Why Bongbong lost the election

An insider at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said defeated vice presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos and his camp should check out the votes on Negros island and Maguindanao province where Leni Robredo won big.

The Maguindanao and Negros votes would negate Robredo’s win over Marcos if they were recounted, the Comelec insider claimed.

According to the unimpeachable source, there were preshaded ballots, many voters were “delisted” while some election officers were reshuffled days before the May 9, 2016 election.

The last move was in violation of the election ban on the reassignment of all government personnel during the election period.

Those who were reshuffled were in “critical” areas identified by the “yellow army,” said the Comelec source, referring to the Liberal Party.

The Liberal Party fielded Mar Roxas as its presidential candidate and Leni Robredo as his running mate. (As an aside, I endorsed and voted for Robredo).

The hacking of voters data resulted in hundreds of thousands of voters getting disenfranchised in many areas where the yellow army knew cheating would hardly be noticed, the source said.

I met with the Comelec source who spilled the beans to me over dinner at a restaurant on Arnaiz Street in Makati City on Tuesday.

The source said a Comelec official had many empty liquor cartons stuffed with bundles of P500 and P1,000 bills in his house during the election period.

The source added that before the Comelec official signed documents or decisions relating to the May 9 election, he would demand “pang-inom” or liquor money; hence, the cartons of empty liquor filled with money.

The cartons were stacked one on top of the others in a corner of the Comelec official’s home.

“Oh, one more thing, sir  (name of the official) has a deposit of P400 million at (name of the bank),” said the source before we parted ways.

Norwegian photographer and filmmaker Torgeir “Thorn” Hoverstad was acquitted recently by the Balanga, Bataan Regional Trial Court on child pornography charges.

Hoverstad’s acquittal came after the two girls who were supposedly his victims testified in court that he was framed by a syndicate victimizing foreigners.

However, Hoverstad was convicted by the same court of publication and distribution of obscene materials which he was never charged with.

When Hoverstad’s apartelle was raided by the police inside the Subic Bay Freeport, they found photo albums of nude adult women—not Filipinos, mind you, but Indonesians and Thais—which the raiders presented as evidence in court.

Hoverstad said he took the pictures while he was doing photography work in Indonesia and Thailand.

The photos were for his eyes only and were never publicized or distributed.

Why Balanga RTC Judge Marion Jacqueline Poblete convicted Hoverstad of publication and distribution of “obscene materials” which were apparently taken illegally from his abode, only she knows.

As a result, the Norwegian remains in jail, abandoned by his last lawyer whom he had paid a big amount.

There ought to be a law that imprisons judges who make arbitrary decisions and lawyers who abandon their clients after receiving payment.