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How big exactly is the 2010 elections?
I’m just wondering cuz I’ve seen previous elections and there wasn’t as much buzz as the 2010 elections is getting. Or is it just me?
Yesterday, Pres. Arroyo announced the Teodoro-Manzano tandem and admitted that the 2010 elections is a big test for their party?
How exactly is it so?
Besides that, it seems to me that this is the elections with the most presidential candidates. Usually, there’s just the administration and the opposition.
The submission for candidacy starts today and I can just wonder how many people the ComElec will have to screen and get rid of – the ones referred to as nuisance candidates.
First, the title might seem like it but I’m not here to campaign for Sen. Aquino.
Second, don’t blame me if this blog entry gets some votes for him.
And third, yes, I am a voter. But the thing is I am following this 2010 election and this seems like big news to both voters and politicians so I’ll have to include this.
This one was actually breaking news at GMA7’s Unang Hirit when I opened our TV this morning. I was able to forget the title of the news but it was Sen. Aquino answering questions from the audience about his candidacy at Club Filipino, San Juan.
If I’m right about the date, GMA7 organized the Tatakbo Ka Ba? Election 2010 fun run the Sunday before last, August 30, 2009. A part of this event was a Unity Walk for the politicians as a campaign for fair elections. Sen. Aquino didn’t join this event because he said that he was not yet certain on what position to run for in the 2010 elections.
I wasn’t able to see and hear everything ha had said as I woke up a wee bit too late but I did see a few interesting stuff – some interesting answers to questions and stuff like that.
Corruption is a major issue in the Philippines and their was this one person from Sen. Aquino’s audience who was able to ask how the senator plans to solve that problem in case he will be elected as president. Sen. Aquino answered with leading by example.
When asked how he is gonna fund his campaign, his answer was something like, “If we do the traditional political stuff, gather some allies, some politicians and put together our funds, that’ll be too late already as our opponents have already done that long ago. I believe it’ll be the support of the people which will drive this campaign.” No, those weren’t his exact words and he was speaking in Filipino but the thought it there and it comes close as a translation.
At the end of the Q&A for Sen. Aquino, a supporter announced a “Piso Para kay Noynoy” program to support his campaign. The senator joked about it with, “We’ll just have to list down all the names as we’ll have to report this to the ComElec.”
This is where my thoughts come in…
On top of all that, the most curios part would be the yellow, the “Laban sign”, and the Bayan Ko. I thought he had stated that he didn’t want to use his mother, former president Cory Aquino, for his campaign. And what’s up with “Si Noynoy ang magtutuloy” battlecry by his supporters?
One more thing… Why did he have to announce it on a significant day of his mother’s death?
Anyway, his mother, the so-called icon of democracy, left us Filipinos with something good and if Noynoy is serious about following her footsteps and will be at it, it’ll be good for us Filipinos.
We’ll see to that…
This is the Knightingale continuing her watch…
Ok, I don’t really get it much but what exactly is it about?
I’ve posted this link at a previous blog and it contains the document. All of the resolution. You may want to read it if you please. HR 1109
I didn’t mind reading all of the document, reading all of those names is much of an effort for me, but the starting line, or whatever-else-it-is-called states:
A RESOLUTION CALLING UPON THE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TO CONVENE FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONSIDERING PROPOSALS TO AMEND OR REVISE THE CONSTITUTION, UPON A VOTE OF THREE-FOURTHS OF ALL MEMBERS OF THE CONGRESS
These lines can make me wonder why the opposition people are so against it. It does not state that the Con-Ass will revise the constitution but it will make the members of the congress convene to consider some proposals of the amendment. “Consider” does not really mean to approve it right away, right? What will it hurt if the congress convenes?
Now, I’m not really a pro to this con-ass. I’m, staying on the neutral side as long as I don’t get what is really in it.
A local radio broadcast earlier stated that there is nothing wrong with amending the constitution as some of its provisions are already aged. But the problem will lie on the part of the extension of the president’s term and the non-election next year – I think, this is most of the point of the opposition.
True, the constitution is aged – 1987. It’s been two decades since it was last amended. Changes to this constitution wouldn’t hurt. But does a change in the constitution also mean a change in the government system or is a change in the government system is what the administration really pushing? Now, I’d want that answered…
But more importantly, what exactly do they want to amend in the constitution? I’d need an answer for that…
I kinda find the name wacked but still. I’m just here to continue my watch.
I’ve heard from the local radio news about this issue and somehow, it didn’t sound so good to me. I mean, the news. The news was about the submission of the House Resolution 1109 – the purpose of which was to convene representatives in the so called constituent assembly which seeks to change the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines. But more to that, there was the talk P 20M being handed out to each representative to bribe them to back up the ratification of the 1987 Constitution.
Of course, I heard about it the next day and it, the resolution, was welcomed by a massive protest. In the middle of the issue about the Influenze A(H1N1), the protest pushed through as scheduled.
Makati City Mayor Jejomar Binay said neither the rain nor the Influenza A(H1N1) virus will stop the 20,000 people set to protest at the city’s central business district.
The police has stated that maximum tolerance will be given but freedom of expression is still bound by the rule of law. (And that i won’t dare call freedom – at least, not absolute.)
“As a final note, let me remind everyone that freedom of expression is not absolute, it is limited within the bounds of law,” added the PNP spokesman.
The motion of the opossition will depend on how the pro con-ass people will react. It can escalate to a deeper protest which can be called the People Power.
I am not really very certain if this so called con-ass is really to approve the ratification or just to debate on it as the news makes it sound different. As I’ve read, the HR 1109’s purpose was to convene the people of the house and not yet to sign the charter change. As a lot have been saying, the president of the Republic of the Philippines has been practicing the cha-cha – pun intended. But add in P 20M and that would be an entirely different story.
