Rappler Newscast | May 24, 2013

Story 1: COMELEC PROCLAIMS 14 PARTY-LIST GROUPS
The Commission on Elections partially proclaims the party-list winners of the 2013 midterm polls.
On Friday, the National Board of Canvassers proclaims 14 party-list organizations which will get seats in Congress.
These are Buhay, A-Teacher, Bayan Muna, 1-Care, Akbayan, Ako Bicol, Abono, OFW, Gabriela, Coop Natcco, Agap, Cibac, Magdalo, and An Waray.
Comelec chair Sixto Brillantes says the NBOC will proclaim the other winning groups on Monday.
In Resolution No. 0006-13 issued Friday, the NBOC says the initial proclamation entitles the 14 groups “to one guaranteed seat.”
The final list of winners may depend on the Supreme Court, after at least 4 disqualified groups asked the Court to order the Comelec to count their votes.
Brillantes though says he is “not very happy” with the results after two groups initially disqualified by the Comelec — Ako Bicol and 1-Care — won in the polls.

Story 2: 60-30-10? REGIONAL VOTES DON’T SUPPORT IT
The regional breakdown of results in the May senatorial race does not support claims about a supposed pattern of a 60-30-10 win for Team PNoy bets.
Ateneo mathematics professor Felix Muga II notes an “interesting pattern” in the poll results, as reflected in the 1st to 16th official canvass of the Commission on Elections that shows 60% of votes going to the administration’s bets, 30% for UNA’s candidates and 10% for independent bets.
Rappler studied the regional results of the race from officially canvassed results, and found that nothing suggests the vote shares were anomalous.
Team PNoy swept the regions based on the aggregate votes of its 12 bets compared with UNA’s 9, but the percentages each slate got per region varied.
Rappler summed up all the votes in the senatorial race per region and got the percentage share of each slate from the total votes cast.
We observed the following:
1. In the Cordillera Administrative Region and in Regions 1, 2, and 3, UNA got higher than 30% of the votes.
2. UNA’s percentage share in the vote-rich regions of Southern Tagalog dropped below 30%, but independent candidates gained from this drop, getting 10% of the votes.
3. Nationwide, it is in the National Capital Region where independent bets got their biggest share of the pie, with 11.87% of the vote share.
Team PNoy got 57.54% of the voter share in the NCR, while UNA got 30.59%.
4. Team PNoy got its biggest share of votes at 63% in Bicol, while UNA gets its lowest share at 28.09%.
5. UNA’s percentage share in Regions 6, 7 and 8 in Visayas dropped below 30%, pushing Team PNoy’s share beyond 60%.
6. In Mindanao, including Caraga and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the UNA slate got more than 30% of the share.
7. If the results are broken down per capita — or the average vote share of each candidate versus the total number of votes — the ratio is closer to a 50-40-10 sharing in Team PNoy’s favor.
8. The per capita share for UNA was lowest in Region 5 at 34.12%.
New York University Dean of Science Michael Purugganan says the results show the actual votes of individual senators differ from region to region.
He adds, there is a difference of nearly 6% for Team PNoy between the region where it performed well — Region 5 — and the region where it did poorly — Region 2.
Purugganan says, “It’s not a conspiracy. It’s telling us something real about political trends in the country…
and what the voters are voting for.”

Story 3: ‘HEAVY TRAFFIC’ BLAMED FOR TRANSMISSION WOES
Commission on Elections chair Sixto Brillantes blames “heavy traffic” for the slow transmission of election results to the Transparency Server.
Brillantes says around 18,000 precinct count optical scan machines had difficulty transmitting election results.
The poll chief says congestion was the main problem, with 78,000 PCOS machines transmitting election results to the Transparency Server.

SIXTO BRILLANTES, COMELEC CHAIR: Yung server dito ng PPCRV or yung transparency, tinatanggap yung buong Pilipinas direct from PCOS, kaya heavy traffic yan. Kaya it’s not the PCOS that’s defective, it is the heavy traffic. Meron ding mga areas na walang signal. (The server of PPCRV or the transparency server receives election results from the whole Philippines direct from PCOS, so it results in heavy traffic. It’s not the PCOS that’s defective, it’s the heavy traffic. There were also areas that had no signal.)

Brillantes also says Comelec relied on cellphone signals to transmit election results, although he notes, 25% of the Philippines had no cellphone signal.
But telecom giant PLDT denied this explanation.
In a statement, PLDT says their networks –quote– “did not suffer congestion, or heavy traffic, at any point throughout the election process.”
PLDT adds, “Traffic generated by the PCOS machines did not pose a problem for our cellular networks because each transmission was relatively small… and was easily and quickly delivered by our data network.”
Following the Comelec’s requirements, PLDT coursed PCOS data through a dedicated virtual private network.
Brillantes also denies the defective compact flash cards found on Tuesday posed a major problem.

Story 4: BIG MAJORITY OF AMPATUANS LOSE IN MAGUINDANAO
Are the Ampatuans losing their grip on Maguindanao?
Based on the unofficial tally of votes in the province as of Thursday, majority of the candidates who belong to the once powerful Ampatuan clan are bound to lose.
While majority of candidates from rival clan Mangudadatu have won or are set to win in the local races.
Of the 75 members from the Ampatuan clan, only 24 won or are leading in the canvass.
On the side of the Mangudadatus, 14 of the 19 who ran won or are leading in the count.
Re-electionist Esmael Mangudadatu wins the gubernatorial race, beating his lone opponent, Tucao Mastura, who formed an alliance with the Ampatuans.
The rivalry began in 2010 when Esmael Mangudadatu decided to challenge Andal Ampatuan Jr in the gubernatorial race.
But in November 2009, 58 people in Mangudadatu’s convoy were massacred by Ampatuan Jr and his men while Mangudadatu was on his way to file his certificate of candidacy for governor.
Ampatuan Sr and Jr. have since been arrested and jailed in Manila.
They are disputing that charge.

