A test

HOWLS of protest were raised by local officials when it was first announced by authorities that Pangasinan is included in the list of areas of concern for the May election. The Commission on Elections provincial office initially tried to appease the objection, explaining that the police and the local government department had different criteria and as far as Comelec is concerned, Pangasinan is no trouble. As the election season progressed and the campaign got on the road, it turned out that the province did deserve to be in the hot list what with all the intense rivalries, verbal confrontations, and even physical threats.

Be that as it may, as election day drew to a close, most everyone – the Comelec, the police, and even civil society – seemed in agreement that it would turn out to be a peaceful election in Pangasinan. We join in the optimism and at the same time call for public vigilance and most importantly, sobriety among the candidates and their respective camps.

In the larger scene, it will be the first balloting with Sixto Brillantes Jr. as Comelec chair and his leadership has so far been marked by many a controversial issue, particularly involving new rules that, though perhaps well meaning, have not really been well thought out. The May 13 midterm election is a litmus test for Brillantes and the Comelec as a whole under his wing – in as much as it is for the present election law and rules on automation, the machines, and the maturity of both the candidates and the voters.

The Comelec provincial office, as is the rest of the Comelec nationwide, is confident that the Precinct Count Optical Scan machines will not conk out and deliver accurate results. So by the middle of this week we should be seeing gentle losers bowing out and humble winners celebrating the victory of public trust.

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Wise vote

In the 2010 presidential election, Noynoy Aquino garnered 15.1 million votes to defeat Erap Estrada by nearly 3 million ballots.  About 32 million had voted then.

Three years later, Noynoy is back on the campaign trail, mainly imploring us to vote for his Team P-Noy senate team that includes the wife of one of his presidential foes in 2010 and another who spread the rumor that he had undergone a mental test and thus was unfit to be president of the republic. Also in 2010, it was said that a vote for Noynoy was a wise vote and the one cast for Erap was an idiotic vote.

Three years later, did that observation prove true? If you ask the business sector, the answer is a resounding yes; they will cite the country’s 6.5 to 7 percent economic growth since Noynoy took over.  But if you ask the marginalized sector (75 percent of our 90-million plus population), the answer is a deafening no; they will say poverty still stalks the land.

What then would be a wise vote? There is no wise vote.  Only a vote for hope—hope that the one you voted for would do good as promised.

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