From Glenn Chong
On August 15, when we released Part 1 of our exposé on the COMELEC-Smartmatic Syndicate, we shared screenshots of a private chat between two PCOS operators who both mentioned Atty. Glenn Chong in their convo.
Prior to publishing, we tried to contact Atty. Chong. We sent him a couple of private messages hoping to hear his side but he has not replied so we proceeded to publish the material. We only knew of Atty. Chong through his presence in social media and seeing that his crusade against electoral fraud is in line with our advocacy, we consistently shared his posts in our page and in our website. So imagine our surprise upon seeing his name crop up in those screenshots.
Following is his explanation of why his name was mentioned by Suarez and the other guy (our source). Here is what we have gathered so far from his official statement (we have translated the entirety of his original response to English for the benefit of foreign observers):
1. Atty. Chong confirms knowing Juan Miguel Suarez III, claiming that Suarez is indeed an operator who was referred to him by a "friend" and that he met with Suarez in April 2016 demanding a "proof of concept" and demonstration of Suarez's alleged expertise.
2. Atty. Chong informed the AlDub Movement (Alyansang Duterte-Bongbong) and met with Suarez in Shangri La Hotel in the Fort, BGC with two (2) IT guys. One allegedly from Duterte's camp, and another guy from UCLA who allegedly represented then Vice-Presidential candidate BongBong Marcos.
3. In the said meeting, Suarez brought with him an IBM ThinkPad which contained illegal copies of the Consolidation and Canvassing System (CCS) which according to him was part of the whole Automated Election System. Furthermore, Suarez claimed that the IBM ThinkPad he had was an exact replica of what was being used by COMELEC-Smartmatic. The CCS is said to be the recipient of the data results transmitted by the voting machines from different areas nationwide. It likewise tallies all the votes and becomes the basis for proclaiming winning candidates.
4. According to Atty Chong, he observed that Suarez's demonstration was indeed possible and doable. He noted, however, that in order for Suarez's concept to succeed, they would have to do this in collusion with a lot of CCS operators (there is one for each municipality, city and province) since it is necessary for them to know the IP address of each CCS laptop they intend to tamper with in order to cheat. In other words, the said concept was a big logistical nightmare.
5. Without finishing Suarez's demonstration, Atty. Chong left the meeting and reported it to two (2) senators allegedly aligned with the Duterte camp who were waiting for his update in another building in BGC. The IT expert from UCLA was allegedly the one who reported to BBM's camp. According to Atty. Chong, the deal with Suarez did not materialize. Suarez was allegedly asking for Php 200 million in exchange for "protection" so that the candidates' votes will not be tampered with.
6. According to Atty. Chong, the COMELEC-Smartmatic Syndicate got wind of this racket and decided to replace 100 CCS operators nationwide 3 days before the election. Atty. Chong likewise claimed that it was only Senator Grace Poe who took notice of this. Atty. Chong also mentioned that these "independent operators" (people like Suarez) never profited because of this and were considered as "competitors" by the COMELEC-Smartmatic Syndicate.
7. Atty. Glenn Chong explained that it was COMELEC-Smartmatic who was allegedly selling the cheating and rigging of votes while independent operators like Suarez peddled "protection" against cheating. He further states that either which way you put it, both are still considered "cheating."
8. After the elections, while he was busy talking to international and local media inside BBM's campaign headquarters about the "electoral fraud" that took place, he was once again invited to a nearby mall to talk to a "witness." To his surprise, the witness was Juan Miguel Suarez III.
9. Suarez showed him a manual and logbook of alleged CCS operators and detailed how the cheating was done in Quezon Province. He perused it and saw that were no affidavits, no witnesses aside from Suarez himself and another woman who likewise claimed to be a CCS operator. According to Atty. Chong, he was not convinced. Suarez was asking for Php 50 million so he considered it a "waste of time."
10. Atty. Chong claimed that Suarez told a lot of stories. But he vehemently denies Suarez's claim in the convo we published that he was pursued in Naga after his "third" meeting with Atty. Chong which resulted in the deaths of Suarez's two companions. Atty. Chong declared that he is certain he was not the one who "ordered" the killings if indeed the alleged "killings" took place. Atty. Chong said he was not foolish enough to give the COMELEC-Smartmatic Syndicate enough reason to get back at him. He claims the story is merely a "tall tale" spun by Suarez in order to boost his market value as he was using "security issues" as leverage to extort money in exchange for his information. He says the story was merely being "used" by Suarez as a bargaining chip. He proceeded to issue a warning to the public to take heed of people like Suarez and be careful of his extortion tactics so as "not to be victimized."
