Perception Bias

It's been almost three weeks since our first effort to get in touch with Atty. Glenn Chong. Our first private message to him was August 8, a week before we published the first part of our series of exposés about the COMELEC-Smartmatic Syndicate. The second one was quite recently - last August 24 - after he made a comment in one of our posts asking us to send him the questions rather than accept our invitation to an open Q & A which would have been better since questions and responses will be fielded spontaneously without the risk of being contrived.

Prior to this, we have been getting quite a number of private messages from either his emissaries or supporters assuring us of Atty. Chong's integrity and willingness to shed light on these matters. Messages from other people but never from Atty. Chong himself. Many of those who kept sending us private messages are actually the same people who have been actively defending him in our page.

Allow us to put everything in the proper context and perspective.

It is not WAC who mentioned Atty. Chong and implicated him in this mess but two PCOS operators whose private convo last April was leaked to us as we were investigating the guy who infiltrated us - Juan Miguel Suarez III. In fact, it was Suarez who casually hinted at Atty. Chong's 'possible' complicity by mentioning specific events and circumstances in that convo.

WAC did not even mention Atty. Chong in Part 1 of the exposé but the mention of his name in those screenshots were enough to send curious readers to our page asking us to clarify the issue. Well who else could be in the best position to respond to this but Atty. Chong himself? And Atty. Chong did post a lengthy explanation in his own page, which we shared in our wall.

We encourage everyone to READ and carefully process Atty. Chong's seemingly detailed narration and tell us honestly and objectively how anyone could possibly be satisfied by his response. Not that we are disputing Atty. Chong's version and testimony but his statements triggered even more questions rather than provide serious closure to the issue. He confirmed he knew and met with Suarez, demanded a "proof of concept" and asked the latter to provide him a demonstration, claimed that Suarez had in his possession illegal copies of the CCS which was part of the Automated Election System, mentioned two IT guys who allegedly represented two different candidates, said that there were two senators waiting in a nearby building for his update, denied and dismissed Suarez's story about a pursuit that killed two of his companions as a 'tall tale' and extortion tactic, accused Suarez of asking him or whoever he represented 200 million in exchange for Suarez's services and later 50 million for the latter's testimony as a "witness," gave us a brief overview of the possible workings of the COMELEC-Smartmatic Syndicate, along with several other details which only brought to the fore more questions than answers.

Atty. Chong mentioned all this but failed to explain crucial elements in his testimony - Why was he talking to Suarez and who sent him there to talk to the guy? Under whose authority and in what specific capacity was he meeting with a known PCOS operator who was engaged in a blatantly illicit activity? Who were these two senators and why were they anxiously waiting for Atty. Chong's update in a nearby building? Why was there no effort to arrest, entrap and even expose Suarez after several meetings with him? Why was Suarez even allowed to operate during election day and peddle his services to other clients? Why is Suarez even free to roam the streets and blackmail and extort people now?

Understandably, since Atty. Chong is a known crusader whose main advocacy is battling electoral fraud, a lot of people are quick to dismiss any possible complicity by prematurely rushing to his defense. As we said in our previous posts, nobody is saying he is guilty but how can people also be quick to declare his innocence before he is given a chance to personally respond to our queries? He has not even responded to our questions and some people are already saying he's innocent. In fact, some of his loyal fans and followers are even attacking us and making all kinds of malicious insinuations just because we dared to ask questions.

It appears these people are suffering from what is known as PERCEPTION BIAS. A perception bias is a psychological tendency to lose objectivity in the way they perceive people and situations. A lot of us may believe we are able to evaluate an event fairly and accurately, including making judgments about situations, but a number of biases interact with the way we perceive events.

A lot of Atty. Chong's followers keep telling us he's trustworthy, he's a good guy, he's on our side, he's likable, he's not a snob, he responds to their questions online, they learned a lot from him, he's been in this fight longer than anybody else has. Nobody is disputing any of this. We are not telling people to distrust him or to dislike him. In fact we are even reminding people to SUSPEND ALL JUDGMENT about his complicity or innocence until he is given the chance to personally respond to all the questions and address the issue once and for all. Speculations and accusations will not prove his guilt. But perceptions and testimonials about his integrity will neither guarantee his innocence. All we ask is for everyone to be OBJECTIVE about this matter and not be misled by preconceived notions about anybody's persona.

Jesse Robredo was widely perceived as a man of sterling repute. Yet when questions arose seeking to undermine such perceptions, and none of his followers and family members were able to respond squarely to the allegations, his previously untarnished facade slowly began to crumble. Cory Aquino was packaged by the yellow party as a saint, her husband a hero, her son an incorruptible leader, yet no amount of deliberate perception engineering was able to salvage them from the hard and unforgiving verdict of time. Truth is absolute and time exposes everything. We kept harping about this from the get go: Nothing stays buried forever.

Let us not allow our cognitive biases to cloud our better judgment. Let us not hold back from asking important questions just because doing so will run counter to our preconceived beliefs and take us out of our comfort zones. Let us not allow hollow perception to defeat logic.

Atty. Glenn Chong should respond to our questions squarely and without further ado. He owes this much to everyone, most especially his followers who look up to him as a crusader and hero. Delaying this will not aid his cause. Time exposes everything and everyone. There are no exceptions.

Time waits for no man.