GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star) Updated September 03, 2012 12:00 AM
When will the Independent Oil Price Review Committee (IOPRC) release its findings on oil overpricing, IBON Research asks? What’s delaying it, now that oil firms are raising prices in succession?
After a series of rollbacks in April to June, oil prices have increased anew, totaling around P5.88 per liter of diesel and P7.15 for gasoline in July alone. As more oil price hikes reportedly loom, the research group reminds the government of its pronouncement to look into possible overpricing by big oil firms.
Tasked early this year to investigate the oil companies’ “excessive profiteering,” the IOPRC set a July deadline to report. But after announcing last May that the report was “60-70 percent done,” it has said nothing more.
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Is the Commission on Election truly beyond reform? Will it just pass on to new commissioners the dirt and dullness of predecessors?
Why, they’re committing anomaly after anomaly. All have to do with acquiring for the 2013 elections the questioned voting machines leased in 2010. Likely to be re-executed are the scams of past elections: fake indelible inks, missing voter registries, bloated ballot delivery deals, and more.
First, the Comelec decided in April to buy the 82,000 old precinct-count optical scanners (PCOS) of shady Venezuelan supplier Smartmatic. This, despite the strong objection of two separate advisory boards. Too, despite the Comelec’s lack of the P1.8 billion for the purchase. Lastly, despite the proposal of info-tech experts for the Comelec to hold a public bidding to come up with better machines and prices.
All the Comelec chief did was stomp his feet and threaten to resign — to send the admin snipping funds from other agencies for the PCOS. It’s sneaky, because of Smartmatic’s trail of trickery. Last minute in 2010 it had done away with dozens of election-fraud safeguards, yet still was paid the full lease. Foremost of these were the voter’s ballot-verification receipt, the ultraviolet light fake-ballot detector, and the random manual audit of five percent of precinct counts. Today the Comelec says that Smartmatic will correct all past errors. But both agency and supplier have not detailed what are to be rectified.
That first sin of purchase was followed by a mock demonstration of the PCOS in Congress last July. It was more a marketing demo than a simulation of Election Day in a barangay. A thousand ballots were cast for President, senators, congressman, and party list. Noted statisticians and mathematicians from two election watchdogs audited a dismal 93.757-percent accuracy in the presidential tally. This is a far cry from the 99.995-percent accuracy rate required by the Automated Election Law of 2008. With a little over 50 million registered voters in 2010, a one-percent deviation would mean 500,000 votes miscounted. So the 6.238-percent difference between the required and the actual accuracy meant 3.119 million cheated voters. The accuracy rates for other positions also fell below par: 97.387 percent for senators, 96.850 percent for congressmen, and 97.402 percent for party list.
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These are today's Suertres/Swertres Lotto tips; Yesterday's results are at the bottom
012**
022**
024**
027**
039
099
069
049
089
079
029**
269*
129**
289*
449
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036**
139*
379*
369*
359*
Yesterday's Philippine PCSO Draw Results
For September 02, 2012 Sunday
EZ2 Lotto
Morning 11am: 28-17
Afternoon 4pm: 28-30
Evening 9pm: 01-04
Winning numbers in exact order
Php 4,000.00 per 10 peso play
Suertres Lotto Luzon Vis-Min
Morning 11:00 am: 7-8-6
Afternoon 4:00 pm: 5-6-9
Evening 9:00 pm: 2-2-6
Winning numbers in exact order
Php: 4,500 per 10 peso play
Super 6/49 Nationwide Lotto
22-17-36-14-46-47
Current Jackpot: Php 37,811,692.80
(0)winners
Winning numbers in any order
For best results, it is suggested to always employ rumble on the tips above.
* = Hot Numbers
** = Very Hot Numbers
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