86 4 Chasing the Wind: Assessing Philippine Democracy However, while Laurel did not formally concede defeat he pacified his supporters for a truly patriotic reason and pointed out the greater danger of civil war in the country. This was pointed out by Felipe B. Miranda in a written commentary to the author. 5 As the constitutional body for overseeing electoral governance in the country and for its dismal track record in performing its mandate, the COMELEC deserves a separate study. For recent studies on the COMELEC, see Calimbahin 2010 and 2011. 6 In 2011, in the aftermath of the trial of the accused in the Maguindanao massacre, former ARMM Governor Zaldy Ampatuan and Atty. Lintang Bedol, Maguindanao COMELEC election supervisor in 2007, both admitted to the widespread vote manipulation in the 2004 and 2007 elections in their province. Also in 2011, PNP Senior Superintendent, Rafael Santiago publicly admitted to having led a Special Forces Action team in early 2005 allegedly on orders of then PNP chief, Hermogenes Ebdane, Jr., to replace original election returns with manufactured ones at the Batasan Pambansa complex (House of Representatives building complex). This operation was in anticipation of the recounting of ballots in the face of an election protest filed against Gloria Macapagal Arroyo by the widow of the late Fernando Poe, Jr., who ran for the presidency in 2004. For a study of the systematic electoral fraud perpetrated in 2004, see Bobby M. Tuazon, ed., Fraud: Gloria M. Arroyo and the May 2004 Elections (Quezon City: CenPEG Publications 2006). For the role of COMELEC and NAMFREL in the 1953, 1986 and 2004 elections, see Cleo Calimbahin (2010). 7 Charged of conducting an investigation whitewash by independent observers, election monitoring bodies, and the political opposition, the government military panel was headed by Vice-Admiral Mateo Mayuga, inspector general of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. 8 Lt. Gen. Rodolfo C. Garcia served as the commander of Task Force Hope which was formed to help the Commission on Elections in conducting honest, orderly, and peaceful elections in 2004. Brig. Gen. Raymundo Ferrer was the commanding general of the Army's 103rd infantry brigade based in Basilan province. Lt. Col. Victoriano Pimentel was assigned in Sulu during the 2004 elections. (Cabacungan, Jr. and Esguerra 2011: 1) 9 The Ampatuan political clan of Maguindanao province was held responsible for the massacre and its leaders (former Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., and his two sons, former ARMM governor, Zaldy Ampatuan, and former Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr.,) had been detained and undergoing trial. 10 For a comparative study of the causes and consequences of vote buying, see Schaffer 2007. 11 The source code is the human readable set of instructions that define what the computer will do. For a comprehensive assessment of the May 2010 automation project by COMELEC and Smartmatic-TIM, see “The CenPEG Report on the May 2010 Automated Elections in the Philippines,” by the Center for Peoples' Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) 2010.