Pray the voter's prayer before you vote!

For our special presentation on tonight show on Straight from the Sky we bring you an Island Hopping Tour with the White Sands Resort in Mactan. More than 25 years ago when Cebu sold itself as “an Island in the Pacific” foreign tourist marveled at the beautiful islets that litter the shallow seas between Cebu and Bohol. They found the people friendly, the place serene and above all, they liked the food. Hence, the Japanese tourists came to Cebu first on chartered flights and soon, they became regular flights.

Best of all, the Japanese and later the Americans and Koreans came not only for the tourism, but they came to invest in Cebu and we experienced what we now call our Cebooom! This is the 10th year for Straight from the Sky and we’ve featured many hotels and resorts in our shows but we never had a time to do what most tourists do when they come to Mactan - go island hopping. That’s what we will present to you tonight.

To give us our first Island Hopping show, we are joined by the White Sands Resort because this is a facility owned and operated by a Cebuano businessman. With us tonight is Mr. Francisco “Paquito” Unchuan and his lovely daughter Anya who will show us the White Sands Resort experience, from their exquisite food, to their Koi fish ponds and yes, the Island Hopping experience that we will be having with our old friends. Watch this very interesting show on SkyCable’s channel 15 at 8:00pm tonight.

* * *

Now that the election campaign period is over, today millions of Filipinos will troop to the polling centers to vote for the candidates that they have chosen to lead this country into the next six years of our lives. No doubt, their choice is crucial for the development of this nation. Choosing the wrong candidate would mean another six years of agony and despair. Like it or not, Filipinos are sick and tired of being called “The Sick Man of Asia” or “Asia’s Laggard!” titles that Filipinos do not like to be called.

If by chance you’re one of the lucky few who has traveled even just around our ASEAN neighbors, you can’t deny the fact that the Philippines has already been left behind in terms of infrastructure and social development. I reckon this is due to our dwelling too much in ugly politics where we often revere our political leaders as the messiahs who would usher change and development to our land. But in the end, we voters realize we’ve been had, fooled by the motherhood statements of our politicians who lure us with the empty promises. We’re lured by their paid advertisements using highly-paid celebrities to endorse their candidates; after all, the money is good!

Indeed, this election has been very divisive. Politicians’ breakaway from their political parties to join other political parties for convenience’s sake. Politicians sell themselves as paragons of virtue and present their family history as their reason for their running for office. Yet in this campaign where the major theme is anti-corruption, last Saturday The Philippine Star came up with a one-page report entitled “Know your Senatoriables.” Yet on the column that reveals their net worth, so many Senatoriables have left this space blank. Clearly these people seeking public office do not want the voters to know how much they are worth so that if they win, they can increase their net worth and no one can say that they did this by corrupt deals.

Let’s not waste our votes on candidates who make motherhoods statements or worse, sow trouble if they lose the elections, like what is happening in Thailand today where political upheavals have taken its toll on their tourism industry. Let us show the world that Filipinos can choose the right leaders who can usher real change for our ailing nation.

Last April, our fellow Star columnist Marichu Villanueva reprinted a Voter’s Prayer from the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi. We ask our readers to pray this before they vote.

“Lord make me an instrument of your presence in the polls. Where there is coercion and violence, Let me show the seed of Love; Where there is bribery and vote-buying Let me sow seeds of Integrity; Where there is discord, Let me sow the seeds of Unity; Where there is electoral fraud; Let me sow seeds of Honesty; Where there is duplicity and propaganda, Let me sow the seeds of Truth. Where there is indifference, Let me sow sees of Hope.

O Divine Master, grant that I may no so much think of my selfish motives when I vote. Instill in me a deep sense of communal solidarity in my critical choice of candidates that would rise above the traditional politics of pay-off, personality and patronage. Enlighten me to elect worthy men and women that embody the true spirit of public service in their moral consciousness. For it is in voting responsibly that we receive the fruits of true democracy. And it is in dying as a seed to our selfishness that we are born to eternal life. Amen!”