FAITH.

e Coalition
Faith-based Coalition for Fairness, Accuracy, Integrity, Transparency and Honesty in Elections

January 15, 2016

STATEMENT TO THE MEDIA

Subject:

A Call for the Full Implementation RA 9369, Election Automation Law, and the Restoration of
ALL the security features for the 2016 Elections.

Who We Are
We are a coalition of religious leaders, church groups, faith-based organizations and God-fearing citizens
who desire to see fairness, accuracy, integrity, transparency and honesty in elections. Our members come
from the Roman Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical and Muslim faiths.
We are apprehensive about the present state of the automated election system (AES). We are very concerned
about the status of the cases filed with the Ombudsman and the Supreme Court against the Commission of
Elections and Smartmatic-TIM with regards to the automated election system during the 2010 and 2013
elections, particularly those that pertain to the security features of the system.
We look at these cases with keen interest, and we believe that they must be acted upon with the highest
sense of urgency. We are concerned that if these cases are not decided on immediately, security features
prescribed by Republic Act 9369, or the Election Automation Law may not be implemented again for the
2016 elections.

Elections from a Faith Perspective

God has blessed the Filipinos with a democratic government. In a democracy, sovereignty resides in the
people; the citizens of the land are invested with the ultimate power of governing themselves. We uphold
the principle that for order and efficiency, this power is delegated by the people to their chosen
representatives who should have the highest moral standards - so that they will be incorruptible by power and should be the wisest and the best-equipped among them, to serve as government servants.
We believe that all authority emanates from God Himself, and therefore, the responsibility to elect these
government servants is a sacred trust and a stewardship that God assigns to citizens - a trust and stewardship
that all should appreciate, apply and protect.
Given this, we consider any effort to manipulate the electoral process through coercion or fraud to be not
just unethical or illegal, but also an immoral act - a sin - for it subverts Gods will for the Filipino people.

Issues with the Security Features of AES

During the 2010 and 2013 elections, the COMELEC decided to remove certain security features specified in
R.A. 9369 or the Election Automation Law. In the absence of these security features, there have been many
persistent and pervasive reports that the 2010 and 2013 automated elections had been ridden with fraud.
We believe that the absence of these security features in the automated election system violates the law of
the land and will place the credibility of the 2016 elections in doubt.

FAITH.e Coalition Secretariat c/o Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches

62 Molave, Project 3, Quezon City Metro Manila Phone:(632) 913 1655

If the law is not fully implemented and the security features are not restored, we fear that the absence of
such can then be used for the perpetration of electoral fraud through manipulation by unscrupulous technical
experts in connivance with any party interested in capturing power, be it ambitious politicians or criminal
elements--gambling lords, drug lords who want to protect their illegal activities, May the Lord have mercy
on us if political power falls in the hands of evil men.
Even if the elections were honest, the lack of the safety features will be reason for parties to question the
integrity of the election.
We believe that if the cases against COMELEC and SMARTMATIC-TIM are decided on soon, this will
compel the COMELEC to comply fully with the requirements of RA 9369.

The Call to Action

We call on the COMELEC to ensure that the Election Automation Law is fully implemented, and that ALL
not just SOME--of the security features prescribed in RA 9369 be implemented for 2016, particularly the
following:

Voter-verifiable paper audit trail

Implementation of a truly random manual audit after the elections
Source code review that will allow more interested parties to participate
Use of digital signatures of teachers/Board of Election Inspectors

Ballot verification through the use of ultra-violet detectors - to check against fake ballots

We call on the Ombudsman prosecute cases on the automated election system with a sense of urgency. We
call on the Supreme Court not to delay to make decisions on cases filed on the automated election. The
understanding of the Election Automated Law has to be refined by these judicial bodies so that it could be
properly implemented.
We trust that these institutions will act with a sense of duty as public servants, and they will take seriously
this sacred duty to uphold the law and protect the sanctity of the vote of every Filipino. We pray that they
will allow God to use them to ensure that fairness, accuracy, integrity, transparency and honesty will prevail
in the coming elections.

(Original signed)
Bishop BRODERICK PABILLO
Auxilliary Bishop of Manila
Roman Catholic Archdiocese
of Manila

(Original signed)
Bishop EFRAIM TENDERO
Secretary General
World Evangelical Alliance
Chairman, Votenet Philippines

(Original signed)
Padi REX REYES, Jr.
General Secretary
National Council of Churches
of the Philippines

(Original signed)
Bishop NOEL PANTOJA
Executive Director
Philippine Council of Evangelical
Churches

(Original signed)
Prof. MONER BAJUNAID
National Ulama Conference
of the Philippines

(Original signed)
Ms. AMINA RASUL BERNARDO
Philippine Center for Islam
and Democracy

(Original signed)
Bishop EVANGELIO MERCADO

(Original signed)
Bishop REUBEN ABANTE

Chairman

Senior Pastor

Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches

Lighthouse Bible Baptist Church and Ministries

Secretary General, Bible Believers League for
Morality and Democracy (BIBLEMODE)

(Original signed)
Bishop LUCIO CHITO RAMOS
National Minister, Alliance of Bible Christian
Communities of the Philippines

(Original signed)
Bishop CESAR VICENTE PUNZALAN
Chairman
Baptist Conference of the Philippines

(Original signed)

(Original signed)

JESUS S. ESPINA, JR.

National Director, VOICE Philippines

Rev. NANDING PAUNIL

National Director
Prayer Life Ministries

(Original signed)

(Original signed)

Prof. GRACE GOROSPE JAMON

Dean, University of the Philippines, Pampanga
Spokesperson, Votenet Philippines

EVA MARIE FAMADOR

Executive Director
Christian Convergence for Good Governance

(Original signed)

(Original signed)

EDITH MENDOZA

EDMUNDO TOTI CASIO

Firebrand Ministries

Past President, Philippine Computer Society

(Original signed)
CARLO M. DIO
General Secretary
Votenet Philippines