Editors’ Note: Published with the author’s permission. First posted in The Society of Honor by Joe America on October 5, 2023.

I see him all the time in our events with Father Robert Reyes and other members of Clergy for the Moral Choice, when we pray and celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on Plaza Roma in front of the Comelec headquarters at the center of Intramuros, beside the Manila Cathedral.

I thought, hmm, he looks bland, parang pari (Father Robert calls him Bishop), the opposite of swashbuckler, adobong walang suka, pinakbet na walang pait? Where’s Che Guevarra or Fidel Castro when you need them? Where did he come from, what kind of a military man is he, kapani-paniwala ba siya at kagila-gilalas?

I knew there was computer deviltry somewhere with regard to the elections, but Brig. Gen. (Retired) Ely Rio did not inspire at first glance. I’m used to the aura of the Aquinos, Leni, Kiko, and the rest of them, but General Ely had a halo on his head, not the crown of a prince.

Was I wrong.

Just finished an interview on Zoom with him. I call him General Ely. He is the man. We’ve been so used to glitz in the Taylor Swift era, but he was different. In fact, he would be comfortable being left alone, ignored.

Was. I. Wrong.

Studied in Baguio city for his elementary and high school. Served as acolyte having memorized Latin responses growing up. Graduated electrical engineering in U.P. Diliman, 1960-1965. Corps Commander of ROTC. Member, Vanguard fraternity, whose members are officers of U.P. ROTC, creme de la creme.

A dutiful army man, given to information technology, found his calling in the Signal Corps. Saw action in Mindanao and other critical areas, armed to the teeth. Married to Rosalinda, with whom he has three children and four apos.

Go-to man for information technology in government. In charge of the introduction of Dito Telecommunity, the third telco after Smart and Globe, as promised by then President Duterte in campaign. That kind of a man, that kind of a technocrat. Default option: if you want burgers, go to McDonald’s, if you want computer savvy, go to General Ely. That’s the lay of the land.

Fast forward to The Night of the 20 Million Votes, May 9, 2022, sitting on the sofa in his house. Blood pressure rising. Thirty-nine thousand Vote Counting Machines or VCMs transmitting 20 million votes one hour after the close of precincts, 7pm to 8:02pm.

O-n-e   h-o-u-r.

Then Colonel Eliseo Mijares Rio, Jr., former U.P. Diliman corps commander in the early sixties, joined the Armed Forces of the Philippines in intelligence, Signal Corps, saw action in Mindanao, joined the rebels in Camp Crame in 1986, EDSA revolution.

“Just to make copies of the electoral tallies would take all of 20 minutes, including closing the precincts, doing administrative chores,” General Ely said. Not to mention the speed of our internet, called the slowest in Southeast Asia.

It was incredible.

Found himself sitting with old friend Gus Lagman, and Franklin Ysaac in a meeting where the questionable election victory was discussed. They were of one mind: crying out loud impossible. They formed a triumvirate of computer geeks, the TNTrio, and the rest is history.

“The speed of transmission united us in our quest for truth,” he said, “but the smoking gun is 192.168.0.2. IP address. Can you imagine hundreds of thousands of mobile phones having the same number? That’s what it means,” General Ely said.

“Up to now, Comelec hasn’t provided answers to our questions.”

“Is this comparable to the walkout of computer programmers in the Philippine International Convention Center, the fuse that lit People Power in 1986?” I asked.

“Yes.”

So how come the whole country is quiet?” I said.

“We have no Cardinal Sin, we have no Cory who was palaban,” he answered.

“Do prayers help?” I asked. (We have a Last Saturday devotion in front of Comelec, where Father Robert Reyes, Father Noel Gatchalian, Msgr. Melchor David and other men of the cloth celebrate Mass and we recite four mysteries of the Holy Rosary, since March of this year.)

“Yes, they do,” he said. “The information we get from their website, this is not an accident. Comelec insiders input facts which buttress our belief that the elections were rigged in favor of the incumbents.”

“And what do we have? They have policies that serve only themselves, having been elected surreptitiously. They are not accountable, having won by a landslide and therefore infallible in their minds. We have confidential funds, we have shortages of agricultural products, P20 per kilo of rice remains a dream, trips that lead nowhere.”

In 1986, then Major Ely Rio said goodbye to Rosalinda, his wife, to go to Crame to support the coup plotters. She was crying but supportive.

She’s gone now. Two years ago, she left this world. But I can imagine her standing behind her husband in this crusade, crying but supportive.

There should be more Filipinos like them.

One last, I asked him to talk to the Filipino people. (Spoken in Tagalog, translated to English by the author.)

“My countrymen, we are standing at the crossroads. We know what the country should be, to claim our destiny as a nation under God. We have to act as one. Whatever we do, our children will inherit our country after we are gone. Our goal is to have a progressive country. But we won’t get that if we stay in our comfort zone. We have to decide what we want sooner rather than later.”

– Brig. Gen. Rio (retired)

(Featured header image: Brig. Gen. Eliseo Rio Jr. with supporters from Pampanga.)