The elections are over. Except the kicking, the protesting, the refusing to concede, etc. But of course this is nothing new in Philippine elections. That's why everyone was shouting "Change! ... Kausaban! ... Pagbabago!"
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Everyone was listening to the cries for change but not everyone felt it in his heart that change would come. At least not now. Not in this generation. Or even the next generation. Like they say, old habits don't die easy.
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A 14-year-old girl had a serious asthma attack one night recently. Her father, a water cargador, was able to immediately buy the needed medicine. "May nalang," he said, "nabaligya ko ang akong boto ... duna koy ikapalit og tambal nga maoy nakaluwas sa kinabuhi ni Inday (his daughter)."
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A barangay official who heard of this story said: "This is a case of bad turning out good." What he meant was selling one's vote during election time is bad but in the case of this poor water cargador it saved the life of his daughter.
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A Cebuano resident of California, Randy Sanchez, suggested in an e-mail: "Your kind of automated election process out there ran into a lot of trouble ... The process, it seems to me, was untested. The Comelec should have adopted the kind of automated voting used here in America for many years already ... No hassle."
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Mr. Sanchez said: "Adopting a voting system that's untried and untested nearly made the Philippine government see its millions go down the drain." And it made many lose sleep as the glitches surfaced too close to election day.
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An art exhibit called "Mugna-Lambigit or a Creative Linkage" is scheduled at the Cathedral Museum of Cebu on May 21, 2010, at 4 p.m. This is in cooperation with the Exhibition Center for Contemporary Arts. This will be a group exhibit by some wellknown and respected artists like Fidel Sarmiento, Adler Llagas, Jose "Kimsoy" Yap Jr., Fred Galan and Celso Duazo Pepito.
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During the exhibit, a lecture forum on The Art of Collecting: How to Choose a Painting, will be given by Manuel D. Duldulao, a TOYM awardee in l992 in the field of Art and Culture.
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Email: nitzjab@yahoo.com