Story 5: DID LIBERAL PARTY USE 4Ps FOR ELECTIONEERING?
President Aquino’s party is being accused of using the flagship poverty alleviation program of the government during the campaign period.
Voltaire Tupaz reports.

Did President Aquino’s own party use the government’s flagship poverty alleviation program to buy votes?
The victorious candidate in Southern Leyte claims the Liberal Party did.

VOICE OF DAMIAN MERCADO, SOUTHERN LEYTE CONGRESSMAN-ELECT: Ayon, nagpaano sila ng mga, ano, application: “Mag-apply ka, member kang 4Ps.” Tapos yung isang page, ano, andoon na ‘yung candidate ng Liberal Party, mga kandidato nila. Oo, ginamit nila ang 4Ps. (They distributed applications: “Apply for and be a member of 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program).” And then the other page contained the names of Liberal Party candidates. Yes, they used 4Ps.)

In turn, Liberal Party candidates are accusing the Mercados of vote buying.
But LP also admits it conducted a survey to help recruit 4Ps beneficiaries 10 days before the May elections.

MARISA LERIAS, LOSING LP CANDIDATE: The 4 Ps, we didn’t use. But what we did, we worked closely with the National Anti-Poverty Commission. I have copies of the forms but they were blank form(s) because we did say that we’re going to help with the survey. And the survey was going to determine whether or not you’re qualified.

Experts earlier warned, 4Ps can be used in the 2013 mid-term elections, like what happened in South American countries which implemented similar cash transfer measures.
An official from the Inter-American Development Bank says the cash transfer programs are prone to government manipulation.
Reports that Liberal Party bets are using 4Ps for partisan politics anger Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman.
Her agency spent 10.5 million pesos for a campaign encouraging the public to report misuse of the 4Ps during elections.

DINKY SOLIMAN, DSWD SECRETARY: Maliwanag yong bawal ang epal campaign…The bawal ang epal campaign’s stressed that the Pantawid Pamilya and all other programs are not to be used for campaigning, and if there were – whether they won or not – we would like to know the details so we can raise this formally to the Liberal Party We have raised formally to the DILG at least two cases. (It’s clear that the “epal campaign” is prohibited.)

4Ps provides cash grants for education and health costs to more than 3 million poor beneficiaries.  
DSWD suspended the distribution of cash due to an election ban.
The question now is whether the program’s promise of benefits became a politician’s promise.
Will the DSWD secretary, a close ally of the President, go after the President’s party?
Voltaire Tupaz, Rappler, Manila.

Story 6: VITUG VLOGS: THE CHARISMATIC VOTE
Buhay emerges number 1 in the party-list race in the midterm polls.
But Rappler’s editor at large Marites Vitug says the victory of the Catholic charismatic group does not prove the existence of a Catholic vote.
Here’s her video blog.

Once more, Buhay topped the party-list race. It was number 1 in 2007, garnering more than a million votes.
It slid down to number 3 in 2010 and reclaimed its top rank in this year’s mid-term elections.
Buhay is basically the El Shaddai constituency of Bro. Mike Velarde.
A conservative group, it went against the RH law.
But, as we have seen, the victory of senatorial candidates who backed the RH law shows the absence of a Catholic vote.
Yet Buhay, a Catholic charismatic group, won big in the party-list contest.
Is there a contradiction here?
Not really.
Akbayan party-list representative Walden Bello says, what we’re seeing is the translation of Velarde’s charismatic hold into votes.
After all, Velarde’s son, Michael, is one of the group’s nominees.
The Buhay phenomenon is a vote for Velarde rather than a vote for the Catholic Church.
In reality, El Shaddai does not strictly fall under the Catholic Church hierarchy.
But the bishops would not want the group, which has a huge mass base, to slip away from their hold.
This is Marites Vitug for VitugVlogs.

Story 7: US BRIDGE COLLAPSE SENDS CARS, PEOPLE INTO RIVER
A bridge carrying a freeway over a river in the northwestern US state of Washington partially collapses Thursday, sending cars and people plunging into the water below.
At least 3 people are pulled out, but there are no reports of serious injuries or fatalities in the incident.
The spokesman for Washington state highway patrol says the bridge’s collapse may have been caused by a high-sided truck hitting a bridge span.

Story 8: THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ
At number 4, British police arrest two after the brutal murder of a serving soldier in London Thursday.
Police announce the arrests of a man and a woman for conspiracy to murder.
Intelligence agencies were criticized after it became public the suspects were known to the security services.
Prime Minister David Cameron appeals for calm after 25-year-old Lee Rigby was butchered outside a London army barracks.
An extra 1,200 officers are deployed on the capital’s streets to reassure the public.

At number 9, The Boy Scouts of America says it will allow openly gay youths to join the organization, but will keep a ban on gay adult leaders.
The resolution, passed during an annual meeting in Grapevine, Texas, will take effect on January 1, 2014.
The text says –quote– “no youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone.”
The 103-year-old institution, famed for its outdoor training programs and support of wholesome virtues, has close links to the country’s conservative and religious heartland.

And at number 10, A small Ecuadoran satellite collides in orbit with the remains of a Russian rocket.
Ecuador’s space agency EXA warns a space fender-bender was likely between its “Pegaso” nanosatellite and the remains of the Soviet rocket S14 launched into space nearly 3 decades ago.
In a tweet, EXA’s director Ronnie Nader says US space officials confirmed Pegaso suffered only a glancing blow from the Russian space debris.
Despite the collision, the satellite seems to be holding its course, though Nader says it’s too early to determine the extent of the damage to the satellite.