For the Motherland

The weather is forecast to be warm and humid as 68.4 million Filipino voters troop today to polling precincts all over the country. The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said the easterlies will bring partly cloudy to cloudy skies over Metro Manila and the rest of the nation on election day today. However, PAGASA raised the possibility of isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms.

So before going to your respective polling precincts, be sure to bring something to fan yourselves, water jugs to stay hydrated, an umbrella and wear light-colored clothing.

The weather forecasting of PAGASA has lately become more reliable with the use of modern technology and equipment. Just like any other forecasts, however, the fact remains it is not really an exact science. For one, we cannot predict the “acts of God,” even about weather changes. Nobody can precisely predict or prevent something from happening unexpectedly. So the basic rule is prepare for any eventuality.

The same goes for all candidates in these mid-term elections, especially those running for the 12 senatorial berths up for grabs. With the race to the “Magic 12” winning circle so tight, don’t rely much that pre-election survey results will come true. The real survey results will come from official ballots cast on election day.

Among the 66 senatoriables are seven re-electionists, namely Senators Pia Cayetano, Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, Imee Marcos, Lito Lapid, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and Francis “Tol” Tolentino. There are also four returning or making comeback bids at the Senate, namely former Senate president Vicente “Tito” Sotto, senators Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, Bam Aquino and Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan.

Fresh senatorial aspirants include two former Cabinet members of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) who belong to his administration-backed Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas. They are former Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos and former Social Welfare secretary and incumbent ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo. As chieftain of the ruling administration party, Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, PBBM has personally endorsed Abalos.

The odds are not that bad for the other fresh faces among the senatorial wannabes.

Although partyless and running as independent senatorial candidate, radio/TV broadcaster Ben Tulfo has been topping the mock polls, closely behind his younger brother Erwin. With their statistical chances of winning high, the two Tulfos might likely join another brother, incumbent Sen. Raffy Tulfo. Should this happen, the running joke is that the Tulfos at the Senate will become the “Tril-fo” bloc.

In the name of freedom of expression and free speech, Comelec Chairman George Garcia reiterated that mock polls, including exit surveys on election day, are allowed. Garcia reaffirmed the Comelec commitment to abide by existing jurisprudence and cases decided by the Supreme Court (SC) that upheld pre-election surveys as constitutionally guaranteed rights of free expression of voters’ opinions.

Garcia, however, clarified that such rights must also conform to the limits on the rights of others provided for under our 1987 Constitution. This is especially those involving libel and against false information that infringe on matters affecting national security.

Last Friday, the poll body presented to the public the so-called “war room” they put up to immediately address “fake news,” disinformation and misinformation coming out online through various social media platforms. Garcia called upon the public anew to help thwart insidious attempts to frustrate the sovereign will of the Filipino electorate. In particular, he pointed to the “dark web” where lies and deceits by faceless enemies of Philippine democracy spread on social media.

Garcia led the official deployment of Comelec “keyboard warriors” in the run-up to the midterm elections. The Garcia-led poll body decided to join forces with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT)-Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) to prevent the “army of trolls” and auto-bots operating online. The newly created “Threat Monitoring Center” is being manned 24/7 by the Comelec and the DICT-CICC information technology experts housed together in Quezon City.

Also on the eve of election day, the seven-man poll body formally welcomed the representatives and delegations who were officially accredited by the Comelec as election observers. The bulk of them are the 200 delegates of the European Union Election Observer Mission (EU-EOM), ten of whom are EU Members of Parliament representing various political parties in the 720-man EU Parliament.

Exercising the “principle of reciprocity,” these foreign election observer missions came here upon the invitation of the Philippine government. However, the Comelec restricted entry of foreign election observers inside the polling precincts, to the consternation of the international observer delegates.

The Comelec’s use of the new technology from Miru Systems of South Korea in today’s national and local elections will be its acid test for the next presidential elections in our country in May 2028. To show the world our country’s political maturity in the use of modern automated election system (AES), the Comelec ought to allow them to get a closer look at how it works, without them directly interfering in the process.

We have our own local election watchdogs who are among those allowed by Comelec inside the polling precincts. Surely, they won’t allow foreigners to mess our electoral process. Let us show them not only our hospitality but also how we value our democratic process of elections.

“This is it, the 2025 election. This is what we’re waiting for,” the Comelec chief declared.

“All of these kinds of tension, apprehensions, hardships and difficulties that all of us Filipinos went through will come to pass. Despite these we have high hopes for the future through our ballots,” Garcia pointed out.

When you vote today, the Comelec Chairman urged all Filipino voters to discern with wisdom who we can elect to lead our country for a better future in the generations to come. “Use the ballot for change, for our own sake, for our fathers, mothers, siblings, children and grandchildren,” he further implored.

As we observe Mother’s Day this May, let me add the appeal to vote wisely for the sake of our Motherland.