EDITORIAL - Losing with grace

Filipinos like to say that there are no losers in elections in this country; all candidates win, or else they have been cheated. Latest developments in the elections are again bearing this out – with at least one notable exception. Former Parañaque City Mayor Joey Marquez gave the nation a pleasant surprise when he personally called up his rival for the city’s congressional race, Roilo Golez, to admit defeat and congratulate the winner. This was at 1 a.m. yesterday, just hours after the polling centers closed, making Marquez the first candidate to concede. "There are always losers in politics," Marquez said.

In the presidential race, independent opposition candidate Panfilo Lacson also had a refreshing message: losers, he said, should stop complaining and accept their fate. While it’s too early for Lacson to concede, what with the long, slow official vote count of the Commission on Elections still to start, all exit polls show him behind at least two of his rivals. "There is no more use crying over spilled milk and complaining about cheating if we failed to prevent it," Lacson said yesterday.

His reaction was in marked contrast to those of most other candidates and political parties. Admittedly, poll fraud does happen in this country. Cheating starts even during the campaign, with candidates blatantly circumventing election rules on everything from spending limits to advertising and display of posters. On election day itself votes are bought, padded or shaved. Voters and election watchers are intimidated. There have been enough documented cases of fraud in previous elections, and foolish is the candidate who does not guard his votes.

Yet there are also cases where an electoral contest has a clear winner, but the loser refuses to accept defeat. Such sore losers are among the biggest sources of instability in this country. The best that losers can do, if they can’t accept defeat, is to present convincing evidence that they have been cheated. In the absence of proof, they should have the grace to concede, or at least keep their mouths shut.