From the moment we first beheld the unique magic of people power in 1986, we have scanned the political horizon for signs of its recurrence. The possibility that it will appear again gives us eternal hope. Its unpredictability, however, keeps us guessing when and in what form it will happen again. Its elusiveness tells us [...]
So he finally admitted it. The number of precinct count optical scan machines that had experienced transmission problems, said Commission on Elections Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. last Thursday, wasn’t in the hundreds but in the thousands—18,000, or 24-25 percent of the around 78,000 machines deployed in the midterm elections.
Commission on Elections Chair Sixto Brillantes has the right of it when he says that the 60-30-10 pattern of voting that was observed by concerned netizens in data posted by the Comelec’s transparency server for the senatorial race was not indicative of fraud. But then he spoils it all when he explains his reasoning.
Much of the gratification in doing election surveys comes from the voters’ overwhelming appreciation of them.
May I react to Daniel Aloc’s letter “Genuine nationalists still can’t escape Red-tagging” (Inquirer, 5/2/13). It appears that because of Teddy Casiño’s campaign ad (“Karaniwang Tao”), the party-list Bayan Muna representative who ran for a Senate seat in the recent elections got Aloc’s vote.
The biggest winner in the 2013 elections is Grace Poe, because nobody saw it coming. The biggest loser is Sixto Brillantes, but then, he had it coming.
How did the midterm elections affect the urban poor? More than any other group, the poor need free elections to improve their lives, but the simple truth seems to be that in the last poll exercise they hardly benefited. It was partly their own doing.
Congratulations to all the actors, actresses and other show biz celebrities who have won a mandate to serve their constituents. However, these winners should remember that they were voted to serve the public, not to entertain a few. I, for one, therefore hope that I do not see their ubiquitous faces anymore on TV and the big screen doing something else not related to their mandate, like horse-playing, cracking ridiculous jokes, judging a talent show, acting as a cohost, or pretending to be Spiderman.
We thank all those who voted for the Ang Kapatiran Party candidates, especially our senatorial bets JC de los Reyes, Rizalito David and Marwil Llasos. Our supporters are assured that we sincerely value their votes. Our candidates’ individual expressions of gratitude are posted in their respective Facebook account.
Not all was light and hope in the last elections, there was a dark side to them. Agence France-Presse pointed it out last week. The elections also produced a “rogues’ gallery” of winners. Those rogues are:
Before the Aquino administration could consolidate its control of Congress following the midterm elections, the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) pressed the government to redouble its efforts in ensuring energy security if it wanted to attract more investors.
The defect in the proclamation of the winning senatorial candidates has been corrected, according to election lawyer Romulo Macalintal, who criticized the proclamation soon after the first six senators were proclaimed. Macalintal was one of the three guests at the Kapihan sa Manila at the Diamond Hotel last Monday. The two others were Dr. Honorata L. Catibog, director of the Department of Health’s National Center for Disease Prevention and Control, and Dr. Anthony P. Calibo, also of the same center and a specialist in the care of the newborn.