11. One thing for certain according to Atty. Chong was the proliferation of "independent contractors" who were in the business of vote-rigging. He says these independent contractors were directly competing with the Syndicate who administered the widespread cheating. Some of these are even PPCRV volunteers who brought with them actual PCOS machines in their client demonstrations citing a case in Northern Luzon during the 2013 elections.
12. But COMELEC does not go after independent contractors like Suarez because doing so will run the risk of compromising their "authorized dealers."
13. Atty. Chong concludes by asking "Where did Suarez get the illegal copy of the Consolidation and Canvassing System? It was possible it came from Smartmatic. The logic being, if these independent contractors are unable to deliver the votes for their clients, the clients will go to the syndicate's authorized dealers come next election. Atty. Chong said that the strategy made "good business sense."
So there you have it. Atty. Glenn Chong's full statement explaining his side of this developing story. We thank Atty. Chong for this. However, if you carefully read through much of it, you will realize that Atty. Chong's seemingly detailed narration raises even more questions than were originally apparent.
We would appreciate a deeper discussion of each particular detail so we would like to take this opportunity to invite Atty. Glenn Chong for an open Q & A here in our page. We can do the chat in private for as long as Atty. Chong will allow us to publish the transcripts in full in the interest of transparency. We are likewise inviting the camps mentioned by Atty. Chong namely:
1. The 2 senators who have not been named; 2. The camp of Vice-Presidential candidate BongBong Marcos; 3. The IT guys who were present during the meeting especially the one who allegedly represented the Duterte camp; 4. The camp of Senator Grace Poe; 5. The COMELEC itself headed by Chairman Andres Bautista; and 5. Juan Miguel Suarez III himself.
The investigation we are conducting concerns an issue of utmost national importance. We are temporarily postponing the publication of Part 2 of our exposé in order to give an opportunity for everyone to air their side.
Please contact us through private message. We ask our followers to tag AlDub (whoever is leading this organization), the camp of BongBong Marcos, Senator Grace Poe, COMELEC/Smartmatic, and Juan Miguel Suarez so they are all aware of this invitation.
Thank you.
Following is Atty. Chong's original response in Filipino (Posted August 17, 2017):
PAGLILINAW SA POST NG WE ARE COLLECTIVE
Nitong mga nagdaang araw, may post sa page ng We Are Collective kung saan ipinakita nila ang screenshots ng kanilang conversation sa isang Juan Miguel Suarez III. Dahil nasa screenshot ang pangalan ko, kailangan kong linawin at ilagay sa tamang kontexto ito.
Naghahanap talaga ng pera si Suarez III. Sa kanyang paghahanap ng koneksyon, ipinasa siya sa akin ng mga kaibigan at kasamahan ko sa pakikipaglaban sa sindikatong Comelec-Smartmatic noong April 2016. Ang layunin ay upang ma-verify o ma-check kung totoo ang kanyang mga pinagyayabang na kakayahang mandaya sa halalan. Nagdemand ako sa kanya ng “proof of concept” at demonstration.
Inipinaalam ko ito sa ALDUB o Alyansang Duterte-Bongbong. Nag-arrange agad kami ng meeting sa Shangri-La at the Fort. Kasama ko ang isang IT expert sa kampo ni Pangulong Duterte at isang IT expert naman sa kampo ni BBM na graduate mula sa University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA).
Dala ni Suarez ang isang IBM Thinkpad na may lamang illegal na kopya ng Consolidation and Canvassing System (CCS), isang bahagi lamang ito ng buong Automated Election System. Ayon sa kanya, ang IBM laptop ay eksaktong kapareho ng unit na ginagamit ng Comelec at Smartmatic bilang CCS sa bawat munisipyo sa buong bansa. Ang CCS ang tatanggap sa lahat ng resulta ng halalan mula sa mga voting machines. Ito ang magsusuma sa lahat ng boto na siyang pagbabasehan ng proklamasyon ng mga lokal na kandidato.
