Random Thoughts

PEACE MAN! We saw the worst campaign so far for the May 9, 2016 elections.

In media alone, attacks against the practitioners were so vicious, too personal. It was no longer candidates versus candidates but media versus media.

Even among kumpadres and kumadres, no one was spared, relationships forgotten, long-time friendships sacrificed, all for the glory of one’s favored aspirants.

Some had to stop seeing their “media friends” because the atmosphere was seemingly hostile and hurts caused by political animosities were too deep. Some had to stop clicking the ‘Like’ button in Facebook for some posts of their “once-upon-a-time besties.

The fight in the media went to the gutter. Even innocent children and other family members were not spared. I’ve seen many political battles in my three decades in this field. The discussions on air the past decades were on high level, unlike the 2016 elections. Bastusan ang nangyari.

If only aspiring journalists, like those studying to earn degrees in Mass Communication or Journalism knew the real world of the media, I wonder if they would still want to be in this profession. Matira ang matibay (ang sikmura).

After the elections, will there be peace again in the media? Will there be sincere apologies? Will both sides agree to bury the hatchet?

I hope and pray we all move on and start all over again. We want change in this country. We vote for candidates who we believe would bring the change we need. Why don’t we, in the media, also start the change in us?

Let’s spread love, not war. Let’s promote unity, not division.

After the elections, let this be our promise to ourselves, to our profession, to our wounded nation.— Tita Roces

 

WHO DUNNIT? If it wants to redeem itself, the Commission on Elections must do everything it can to quickly determine whether it’s hacked website has something to do with the unprecedented high-tech vote buying spree in Pangasinan.

The admission of Provincial Elections Supervisor Joel Gines that the Quick Response-coded card system used by the vote buyers is beyond the capability of the local and other poll officials to make and therefore, makes the IT Department of Comelec suspect of leaking the database of voters of Pangasinan.

Many said that if the voters’ data originated from the hacked poll body’s website, then every other province must have seen the same magnitude of vote-buying in Pangasinan.

There was vote buying in every election but not in the same magnitude and sophistication we saw in Pangasinan – done even in broad daylight accommodating long queues, blocking traffic for hours under the heat of the sun.

Whoever was the source of the voters’ data, someone surely made millions for it.

It is, therefore, imperative that the Comelec central office gets to the bottom of this and punish all those responsible, including outsiders who helped make a mockery of the election system.

God save Pangasinan! God save the Philippines! – Leonardo Micua

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