Cheating done explicitly, foreign observers say

It was the best of time, it was the worst of time. This paraphrase of Charles Dicken's opening statement in Tales of Two Cities can be a description of elections 2007.

Filipinos love their freedom, the freedom to choose, especially. That's why elections excite them. They know the worth of their votes. Whoever leads the country affects how they live. Their choice, they know, is crucial. Thus they play their roles seriously in the drama of campaigning and choosing. They take sides and defend their stand. So deep is their commitment that sometimes they forget caution and care. No matter. The important thing is that they know the value of the process. They know what democracy is all about. That's why they go out and vote. (In our polling place in Bulacao, this city, I saw a man who wheel-chaired his way to his precinct.) Conscientious people led by religious authorities formed watch-dog groups who monitored how voting was conducted, assisted voters on their problems and did a quick-count.

And the teachers, yes, the teachers, how great is their devotion to their job! In lowlands and in mountain places, they man the exercise, working late into the night and even into the dawning light, oftentimes hungry and tired, yet at times browbeated, insulted, and even killed. Without these workhorse of Philippine elections how will the country carry out its electoral process? Indeed, the best in the Filipinos comes out in the sacrifices of the teachers on election day.

Elections as a social phenomenon reveal the people's quality of personhood. At normal times their character traits are oftentimes hidden under a mask of pretense. Under pressure to go with society's mode of conduct, they may appear docile and law abiding in their day-to-day affairs. But an electoral phenomenon disturbs all that. Courted and cajoled, flattered and flirted, they easily forget what is right and what is wrong. Then the floodgate is opened to election shenanigans.

 The most despicable is salvaging. From January 1 to May 14, the report says, 118 have died in election-related violence. Candidates or supporters got pumped with lead, their only fault - if it was a fault - was that they aspired for a public office or supported the aspirants. Right here in Cebu such a happening did take place right in a government compound. Shocking it was but more shocking is that nobody has been arrested so far.

What's happening to the Filipinos' sense of respect for life? Is the grip of ambition so strong that this has warped their Christian upbringing? And what's happening to the justice system? Why have many culprits remained free? Is this an indictment against Western-style democracy? If the freedom to choose causes people to lose their freedom to live, what's the use of that freedom?

More shameful than physical violence is the violence to people's sense of decency. Selling one's vote to the highest bidder, or buying votes to get the mandate, is the most depraved of all election depravities.  On the part of the seller the act is equivalent to selling one's soul. It tarnishes his essential worth as a human being and places him on the level of brutes. On the part of the buyer, it robs him of a sense of decency and stifles his claim to good leadership. Both seller and buyer place their interest on the platter of self-service. Both are therefore anathema to good government. Their very presence is a lodestone to progress.

 Yet this practice is so widespread it has become tacitly accepted by both voters and candidates alike. Run for any office without logistics, the euphemism for money, and you won't find enough people to wear your t-shirts. Ask people to support your cause and they would say yes - but on condition you make them happy on election day. Expensive, very expensive is a public office these days. No wonder once elected, the politician's immediate concern is to get back what he has invested - oftentimes through clandestine deals.

Is there hope for a clean, honest and non-violent electoral process in the future? We hope and pray there is. But right now the light at the end of the tunnel seems far away.

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