INQUIRER: LP can't gain Luzon foothold - based on the outcome of the May 13 midterm elections, of 22 northern and central Luzon gubernatorial posts, LP only won 5 - 3 of these in hte remote upland provinces of Kalinga, Abra and Apayao in the Cordillera. Of 46 north and central Luzon representatives elected to Congress, 17 are LP members.

INQUIRER: Commission on Elections Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. has warned a staunch critic against making any more complaints or his client won't be proclaimed.

AES WATCH: Comelec is now anointer of presumed winners
By committing more errors that those recorded in 2010, by marking arbitrary and highly-irregular decisions during canvassing, and proclaiming presumed winning candidates prematurely the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has turned the second automated elections from bad to worse - a technology and political disaster.

From Rene Del Rosario former IT head of COMELEC:..., I sampled the quick count 'manufactured' by the transparency kuno server and found that the votes share are consistently 59.50% for the admin, 30.93% for the opposition and 5.77% for the underdogs (pardon the term). This statistically impossible! The 9-3 outcome is driven by a linear equation embedded in the pcos, not how the people voted.

INQUIRER: Telcos to Comelec: WHAT WEAK SIGNAL?
The country's two major telecommunications providers have denied claims that weak signals played a major role in the delayed transmission of results in Monday's elections. PLDT said in a statement that its mobile networks, including those of Smart and Sun Cellular, "were fully functional throughout the exercise." Globe Telecom said that its help desk stationed at the National Support Center had yet to receive a single  transmission-related concern from the election's technology provider Smartmatic.

Best read 'Is your country too stupid for you?' Phil Star today H-3.

GUD READ Today Sat May 18 - C. Pedrosa's "CRY, MY BELOVED COUNTRY" p17 PhStar. Pls pas.

http://www.philstar.com/opinion/2013/05/18/943471/cry-my-beloved-country

Macalintal said the partial proclamation was a "bad precedent" because it paves the way for local boards of canvassers to proclaim winners "BASED ON THEIR DISCRETION on who is the winning candidate." "What is now the remedy of the aggrieved party? What will be the basis of the aggrieved party who would want to file an election protest, he or she would not know the (vote difference) between him or her and the proclaimed candidate," he said.

INQUIRER: AQUINO 'RUSHED TO PICC after getting Comelec call on proclamation
When Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino IV got the call from the Commission on Elections to go to the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), he "rushed" to get there. "That's why I'm here. I just got call around 4:30 to 5 p.m. and we rushed here," said Aquino who at 36 is the youngest senator-elect from his batch.

reelectionist Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III: "Proclaim winners at the six-million-vote level? With still 30 million votes uncanvassed? Where is the logic in the early partial proclamation? Why rush?" He said that while there was no doubt that the six proclaimed senators-elect have already secured their Senate seats, the NBOC SHOULD ACT STRICTLY "IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAW and procedure."

The public is now left in the dark and will have no way of knowing results of the elections being transmitted to the PPCRV-KBP transparency server. The PPCRV has temporarily suspended its service until the completion of the proclamation of the 12 winning senators upon the Comelec's instructions.

Group of teachers troops near PICC to dispute COMELEC statement blaming teachers for slow count (DZBB).

NAMFREL: Transmission of poll results much slower in 2013 than in 2010 (GMA News TV)

Atty. Romulo Macalintal on DZIQ
- Sa rule ng NBOC maliwanag na dapat ang proclamation ay upon completion of the canvass.
- Kung ako 'yung pinoroklamang Senador, isasauli ko ang Certificate of Proclamation na yan. Katumbas yan ng pagtataksil nila sa bumoto sa kanila.
- Noong panahon ng kampanya hingi sila ng hingi ng boto, tapos nung ipo-proklama, pumayag sila kahit hindi pa nabibilang lahat.

Atty. Romulo Macalintal on DZBB
Re: 5 senatoriables should not be proclaimed by COMELEC last night
- As early as 1968 sinasabi ng SC doon sa Mutoc vs COMELEC na hindi ka pwedeng mag-proclaim ng hindi nakalagay kung ano yung boto na tinatanggap ng mga kandidato sapagkat iyan ang basis ng iyong proclamation.

Dzmm Teleradyo:
Mga pinoy store sa taiwan pinagbabato ng mga taiwanese. Freeze hiring sa taiwan kinumpirma ng poea. Ilang pinoy hindi daw pinapapasok sa mga taiwanese store.

INQUIRER: "Since when is a citizens' arm entitled to so many things?" This question was posed by Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. when asked about a poll watchdog's plea that the Comelec provide them with data on manually uploaded election returns. He was referring to the statement of the PPCRV and the KBP earlier on Thursday, "begging" the Comelec to provide the election returns which are still unaccounted for.

Dzmm:
Investigating team ng Taiwan, 'di nakipag-ugnayan sa DOJ sa pagpunta sa PH.