Maari ngang mandaya sa ganitong paraan pero kailangan nilang kunsabuhin ang maraming CCS operators (may 1 CCS operator sa bawat munisipyo, siyudad at probinsiya) kung malawakan ang operasyon dahil kailangan nilang malaman ang IP address ng bawat CCS laptop na gusto nilang dayain. Sa madaling sabi, madugo, matrabaho at madaling mabuking ito.
Hindi pa natapos ang demonstration, umalis na ako at inireport ko ito sa 2 senators sa kampo ni Pangulong Duterte na nag-aantay ng aming update sa isang building sa BGC. Ang IT expert mula sa UCLA naman ang nagreport sa kampo ni BBM. Ang aming desisyon ay huwag patulan ito. P200 million ang hiningi ni Suarez kapalit ng “proteksyon sa boto ng kandidato upang hindi madaya ng kalaban.”
Natunugan siguro ng sindikatong Comelec-Smartmatic ang racket nilang ito, 3 araw bago ang halalan, pinalitan ang mahigit 100 CCS operators sa buong bansa. Tinanggal sila at pinalitan ng bago. Si Sen. Grace Poe lang ang nakapuna nito. Kaya walang kita ang mga independent operators na ito. Kumpetensya kasi sila ng sindikatong Comelec-Smartmatic.
Ang sindikatong Comelec-Smartmatic ang nagbebenta ng dayaan. Ang mga independent operators naman ang naglalako ng "proteksyon laban sa dayaan." Dayaan pa rin ito kahit saang angulo mo titingnan. Pareho silang mga mandaraya.
Matapos ang halalan, habang nasa campaign headquarters ako ni BBM, nagpapaliwanag sa dayaang nangyari sa harap ng international at local media, pinapunta ako sa katapat na mall, upang harapin ang isang testigo ng dayaan. To my surprise, si Suarez pala!
May ipinakita siyang parang manual at log book ng mga CCS operators kung saan nakadetalye diumano ang ginawang dayaan sa Quezon Province. Binusisi ko iyon. Walang affidavit, walang ibang testigo maliban kay Suarez at isang babaeng CCS operator diumano. Hindi ako kumbinsido. At ang presyo ay P50 million. Kaya ang payo ko ay huwag nang mag-aksaya ng panahon.
Maraming kwento si Suarez. Pero ang isa ay mariin kong pabulaanan. Sinabi niyang sinundan daw sila sa Naga at pinatay ang kanyang 2 kasama matapos ang pangatlong meeting namin. Sigurado akong hindi ako ang nagpapatay sa kanila kung totoong pinatay nga sila. Hindi ako gago upang bigyan ng dahilan ang sindikatong Comelec-Smartmatic upang balikan ako ng husto. Ito ay “tall tale” lamang ni Suarez upang tumaas ang kanyang “market value” dahil “security” ang palaging ginagamit niya bilang bargaining chip kung pera na ang pag-uusapan kapalit ng kanyang diumano’y nalalaman. Pampataas-presyo lamang ang kwentong ito.
Kaya mag-ingat tayo sa mga ganitong racket upang hindi makuryente o mabiktima.
Isang bagay na mapapatunayan sa istoryang ito ay ang paglipana ng mga independent operators na naghahanap-buhay sa pagbebenta ng dayaan sa halalan. Sila ay kakumpetensa ng sindikatong nagpapatakbo ng ating halalan. Ang sindikato ay may sariling “authorized dealers” sa pagbebenta ng dayaan. Ang iba pa nga nito ay PPCRV volunteers mismo na may dala pang PCOS machine upang ipakita sa kliyente (kaso sa Northern Luzon, 2013 elections).
Pero hindi hinuhuli ng Comelec ang mga kakumpetensiyang independent operators tulad ni Suarez dahil baka matamaan ang kanilang sariling “authorized dealers” at mabuking pa sila – patay ang kanilang negosyo!
Ang malaking tanong, paano nakakuha ng illegal copy si Suarez ng Consolidation and Canvassing System? Mula sa Smartmatic mismo? Posible! Dahil kung hindi makapagdeliver ang mga independent operators ng panalo sa kliyente (hindi naman talaga magtatagumpay ang independent operators dahil outside the kulambo sila), sa susunod, sa “authorized dealer” na lang talaga pupunta ang mga kandidatong gustong mandaya. Good business sense, di ba?
You can link to his original FB post here.
