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Election Day in Makati City. Photo by Anton Sheker of Blogwatch.ph.

What do you think about the conduct and outcome of the May 10 elections?

The Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) released a post-election statement which perhaps reflects the sentiments of organized labor and their advocates.

On the automated elections, the CTUHR said:

While it seems there is general satisfaction on the AES, its credibility stills needs to be proven beyond doubt. The AES is highly technical and allows very little room for public scrutiny and transparency, especially when verification facility or process was removed from the machine just few days before the election. And now, several days after the election, allegations of irregularities are surfacing. Losing presidential candidates have refused to concede, not that they expected to win but because they contend the truth about this election had to come out. An interesting case for instance is the bloated number of voting population in the released official national canvass results in the first day of canvassing (May 13) wherein the official canvass bore a total of 158 million registered voters which is thrice the estimated registered voters and well over the country’s total population of 94 million. The SMARTMATIC was quick enough to answer what was considered a “minor” glitch, and was able to correct the data the following day.

Remarkable! Yet the public’s very limited understanding of the process and absence of transparency how it happened also limited its capacity to further inquire into that “minor” error, but definitely left clouds of serious doubts on that amazing technical efficiency. This leaves the call for independent and impartial investigation imperative, not only to straighten the records but to give justice to those whose votes are wasted or lost, deliberately or not, in the myriad of technical hitches.

While regarding the incoming administration of apparent president-elect Noynoy Aquino, the CTUHR said:

The bursting hope for change and upliftment that propelled the people to brave the punitive heat in precincts is perhaps the biggest challenge that the new administration has to contend. As promises were made during the campaign, so were the expectations, and tinkering with these expectations will be a dangerous road to tread.

Without sounding cynical, the Philippines is sure to have new government, and that in itself is a people’s triumph. Except that so called campaigners of Aquino-Roxas tandem seem to place old faces — former members of Arroyo government who jumped ship when it was about to sink and transfer to a more convenient boat—into the incoming Aquino administration. New government, old faces in the cabinet? The people have to be vigilant afterall, as Sen Aquino said in his political ads, he owes his campaign to the people.

Read the whole statement here.