The Comelec ought to clean the whole slate!

Did the Commission on Elections (Comelec) really say that 25 million listed voters out of the 48 million registered in their voters list would have to register again? My, that’s at least 52 percent of all the voters in this country! Now, if the Comelec has problems with the 25 million voters, how sure are we that they don’t have problems with the other 23 million voters? If you ask me, the Comelec might as well throw the entire 48 million listed voters into the kitchen sink and get everyone to sign up anew! Call it cleaning the slate!

I’m not worried whether the Comelec has material time or not because I would like to believe that they can still purge the old listing and make a new one that would conform to their biometrics information . . . which means getting a digital photo of the voter, including their fingerprints and signature all with the use of a computer. No doubt this is a tedious exercise!

I prefer that everyone gets to register again as this presents a golden opportunity for the Comelec to ask Smartmatic to install samples of their automated machines in the various Comelec offices so that while the people are lining up to re-register, they can practice voting on those machines so that they would no longer be ignorant in using it during the elections.

Again let me point out that during the last US Presidential elections that produced the first Black American President, the US Embassy made pains to install the same or similar electronic voting machines in many key cities of the country so that Filipinos could get “a taste” in voting for the next US President. Call it Ambassador Kristie Kenney’s gimmick, but the long lines at the SM North Wing proved that Filipinos are more than willing to embrace a new technology . . . especially one that would take away cheating in the coming Presidential elections. So let’s clean the slate and let everyone register again and try out the new Smartmatic automated voting machines.

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Last week, when I attended the 1st Aviation Summit, it was the first time I ever visited the Philippine Air Force Museum and saw the static exhibits of the old PAF planes and saw the old photographs of the PAF from the time of the Commonwealth Philippine Air Corps, although there weren’t that many photographs from those good old days on display because few people had cameras in those days.   

Anyway, exactly a week ago, I was invited to the 96th birthday party at the Plantation Bay Resort for Capt. Federico “Rex” Reyes, a fellow Rotarian from the Mother Club of Cebu who was a contemporary of my father, Atty. Jesus S. Avila, whom I got to personally know when I joined the Rotary Club in 1980 after my father died. Since Rex is a 100 percenter in Rotary, we always get to meet and often talk about life. I have also known him as the father of our schoolmate Boy Reyes and his brother my classmate Tinoy and learned that he was once a pilot. But it was only last Friday that I learned that Rex wasn’t a private pilot or a barnstormer, but an Air Force pilot.

Capt. Rex Reyes graduated from flying school and became a commissioned officer on March 4, 1939 with the Commonwealth Philippine Army Air Corps (PAAC). On July 1, 1941 to Dec. 24, 1941, he was assigned with the 6th Pursuit Squadron of the PAAC, the forerunner of the PAF stationed at the Batangas Air Field under Col. Jesus Villamor. They dispersed after the Fall of Bataan. He was captured by the Japanese on May 27, 1942, but he escaped on Sept. 8, 1942 and joined the guerrillas from the Leyte Area Command as Adjutant General under the command of Col. Ruperto Kangleon.

After the return of Gen. Douglas MacArthur to Leyte, he was assigned to the headquarters of the 6th US Army stationed in Tolosa, Leyte and was given further training with the US Army Flying school in the US, specifically at Randolph Field in Texas. He trained in various aircraft from single to twin engine fighters. I just saw a photo of Rex on board a P-38 Lockheed “Lightning” twin engine long range fighter bomber.

With the war already over, he returned to the Philippines in November 1945 on board the US Army Transport President Grant and arrived in the Port of San Fernando. From November 1945 to Feb. 1,1947, he stayed with the 54th Troop Carrier Wing in Lipa Field with the Philippine Army Air Corps until his retirement from active duty. At 96 years old, Rex is already frail and uses a walking stick or wheelchair, but he can still recall those old war days. 

Capt. Rex Reyes already has the honored distinction as the “Oldest Past Rotary District Governor” in the world. I suspect that among the flying cadets under Col. Jesus Villamor, he is the only one alive today. I’m sure that PAF Chief, Gen. Oscar Rabena doesn’t know about Capt. Rex Reyes, hence I secured many of his old photographs so I can give it to the PAF Museum.

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