THE CHAIRIvIAN Replacement. MR- MANATASTAS. As a regacement for the transmitted MR. CHAIRMAN. Anyrray, can you indicate this in your report if you are not surc in your aftswer nght now ? MR. VILLORENTE. Yes, sir. THE CHAIRMAN. Please, Engineer ? MR. VILLORENTE. Yes, sir. MR. ITIANALASTAS Thank you. (tsn pp. 66 to 68, Senate Hearing certified tnue copy attached as Annex A-7a to A-7 c, emphasis supplied) 9.6 THE CHAlRlvlAN lmc )oo( )oo( Okay, so before we leave the topic of random manual audit, how about the - Sornebody advised nre that maybe it is a good policy to increase the minimum number of precincts to be subjected to random manual audit. Do you think ifs-Kasi ngayon the minirnum is one pecinct per legislative district. And the nurnber suggested to me is actually ten times the number. Do you think it is realistic or desirable ? MR- LrM- y-our Honor, in 2010 per there *vere five precincts legisrative district, yung mr3, it ynaiJuiion It is a budgeting issue, I mean welidn,t ir*a tb;,ig;: THE CHATRMAN. How much did it ost you for this 2013, for example. MR. LtM_ think. Now, the Ii3lsJo3g 13 we spent 12 miflion for this _for one, t has mentioned that if want an accurate sampte of reafiy its abotrt t0 p*r*ni Li the total precincts, so .its is about r,000 pi*i*t. int is an accurate sample. THE CHA|RMAN. That,s a good figure. MR. LlM. That,s a good figure. THE CHA|RMAN. Ten percent. MR. LlM. Ten percent (tsn pp. 6g to 69, Senate Hearing certified true copy attachedas Annex A-ga] to A-gb,, emphasis and paraphrasing supplied) g-7 THE CHAIRiilAN- We cor.rH have arso accidentar winners. Kasi for glatpF, you iound it in 1I machines, we could. not say that this did not also happn in oounfless other machines, in thousands other machinesl iiinoi b;i- Okay, sige. Ms- Akor and then ilr ask ttre finar opinion of the comerec on the present system that rare,re having. Ms- AKoL- rd like to make a correction in his statement on the variance. He was sayingi_ THE CHAIRMAN. Teka, sabi ni Senator Nancy Binay, -yong. pagkalamang daw niya sa akin accidental pala. [LaughterJ Ms. Akot. MS- AKOL- yeah- rd rike to make a onection in his statement that in the variance between the machine and the human, it was human error. fd rike to oorrect that statement because in intematiorral bodies, nfrat is accepteo is wnat is the intent of the voter. Therefore, the manuat count is correct, it,s ll the machine enor. His explanation of the variance that human it was error, I want to conect that statement, it-is machine e,or, not human eror because the one who voted ;;ot make a mistake- -(t- s- n. p. 45, senate Hearing certified trr copy attached as Annex A-g) 9.8 MR- BRTLT.ANTES. ...it is very important that we determine what cause these lines. can it suit oe*ioz can it still be conected or rectifted? othenrise, then we cannot use anymore the... THE CHAIRMAN. yeah. And if it can happen again-yeah. MR. BRILLANTES. It can happen again_ THE CHA|RMAN. tyon ang tanong. MR. BRILI.ANTES. Oho. Actually- THE CHATRMAN. Shail ure risk the presidentiar election.. MR. BRILLANTES. We cannot take that risk. THE cHAIRh,tAN. ...and have an accidentar president? MR- BRILIANTES Oho, tama ho iyon. rt courd be an accidental president, senator, mayor. THE CHATRIT{AN- Tl* accidentar president, whoever lop seat might be upset by an that tbp seat miybe. MR. BRrLrrNTEs. oho. And we have to determine whether even if the lines did, in fact, cross the oval as started by Mr- viilorente, it is very, very possibre that even if it crossed the rine, it did not affect the resurts kasi ho medyo malarati Now, maybe what we can do is crosery ,onitortne protest cases where the difference is very small. l(asi no mavioon hong nagpoprotesta sa amin, Z2A:OOO n, ,ng (t. s. n. ; ii, senate Hearing certified true oopy attached asinne* A-10,) ldentification of the persons who participated in the above proceedings: t2 THE cHAlRIvlAN. This refers to senator Aquilino Koko,, L. Pimentel lll, the chainnan of the senate committee on Electoral Reforms and Peoples Participation. MR- BRILIANTES. He is Hon. sixto s. Briilantes, Jr., the Chairman of the Commission on Elections MR. LIM- He is a Hon. christian Robert s. Lim, commissioner of the Commission oil Elections. MR. VILLORENTE- He is Mr. Dennis F. Milorente, the chairman of the Technical Evaluation committee (IEc) of the commission on Elections. He is connected with the Department of science and rechnology -Advanced science & Technology lnstitute (DOST-AST!). MR. vARoNA. He is Mr. Florante c. varona, a statistician, Household Statistie Dept., Nationat Statistics Office (NSO). MR. MANAIASTAS. He is Mr, pablo Manalastas, Jr., the lT consultant, center for People Empnrernent in Govemance (CenPeg). 7. on 10 Deember 20t3 the Technicar Evaruation committee $EC) of the COMELEC ereated under the provisions of Republic Act No. 8346, seqs. 10 and 12 as added by ilepublic Act No. 9369, sec. 9, issued its Technical Report on the Root cause for Analysis for Random Manual Audit (certified copy of which is hereto attached as AnnexE and sub-markings) which included as part of its findings: (As a result of the above-mentioned interpretation of the Pcos machine for the lines, it caused the following in the total number of votes: . Additionar votes for candidates even if there were no votes for the candidate o Loss of votes for candidates who reeived votes,
Posted on: Sun, 15 Jun 2014 08:26:18 +0000
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