A Pyrrhic victory.
That was how political analysts described the “upset” victory of San Pedro City, Laguna Vice Mayor Francis Joseph “Art” Mercado in the May 9 mayoralty elections.
The weirdest thing about the recently-concluded elections in San Pedro City was that there was no large-scale celebration or even a feeling of jubilation among the populace when the final results were released by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) the day after.
Instead, the general feeling among the public was one of shock, as well as disbelief – and distrust – in the official result released by Comelec.
When the votes were counted, Mercado was found to have gained a 66-percent lead – 78,255 votes – over Aaron Cataquiz, son of outgoing Mayor Lourdes Cataquiz, who received 39,529 votes.
Meanwhile, former councilor Ina Olivarez won the vice-mayoralty race with 74,059 votes over incumbent councilor Raffy Campos' 39,775 votes.
Surveys, elections results contradictory
It could not be denied that the general feeling of San Pedronians had been that it’s high time for a “new face” to take over the leadership of Laguna’s “Dormitory City.”
The argument of many San Pedronians has been that just two political families – the Viernezas and the Cataquizes – have lorded over the town for decades and that it was time for a new generation to lead the city as it recovers from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
But the results of the mayoralty, vice-mayoralty, and Sangguniang Panglungsod races has had everybody in the city astounded, even its top leaders.
“Lahat – pati mga political insiders – nagulat sa naging resulta. Hindi kami makapaniwala,” a high-ranking government official who lived in San Pedro City told OpinYon Laguna.
The final results contradicted every survey conducted during the course of the campaign, including that of OpinYon Laguna, which had predicted a very close race between Mercado and Cataquiz.
Instead, what happened appeared to be a managed “65-35” percentage for both the mayoralty and vice-mayoralty races, critics charged.
“Halos pantay ang resulta sa lahat ng barangay, maliban sa Sto. Nino na alam naman nating balwarte ng mga Cataquiz,” sources added. “In fact, kung natalo si Aaron Cataquiz sa Sto. Nino, magiging halatang-halata na may ginalaw sila sa resulta ng halalan.”
Losers in own bailiwicks
When broken down by barangays, sources told OpinYon Laguna, the results are even incredible.
For instance, Raffy Campos, who ran for vice mayor under the Cataquiz ticket, lost heavily in Barangay Pacita 1 – a known bailiwick of the Camposes, where his sister, Ma. Rosario “Kitten” Campos, is the barangay chairwoman.
In Barangay Sto. Nino, where the Cataquizes had won by a comfortable majority during past elections, Aaron Cataquiz “only” got a 700-vote majority, sources said, while Barangay Landayan, a known bailiwick of the Vierneza political family, Councilor Iryne Vierneza placed “just fifth” in the rankings for city councilor.
Why not Matibag?
But one can argue that there was a loophole in all this speculation: why did Laguna 1st District Board Member and San Pedro Representative-elect Ann Matibag gain a "comfortable" majority over her nearest rival, former Laguna Board Member and Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) president Dave Almarinez?
While both Matibag and Almarinez had made every effort to remain non-partisan during the campaign, San Pedronians have identified Matibag as connected with the Cataquiz camp and Almarinez with the Mercados in the last few days before the elections.
"Siguro alam na kasi nila na masyadong malaki talaga ang pagsuporta ng mga taga-San Pedro kay Matibag," OpinYon Laguna's sources speculated. "Kung papalabasin na nanalo si Almarinez, magiging masyadong halata ang kanilang pagmamanipula sa resulta ng halalan."
Connecting the dots
Of course, people will say that all these is pure speculation and that proving allegations of massive cheating in the automated elections could be extremely difficult, if not outright impossible.
But a news story that came out last April has served to inflame doubts about the integrity of the recently-concluded race.
At least three persons were nabbed for allegedly claiming to have illegally accessed the Smartmatic System to influence the results of the elections, two of them in Laguna province.
The suspects, identified as s Joel Adajar Ilagan, a.k.a. "Borge"; Adrian De Jesus Martinez, a.k.a. "Admin X"; and Jeffrey Cruz Limpiado a.k.a. "Brake/Vanguard/Universe/LRR", were members of notorious hackers named “XSOX Group”, who are claiming to have illegally accessed the Smartmatic System.
They were arrested last April 24 by the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), together with the ACG during an entrapment operation in Imus, Cavite, and Santa Rosa, Laguna.
Undersecretary Cesar Mancao, executive director of the CICC, divulged that the group is asking for P60 million in order to influence or change the vote results for a certain candidate.
“Ang direktang kausap ng suspect na si alias "Grey" na ngayon napag-alaman natin na si Jeffrey (Limpiado) na siya rin ang utak ng XSOX group, ay siyang huling tumanggap ng actually boodle money na P10 million kasi humingi nga ng PHP60 million pero initial downpaynment ang P10 million,” Mancao told reporters during a press conference.
Connections
Mancao added the group possibly has links to Ricardo Argana, a former contractual employee in the alleged data breaching of a technology firm, Smartmatic, a software provider on contract with the Comelec, who was also arrested in San Pedro City, Laguna.
“Yung kanilang na-hack, totoo nga meron silang nakuhang access sa Smartmatic system nung una subalit doon nga sa nakuha kay Argana ay ganun din. Hanggang doon lang sa mga preparation pero sa actual election hindi na, napakahirap talaga i-access nitong ating Comelec system na nakuha from Smartmatic. Ang dami hong mga klaseng firewalls, multi-level checking,” he said.
Mancao said Limpiado, a 31-year-old businessman, was reportedly good at hiding his data and is experienced in hacking.
Martinez, on the other hand, reportedly gained notoriety over credit cards, while Ilagan is an 18-year-old who knows his way in computers and programming.
A candidate for a major position in Laguna province confirmed to OpinYon Laguna that he had received “feelers” from people who claim to have connections with these hackers, although he was never approached personally.
“Dinismiss ko iyang mga feelers, kasi hindi ako naniniwala na kayang-kaya talaga nilang i-hack ang resulta ng halalan,” the candidate, who lost by a large margin, said.
“Pero nung nakita ko na yung mga resulta, nagduda na talaga ako. Doon sumagi sa isip ko na baka totoo nga yung mga naririnig ko na may kaya raw magmanipula sa source code na ginamit sa halalan.”