30 May 2013
Mekaniko
By Jaime T. Lopez, III
Quality of the 2013
Elections (3)
In the previous two parts of this article (PJ, 17 & 21
May) I advanced a view that the impact of the 2013 elections on the future of our
country will depend on the quality of the officials that will get elected; and such
quality would in turn depend on the interplay among at least four factors,
namely: the quality of the candidates, the quality of the campaign, the quality
of the voting system, and the quality of the voters.
I further surmised that there’s not much improvement in the
quality of the candidates because of the predominance of dynasts, dynast
“wanabees”, as well as those who can be lumped under the “undesirables”
category. This condition, to my understanding, turned off voters and was once
more a major factor for the low turnout of voters.
The campaign ended up (at least) as unwieldy and as dirty as
the previous elections despite the effort of the Comelec to install discipline in
the campaign and level the playing field. The effort started to crumble when certain
sectors identified with the Catholic Church disregarded the “rules” on banners
and posters, and finally collapsed when the Supreme Court issued halt orders
for the rules that the Comelec issued.
There was however a marked improvement in the peace and
order during the campaign which can be attributed to the success of the
DILG/PNP in operating their “Task Force SAFE” and “Oplan Last Two Weeks”.
I consider this year’s voting system as an improvement over
that of 2010 (our first nationwide e-voting experience) despite the 200 PCOS
that were reported as defective and the 18,617 transmission failures. I also
believe that the voting system has not caused massive disenfranchisement of
voters except for those who purposely succumbed to the massive vote buying that
occurred this year. As I personally witnessed while voting in my hometown in
Tarlac I saw how mobile PCOS technicians were around, ready to trouble shoot
problematic ones. I also was able to monitor how election officials were able
to appropriately address the problem of a PCOS machine that totally failed to
read ballots by securing them for eventual processing using another machine.
The fact that most of
the local canvassing and proclamations were done within 24 hours of the closing
of elections does not make me worry too much about the reported failure of PCOS
machines to electronically transmit election results as this may just be due to
network problems. I frequently experience them (daily) with my smart phone (i.e.
fluctuating or disappearing signals for text, email and other web applications)
especially when there is a sudden deluge
of transmissions like during Christmas, New Year, Valentine’s Day, Easter
Sunday, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc. Also there is after all the parallel
count (electronic and manual) being done by the credible PPCRV as a counter
check to the Comelec count using the 304 certificates of canvass or COCs.
These observations, to me, reflect the existence of proper plans and programs
prepared by the Comelec and other government agencies to get the country
through the election successfully.
There seem to be digressing threads between the national and
local elections when it comes to voters’ choices, with the national leaning
more towards quality considerations. However, the quality of the voters as
regards local elections is generally appalling because, as mentioned earlier,
of the predominance of dynast and the “wannabees”, as well as the
“undesirables”, who probably, because of the e-voting, resorted to massive vote
buying, to which the electorate succumbed. There are of course exceptional
spots where voter quality shone, one example of which is the case of now
Congresswoman-elect Leny Robredo.
It is also my view that, by and large, the quality of this
year’s crop of elected officials is the same as that of the previous elections,
and this is so, because there’s really not much to choose from in the first
place. As we say in manufacturing the resulting quality of the output depends
to a large extent on the quality of the inputs.
So what would be the impact of the results of the 2013
elections to our country’s future?
To my mind, there has been no significant improvement in
three of the four factors that I consider as relevant in determining the
resulting quality of elected officials. And as such, we end up with incoming
government officials of probably the same quality as those that would be ending
their terms.
But come to think of it, despite the dearth of quality
government officials during the last three years, and with the first two years
practically wasted and used in clearing the “mines” laid out by the previous
administration, President Noynoy and his team has (mainly on the strength of
his credibility) accomplished improving not only our country’s economic
standing but also tremendously improved the regard of the international
economic community for the Philippines. This is manifested in the current
economic fundamentals (e.g., sustained low interest rates and inflation, high
foreign reserves, improving tax collection, stock market performance, etc.),
the upgrades to investment grade by three highly rated sovereign rating
agencies (two of them NRSROs recognized by the US SEC), as well as the numerous
accolades given us by the international economic community (e.g. Asia’s rising
tiger, emerging market, etc.).
In effect, I think there are three significant factors that
would positively work for the President as he starts the second half of his
term. These are the positive domestic and international economic conditions
that he will start with, a better legislative support that he can expect for
his programs, and the solid three years of (hopefully) being able to pursue his
program of government without the detriments experienced during the first two
years of his term. And if I would hazard a projection, the execution of his
“Philippine Development Plan” should come out as a grand success if based on
the performance of the last twelve months.
As I have opined in an earlier column, I would not have much
concern on how our country would turn out in the next three years, because we
will still have President Noynoy running the country. My concern rather is more
on who would end up taking over from him in 2016 to continue what has been
started, and sustain the improvements so that the gains would ultimately be
enjoyed by most if not all Filipinos.
My thinking on this is that our next leader must be as
untainted and as sincere as President Noynoy, and as focused in fighting
corruption and advocating “Tuwid na Daan”. And ideally, to me, this next leader
should be the one endorsed by the President so that we can continue to progress
closer to our dream of demolishing poverty and having a better Quality of Life
for all Filipinos.
Comments/reactions
will be appreciated and can be sent through this writer’s email
(sl3.mekaniko@gmail.com) or through this writer’s blog (http: //mekaniko-sl3.
blogspot.com).
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