Forthcoming change

Even if our election is already automated, the prevailing perception is that it is still not free, honest, orderly and peaceful. In the first ever automated election last 2010 most people expected that at least the voting and the counting would be clean, accurate and expeditious. Except for the quick count however, said election was also marred by the same fraudulent and dishonest practices prevalent in all the previous elections.

This political exercise actually involves not only the voting and the counting of votes cast by the electorate but also the campaign for those votes. Before the automation in 2010, the entire process undoubtedly showed how dirty our politics had become. But even with the automation of the voting and the counting it is still dirty and seems to be getting dirtier.

Automation should have at least insured that the votes are cast and counted correctly and quickly. The idea here is that with the elimination and lessening of human manipulation and intervention in said process and with the hastening of the count, the usual pernicious practice of “dagdag bawas” would also be eliminated or lessened. Candidates would no longer complain that they won in the voting but lost in the counting.

 Unfortunately however, the machines and the technology used in the automation turned out to have some defects and the safeguards provided in the Automated Election law have not been strictly observed. Indeed it appears that with the use of the machines it is now more difficult to detect “dagdag bawas” and how extensive it has become.

In the campaign for votes, there seems to be no change at all, or if there is any change, it is a change for the worse. Even the rule in the putting up of campaign posters in designated areas is not followed especially in the provinces. And as can be easily gleaned from the TV-radio political ads, candidates spend more than the campaign expense limits fixed by law. Evidently, candidates with more money will have a distinct advantage. They can air their campaign ads more often in the major networks charging higher amounts for air time thereby enhancing their name recall which is a major factor in getting votes. Media exposure is really very important especially for candidates for national positions since it is quite impossible for them to cover the entire area and meet the voters face to face unlike those running for local positions.

Another big factor in getting more votes are the poll surveys conducted periodically during the campaign period showing the candidates in the winning circle. Undeniably, most of our voters are more concerned with the “winability” than the qualifications of the candidates for various public offices especially for national positions like the senators. So candidates constantly landing in the winning circle have more chances of getting more votes.

Of course, the administration candidates also have a distinct advantage here. Perhaps this is the first election where we have a President actively campaigning for the candidates of his party. In fact the senatorial lineup of the ruling Liberal Party is already identified as the team of PNoy rather than the team of his party. And PNoy himself has gone around the country joining his team in the campaign. Somehow, government time and money are being spent here particularly by the presidential security detailed to the President in his campaign sorties for his team. Indeed it cannot be discounted that the vast resources and powers of the Presidency are somehow being utilized in this election. This is another undue advantage of the administration candidates.

Apparently, with the kind of campaign now being conducted by candidates, voters especially the masa will not be able to vote wisely. They will not be able to determine and choose the candidates who are best qualified for the position and who will truly render public service for the common good. This has been our kind of election especially after the martial law when a free wheeling and dealing democracy was supposedly restored in our country last 1986.

 But there is a bright ray of hope in this election. This is the first time that the Catholic Church is actively participating and helping her flock to exercise their right of suffrage properly and wisely. Of course, the church has also been involved in the past elections as an election watchdog through the Parish Pastoral  Council  for Responsible Voting (PPCRV). Lately however, the PPCRV has not been up to par in performing its role. So several dioceses have decided not to completely rely on this group and assume a more active role in the coming election obviously in response to Pope Francis’ call to be an “Evangelizing Church.”

Most notable is the launching of the “Voters’ Education Program” in the Archdiocese of Nueva Caceres in Bicol “to bring Jesus to society and society to Jesus.” Its head Archbishop Rolando Tria Tirona initiated the program to bring about a “Catholic Vote”— a vote that is “influenced solely by a desire to bring God to the world not by the desires of human patrons” (free); a vote that is “not swayed by the multi-million worth of strategies to paint a perfect picture over a rotten political leadership” (informed); and a vote based on the “Gospel as moral standard and God’s love for all of his children as the moral compass” (evangelized).

Then in the Diocese of Lipa, Archbishop Arguelles has also initiated a Catholic Vote by coming out with a specific list of candidates chosen by electorate in his diocese. Of course Archbishop Arguelles must have some guidelines in drawing up the list substantially similar to that of Archbishop Tirona.

Then of course in the Diocese of Bacolod, Bishop Navarra has also come up with the “Team Buhay composed of candidates who voted against the RH bill vs. the “Team Patay” who voted for the RH bill. The real Catholic vote here is to reject all candidates who supported the bill and vote only the qualified, competent and honest candidates who opposed the bill.

Hopefully the Evangelizing Church will be able to bring about some changes in our elections.