Political animal

 Senatorial front runner Loren Legarda hit the nail on the head when she said that the Philippines badly needs this election to be clean and credible if the country is to move forward politically and economically.

Probably in Loren’s mind, we Filipinos need a sequel to the Hello Garci scandal that marred the 2004 elections like we need a hole in the head. I agree with her: we cannot afford political turmoil at this point as it will blunt our country’s hard-earned economic gains.

Right now, the peso is continuing to gain strength against the US dollar, foreign investments are pouring in, while our credit rating is getting better and better. One must admit that these gains have been made under the Arroyo administration.

There will always be cheaters in Philippine elections and errors will always mar the tabulation of votes, Loren admitted this much. Thus, she said it is now up to Filipinos to be vigilant to ensure the accuracy of the tallies.

If not for this vigilance, something which media should also be credited with, the improbable 12-0 Team Unity sweep in Maguidanano would not come to public attention. Ditto with the Lanao del Sur irregularities that had resulted in the declaration of failure of elections in many municipalities there.

If there’s one person who knows how dagdag-bawas operators can steal elections, that’s Loren as she spent three full years and valuable resources to expose the cheating in 2004.

But make no mistake about it, as in 2004, Loren is also being targeted by post-election mercenaries who are shaving votes and adding them to their candidate-clients who are hoping to make the Magic 12 or to end up with higher rankings.

According to party list groups like Bayan Muna and Gabriela, their votes as well as those of Loren are being shaved in at least 10 provinces by as much as 73 percent, citing as example the 900 votes that were not properly credited to Loren in Mountain Province.

In Malvar, Batangas, Loren’s votes were reduced from 12,273 votes to 10,273 as they were tabulated from the election returns and inputted into the statement  of votes (SOVs). If not for the vigilance of Loren’s watchers, the error would have made it to the COCs and to the final tally of the Comelec.

Loren herself would like to think the Malvar discrepancy was an honest mistake, but just the same, she said that the tallies must be checked and double-checked to correct errors and foil any attempt to cheat.

Those who are shaving votes from Loren must be thinking that she has already brought her guard down in view of the certainty of her return to the Senate as the front running candidate with over 60 percent of the votes already tallied nationwide.

This assumption is wrong as Loren has even ratcheted up her efforts not only to protect her votes but also the votes of the other GO candidates who are still fighting to make it to the Magic 12. These are lawyer Koko Pimentel, officer Antonio Trillanes, and the women’s rights advocate Sonia Roco.

A more sinister motive behind the shaving of Loren’s votes may be to undermine the credibility of the independent survey firms that predicted Loren topping the 2007 senatorial election. These pollsters are Pulse Asia, whose exit polls are turning out to be very accurate, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) and Ibon Facts and Figures.

Like businessmen who use math to chart the course of their companies or investments, these pollsters use mathematical formulas to come up with fairly accurate predictions on the results of elections, among other things.

Now, the problem is some people may want to shoot the bearer of the news — of the impending garnering by GO of the majority of the 12 Senate seats at stake — by targeting Loren.

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For the first time in 51 years, last week, I met a handful of my classmates — members of Class 1956 of Gingoog Institute in Gingoog City. We had a sentimental meeting in our old home grounds. We swapped stories about the good old days — and where we had gone.

Present at the meeting were Chita Ferrer Villanueva, Rodolfo V. Acero, Hermenia Tagalo Ato (our class salutatorian), Cagayan de Oro RTC Judge Downey C. Valdevilla, Dennis C. Valdevilla, Lucy C. Balatoy, Susanah Fernandez Rola, and Morietta Ferrer Aquilor, and myself. Also present were Eddie Sanchez, alumni president; Manny Aceron, former alumni president, and Rudy Alegado, the current principal-director.

We decided to have our class sponsor the alumni night celebration among GI’s Foundation Day activities on November 24. So we’re asking all Gingoog Institute alumni — from Classes 1947 to 2007 — to return to their alma mater for a happy homecoming. We welcome teachers and parents, too. Please contact Chita Villanueva, 492 Guimong St., Gingoog City; Susanah Rola, 14-26 St., Nazareth, Cagayan de Oro City, tel. 8571689, and yours truly, tel. 6311466 and 0917-3718042, or through my e-mail below.

My e-mail:[email protected]