Category: elections

“junk the dynasts”

The case against political dynasties, after all, is very strong. First is the constitutional issue. Article II, Section 26 of the Constitution explicitly prohibits political dynasties. That Congress, as it provides, has not as yet defined what a political dynasty is by law shouldn’t matter to us voters. We should just use our own definition.

Second are the political issues—dynasties have made a mockery of the constitutional provision on term limits; dynasties and political warlordism go hand in hand (dynasts are the modern-day feudal lords).

And finally, there are the socioeconomic aspects: The empirical evidence clearly shows a significant relationship between political dynasties and lower per capita incomes, higher incidence of poverty, and lower human development indices (specifically, lower primary elementary completion rates) in their areas. If that isn’t disempowering and marginalizing, I don’t know what is.

Not to mention that members of political dynasties in Congress are wealthier (as evidenced by their statements of assets, liabilities and net worth) than their nondynast colleagues —which makes sense, because think of all the government resources that the combined efforts of dynasties can command. Dynasties do not go hand in hand with protecting public resources, reducing corruption, or complying with laws—which form part of the Ethics criteria in the MGG scorecard.

~ Winnie Monsod

cheating

i disagree with conrado de quiros that

… something has changed, and that is the public expectation of cheating. Few now seriously consider we’d be back in Arroyo’s time when it could be expected as a matter of course. Though concerns have been raised about the source code, some clamoring for it to be made public, they have not been of the scale or stridence they were three years ago. And unless there are glaring or eye-popping gaps between expectation and result, the elections will generally be taken, like the previous one, as reasonably clean. 

the only reason that public expectation of cheating is lower than usual is that the voting masses don’t really understand the gobbledygook of source codes and PCOS machines and CF cards, and how they were quite likely manipulated in 2010, and will likely be manipulated on may 13.   this is one of those things about which the public have not been adequately informed, hence, they are in no position to conclude that cheating will or will not happen.  this is one of those times when voters trust their leaders, their candidates, to show them the way, and since candidates aren’t complaining, neither are the voters.  i guess candidates want to stay on the good side of the brilliantes comelec’?

only in the philippines.  in effect, we are taking brillantes’ word for it that the source code and PCOS machines and CF cards can be trusted to count our votes honestly, correctly, never mind that these machines have not undergone rigorous examination and testing and have not been pronounced safe and tamper-proof by our own IT experts, and never mind that brillantes is wanting in credibility, as jarius bondoc intimates..

• Brillantes was election-lawyering for Noynoy Aquino and Jojo Binay in 2010 when the Comelec wrongfully leased 76,000 PCOS units from Smartmatic. “Wrongfully,” because the Venezuelan impostor was a mere system integrator — a middleman. Still the Comelec paid it a whopping P7.2 billion. The Comelec also hired disreputable SysTest, whose license had been suspended for two years for testing fraud.

• Enter Brillantes as Comelec chairman in January 2011. That was when his law firm was collecting P8 million from Smartmatic in behalf of a secret client. Too, the Comelec then was contemplating to buy from Smartmatic 5,000 PCOS units for P600 million for the Muslim Mindanao election (later postponed to synchronize with Election 2013). It’s unclear if Brillantes knew about Smartmatic’s con game and went along with it, or if the firm fooled him too. In March 2012 he bought Smartmatic’s 82,000 earlier leased PCOS units, for P1.8 billion….

and what about this, still from de quiros:  “… unless there are glaring or eye-popping gaps between expectation and result, the elections will generally be taken, like the previous one, as reasonably clean.”

whose expectation?  eye-popping to whom?  the prez?  the veep?  or the voters?

it’s unfortunate that results will be under a cloud of doubt, obviously, for lack of transparency.  unfortunate because there is now a rising consciousness about dynastic politics and how decades of it has only mired the nation in poverty.  it would be great if the results of the may 13 elections were credible, every vote honestly counted, so we could see whether or not such rising awareness has reached significant heights.

if, as in 2010, the usual famous names top yet again the senate polls, regardless of party or no-platform, that would tell us that mainstream and social media and civil society are failing to communicate the message, failing to reach and connect with, the voting masses.  either that, or the voting masses are so poor and so grateful for a sack of rice or free celfone load or a few hundreds in cash, a matter of life and death possibly, so the attitude is, a little now is better than nothing, until the next disaster of an election.

it would be a fantastic surprise if, despite vote-buying and cheating, a few, or even just one or two, new or not-too-famous names were to make it to the winning 12.  what a wonderful message that would send.

the horror

The only thing worse than Bam Aquino running on a lack of experience and no history of leadership —because his brand of microfinance doesn’t count—is Kris Aquino speaking about the Tarlac governorship like it’s already hers in 2016.

Read on

poverty and elections

… This is what has been largely missing in the campaign for the 2013 elections—a serious debate on desirable strategies for achieving national prosperity.

We have been treated to endless mantras about free public education, stable jobs, lower prices, lower taxes, etc.

I have yet to hear anyone talk about the need for frugality and sharing—in the light of our limited resources and the scandalous disparities in wealth and income that divide our people.

Everyone seems to accept the primacy of economic growth as a national goal, with little regard for the environmental consequences.

Everyone seems to concede that the ultimate goal of every Filipino is to earn as much money as possible to be able to satisfy desires that the market itself incessantly creates.

We talk of the need to radically change our way of life. Elections should be the occasion for discussing what exactly needs changing, why, and how we can all take part in the effort.

~ Randy David