The College of Business Administration emptied all their fouls in the game’s last 13 seconds to protect their two-point lead against the College of Mass Communication, 41-39, and posted their first win in the Diliman Games today at the College of Human Kinetics Gymnasium.

CBA team captain Amber Gagajena and Juan Andaya finished with 14 and 11 points, respectively, while CMC skipper Moe Del Rosario and point guard Max Diego combined for 23 markers.

The two teams were deadlocked at 30 at the end of the third quarter, but CBA pulled away early in the fourth scoring six unanswered points, 36-30.

CBA kept CMC at bay halfway in the fourth, but shooting guard Julio Silvestre stirred up the Wildcats’ momentum with an inside shot 4:54 left.

CMC was down by two points at 1:44, but a three-pointer from small forward Del Rosario turned the game around, 39-38.

The Wildcats attempted to kill time, but CBA took the lead back with 55 seconds remaining. Gagajena scored a free throw 13 seconds left, stretching their lead to two points.

CMC burned a timeout to plan a comeback, but CBA used up their fouls to give to kill time and won the game.

“At least sa game na ‘to nakita naming yung strengths and weaknesses namin,” Silvestre said after the game.

The CMC Wildcats will face the College of Engineering in their next game on Jan. 31.

Keeping votes safe and correct need not be a problem in the upcoming University Student Council (USC) elections.

Rystraum Gamonez, University of the Philippines Linux Users Group (UnPLUG) president, assured student voters this year’s fully computerized election system would run smoothly as planned.

“The possibility of it being hacked is very low. In the event that someone attempts to do so, it will be easily detected by our computer server.” Gamonez said.

Votes would also be immediately confirmed after being “cast,” thus eliminating the possibility of multiple voting. “The system blocks any attempt to re-vote using the same issued user name and password,” Gamonez said.

Gamonez also guaranteed tamper-free election results since the processing of the ballots would only involve retrieval of votes from various colleges. “The only physical paper that has to be handled would be the final and certified election results that would be printed out,” he said.

UnPLUG’s technical team, which developed the “Halalan” automated voting system, has been working closely with the UP Computer Center and the University Student Electoral Board to facilitate the elections.

“There will be at least one UnPLUG volunteer at each precinct on election day. They will monitor the use of software and offer assistance if needed,” Gamonez said.

According to a Philippine Collegian report, at least 22,000 students would cast their votes in UP Diliman on Wednesday, with polls closing at 7:00 P.M.. The votes would be counted soon after.

“Halalan”, already a fixture in some UP dormitory council elections, was first used by the College of Engineering and the School of Statistics in the 2007 university vote.

Last year, three more units adapted the system: the College of Mass Communication, the School of Library and Information Science, and the College of Business Administration.