Though, we can never be certain about stuff like these, they can be big contriuting factors and the fact that rumors about such spread, we can always say that there is some truth about it. It might just be exxagerated or told in a different way but rumors have sources…
edit (news for today):
After the massive protests against the efforts of the administration a cabinet official has said that the President Arroyo has put House Resolution 1109 on hold. The reason for putting HR 1109 on hold was not clearly stated – whether the protests has affected the president’s decision or not. Though, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves has said that HR 1109 was one of the bills that was set aside to prioritize the proposed revenue measures.
The protests against this HR was sparked, in one other reason, by the supposed plan of President Arroyo to extend her term beyond May 2010 through the change in the constitution.
Her spokesmen deny that she plans to stay beyond her mandate.
In on the news!
Got, I mean, read this news yesterday, May 11, 2009, on Yahoo!.
The Commission on Election has stated that the poll automation for the 2010 election is gonna push through.
Bids from international and local bidders, all of ‘em, have been rejected last week by the ComElec for lack of necessary documents. Despite of this, the commission doesn’t seem to be considering the idea of a partial automation. According to Chairman Jose Melo, they still have time for a full automation and they haven’t declared a failure of bidding. They will only opt for the partial automation if the winning bidder declares that it can’t be able to finish all 80,000 needed automated counting machines or ACM’s for the elections next year.
For the 2004 elections, the government has bought Php 1.2 billion worth of ACM’s from the Mega Pacific Consortium (MPC). Lawyer Romulo Macalintal has suggested to the ComElec to use the machines bought in 2004. According to him, the reliability and accuracy of these machines were never questions. The Department of Science and Technology has even certified the accuracy of these machines and that they can be used for the 2007 elections. Macalintal has suggested to the Supreme Court the use of these machines but his petition has been denied due to pending criminal cases against some ComElec officials and MPC and the Office of Solicitor general has filed a civil case against the MPC before the Makati City RTC to recover the Php 1.2 billion from the Consortium.
The Supreme Court disallowed use of these counting machines bought from the MPC in 2004 as they were “illegally procured”.
The National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales has a different suggestion for the ComElec – the open election system (OES).
Gonzales also said that a manual election is not an option. Time is against full automation but, according to Gonzales, there is enough time for OES.
The people going for OES have also pointed out that the government can save at least Php 7 billion pesos from the Php 11.3 billion budget for full automation if the ComElec will choose OES.
The counting machines bought from the MPC have been kept at the Maxilite warehouse since 2004 and the government has been paying Php 3.9 Million for storage fees of the 1,991 ACM’s from MPC.
According to the ComElec chairman, usage of the already purchased machines is still disallowed as per Supreme Court order.
Somewhere in between the lines of this news, I can see a huge waste of resources – money, Php 12 billion pesos and the storage fees. Not that I totally know all the facts and believe in everything that is laid out in this news. But Php 1.2 billion paid Php 3.9 million to rot and deteriorate in some storage house doesn’t sound too awesome. Even a kindergarten will know how huge this amount is.
Macalintal made good sense in suggesting the usage of these already purchased machines. Even if we are to believe that there are still cases pending in the court in relation to these machines, I believe there is still some way to get the machines through. Won’t it be possible to remove or change the court order prohibiting the use of these machines? Talk of practicality and the fact that the world’s economy is on the low – and neither is the Philippines the kind of country that can afford to waste huge amounts of money. We can sometimes be practical people here once in a while. If we use these machines, we will still need some, yeah, but we will need less and will have to spend less. Since it is the Supreme Court who gave this order to disallow usage of these machines, it is also this body which has the need to come to the right senses and remove this order. Not that I am underestimating or belittling the capabilities of the courts of the Philippines but if there are really pending cases and they won’t decide to remove the order, the Php 1.2 billion spent for the machines from MPC will be put to total waste. I mean, these kinds of cases don’t get done quickly. The machines are a product of technology. New innovations come around once in a while – this is technology we are talking about. If these machines won’t be used next year, they will become obsolete, if they haven’t already as the machines were purchased 2004.If those ain’t gonna become obsolete, deterioration will be the it to render these machines useless.
Just imagine what Php 1.2 billion could’ve done if only the purchase was not done. But we can’t do anything about it now. The deal is done and all that is left to do is to make good sense of this rather huge expense.
Yes, we still have one year before the elections but if the bidding goes on like this, there ain’t gonna be time for everything. It is still on a bidding process so that would mean that the machines are not yet being built. Next up will be the set-up of these machines. Neither is this one a very easy task especially that it has been in history that the Philippines is an archipelago since a very long time ago. Also, we will have the need to train people to these machines.
Partial automation is a good option. And using the already purchased machines, emphasis on the “and”.
Going for OES can also be a good option. Full automation is actually a giant leap from the manual elections that the Philippines is used to. The OES is a system halfway between the two. Manual voting but automated canvass of votes and the precinct-level counting will remain.
And I don’t want to sound so naïve so I’m adding this. I am seeing some loophole, or something like it, in the purchase of new machines. There is one pretty good reason, good for them, that is, that the ComElec will insist on a full automation using new machines. If they will opt for a partial automation using the ready machines, no money, or more precisely, huge amount of money will be added to the stash of the damned bastards on the higher-ups of the Commission on Elections. But you can’t possibly tell me that they will be opting for brand new machines because the unused ones has been made obsolete – at least, use it even just once; that would make it less of a waste, though, it is still some waste. If they can’t go for OES, I can still see the same for the bastards.
[Click here for the original news from Yahoo!]
This is the Knightingale continuing her watch…
*Non-italicized words are from Yahoo!’s news – reworded, rephrased, restructured, and given my tongue – not so much really. Words in italics are some sort of opinions. The starting words are in bold to separate them from the news.
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