I'll show you where the Catholic Vote was!

Yesterday, the Inquirer came up with a report entitled “What happened to the Catholic Vote?” written by Carla Gomez of Inquirer Visayas. This article somehow pooh-poohed the Catholic vote as non-existent because the writer focused only on the Senatorial candidates, where the Kapatiran Party was heavily endorsed by the Laity. What they did not mention was that, even in the Senatorial race, the Catholic Vote got 50 percent of their candidates into the magic 12 winning circle.

In last May 5's Lay Initiatives for Life (LIFE) 2013 Rally at the Plaza Independencia, the group exhorted Catholics to vote for the pro-life candidates. I still have the photo of their poster that they set up behind the stage. Allow me to write the candidates names in this order starting with Rep. Mitos Magsaysay, Sen. Gringo Honasan, Sen. Antonio Trillanes, Sen. Koko Pimentel, JV Ejercito, Cynthia Villar, Nancy Binay, former Sen. Dick Gordon, Sen. Migz Zubiri, JC delos Reyes, Marwill Llasos and Christian Seneres.

Check out the newspapers and you will see that the Catholic vote got Nancy Binay, JV Ejercito, Cynthia Villar, Sen. Antonio Trillanes, Sen. Koko Pimentel and Sen. Gringo Honasan in the Magic 12. That's a total of six Senators who will help the Catholic Church fight for the pro-life movement. If you ask me, having 50 percent of their Senatorial candidates isn't so bad. As of this writing Sen. Gordon and Sen. Zubiri are fighting for the 13th position.

On the other side of the stage were the local candidates for Congress in this order, SamSam Gullas, Rep. Pabling Garcia, Gov. Gwen Garcia, Rep. Benhur Salimbangon, Ace Durano, Rep. Luigi Quisumbing, Aileen Radaza and Rep. Raul del Mar. Partylist were Buhay, Ang Pro-Life and ANAD. No the LIFE 2013 didn't have a candidate for South District Congressman for Cebu City. Of this list only Rep. Pabling Garcia failed to secure his reelection bid. Yes, Pabling's loss is also our loss. But whether you like it or not the Catholic vote won in the Congressional race.

The other loss was Rep. PJ Garcia whom LIFE 2013 named and supported, as the Garcias have always been in the pro-life movement. But in Cebu City, Mayor Mike Rama and his vice-mayoralty candidate Edgar Labella won and you can point this victory to the LIFE 2013 even if Rep. Tomas Osmeña was supported by the Muslim groups and the Iglesia Ni Cristo.

At this point, if you are still not convinced, look at who is number one in the Partylist and you can't help but notice that the highest votes went to Buhay, represented by former Manila City Mayor Lito Atienza whom I met with his wife at the Plaza Independencia. So whether you believe it or not, that's the Catholic Vote for you. 

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I'm still looking at how we Cebuanos voted on the Senatorial race. While Grace Poe has bagged the number one slot, it would be interesting to note whether Cebuanos already forgave her for her remarks that we cheated in the 2004 elections when her father Fernando Poe, Jr. (FPJ) lost to then Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. One thing we now know is that Cebuanos are not as “star struck” as other Filipinos and the best example can be found in the Congressional race of the North District of Cebu City where Rep. Raul del Mar trounced talent manager Annabelle Rama by a huge margin, but gave her cousin Mayor Mike Rama his stunning win.

Even in Ormoc City, actor Richard Gomez lost his mayoralty bid, but the voters voted for his wife Lucy Torres-Gomez back to Congress. Perhaps what is happening here is some kind of political maturity amongst our voters. Not many people realize that a huge majority of our voters were not born during the EDSA Revolt and therefore, they are the “Twitter” or Social Networking generation and can't be fooled by candidates who are running only because they have a name.

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With the elections over and done with, you'd think that we're over and done with the PCOS machines. But not so fast! Did you know that two election watchdogs, the Automated Election System (AES) watch and Kontra Daya have begun questioning the conduct of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) because they apparently allowed Smartmatic Executive Alberto Castro Rico inside their nerve center on Monday night?

Worst of all, PPCRV released a wrong tally of its initial election results an hour after the voting closed on Monday. When this release was questioned, PPCRV Communications Director Ana de Villa-Singson apologized for the error which showed a bigger number of voters than officially listed. Is AES watch unto something? There could be more to this glitch. Abangan!

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