Pro or anti-life? A confusing election dilemma

Two major events happened in Cebu City last Tuesday. First was another fire that struck a squatter colony in Barangay Ermita just at the back of the Carbon Market near the old power plant owned by the Visayan Electric Company (VECO), which left 2,447 people homeless. According to reports, it is the fifth fire that hit this barangay since 1998. Indeed, fires have hit this area so many times and it seems we are true to that very ugly Filipinos trait of not learning from the mistakes of the past.

One of the reasons why this fire consumed some 120 houses is due to the fact that many of the streets leading to this area is clogged by all sorts of obstructions, from street vendors, an impromptu basketball court and even animal cages, which make it difficult for firetrucks to enter or leave the scene. Since this fire struck at the last week of the election campaign period, you can bet that our politicians would never put in a new plan to widen the streets so those narrow streets would no longer pose any obstruction when another fire strikes the area in the future. When will Filipinos ever learn from their harsh mistakes?

While the first event was bad news, the other major event was a good one for Cebu City… as it was the formal groundbreaking of BigFoot Entertainment at the South Reclamation Properties (SRP) where its owner, Michael Gleissner, plans to operate a "state-of-the-art" filmmaking studio. Actually, this facility won’t be using many films anymore as they are concentrating on the use of digital equipment. This facility gives talented Cebuanos a chance to learn how to act, sing or dance Hollywood style! Best of all, it’s located right in the SRP in the South District of Cebu City which has a bigger population than the North District.

Bigfoot Entertainment decided to open another facility at the SRP when last year, Gleissner put up a big sign near his newly opened International Academy of Film and Television (IAFT) on Mactan Island which blared, "This project is cancelled!" We were taken by complete surprise that this newly finished facility would no longer be operational. The rumors then was that Gleissner was pissed off by Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Arturo Radaza for "holding" his permits to operate.

This was the same accusation that Richard King hurled against the Lapu-Lapu City mayor, who has since been suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman in the Visayas for his participation in the celebrated lamppost scam. Well, suspended Mayor Radaza is still trying to make a comeback, campaigning hard to win back his mayoral seat. But since his suspension, I heard from many sources that his political rival, the venerable Vice Mayor Norma Patalinjug, is now leading the Lapu-Lapu mayoralty race. With elections just around the corner, we’ll soon know who will win there.

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There are only three more days before the May 14 elections are upon us. The big question everyone has been asking, "Who are we voting for in this senatorial race?" It is unbelievable that at this point, even the so-called intelligent voter still cannot find the right candidates to vote in this senatorial race.

Right now, those confused are seriously considering the stand of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) which has adopted the LASER test, which stands for L-Lifestyle, A-Action, S-Supporters, E-Election conduct and R-Reputation. If the candidates you are considering do not pass the LASER test, you have no business voting for them.

But unfortunately, even within the Catholic Church, confusion reigns simply because of another issue… the pro- and anti-life candidates. I was sent a list by our church friends asking us that we should not vote for these candidates because they are anti-lifers. The candidates are Loren Legarda, Francis Escudero, Ping Lacson, Francis Pangilinan, Alan Cayetano, Gringo Honasan, Noynoy Aquino, Ralph Recto, Juan Miguel Zubiri, John Osmeña, Prospero Pichay, Vicente Magsaysay, Richard Gomez, Chavit Singson (although Chavit told me last Friday night that he was pro-life), Cesar Montano, Tessie Oreta, and Nikki Coseteng.

They have also identified the pro-life senatorial candidates, namely Joker Arroyo, Vicente Sotto, Aquilino Pimentel, Adrian Sison, Martin Bautista, Zosimo Paredes, Sonia Roco, and Michael Defensor. Why is the Catholic Church pushing for pro-lifers in the Senate? Simply put, they are scared that the Philippines might go the way of Mexico, which last week passed a law legalizing abortion. Will it really come to this? I don’t really know, but perhaps when the issue comes to the Senate floor, it just might be too late for regrets, while we can still vote for those pro-lifers and reject the pro-abortionists.

But what adds more to the confusion is that there are many anti-life candidates who are not tainted by corruption, while some pro-lifers are deemed as corrupt. While I agree that we should only vote for the pro-life candidates, we must vote for candidates who are incorruptible, otherwise we shall never see the end to corruption in this country. What a dilemma!

In our discussion with Fr. Diola, he told us that for too long, we Filipinos have always voted for the candidates we consider "the lesser evil." He believes that for this election, we should now put a stop to this nonsense because the lesser evil is still considered a compromise to an evildoer. I fully agree with him. So if you are hard-pressed in finding qualified senatorial candidates, then you are like the rest of us who can only find six or seven senatorial candidates as our choices.

If you are in this predicament, then you should only vote for those who you believe in and put a cross on the blank areas where you cannot find any senatorial aspirants fit to serve our country. Putting a cross on the blank space is like putting a cross in front of the evil undead Dracula! But it doesn’t invalidate your ballots. Perhaps Fr. Diola is right after all. For too long, we’ve settled or compromised our principles by voting for the lesser evil. But in doing so, evil still triumphs! We need a fresh start in these elections and show a sign to the senatorial candidates that the silent majority will no longer vote for the lesser evil and will only vote for those qualified.

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talkshow, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.