We bid President Noynoy a warm welcome!

Today is the day that proves all the critics of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) wrong… that she would never step down from power. But the election of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is proof that indeed, democracy works and continues to work in this country, despite the fact that the automated elections only caused more confusion and as Makati Rep. Teddyboy Locsin declared, “On the national level, our assessment is of a mixed success. Automation showed no substantial advantage.”

Add the statement of Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform (IPER) that he said during the 14th National Press Forum last Thursday at the Diamond Hotel… “For the 2013 elections, better machines might be available that could integrate the biometrics, such as fingerprints and pictures of voters, into the machines.” As for the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machines, he said, “We are of the opinion that the machines should not be purchased.” These statements carry a huge weight which is our proof that Smartmatic did this country a disservice as they gave us machines that are unreliable, but not tamper-proof!

So we bid Pres. Gloria Arroyo’s Presidency goodbye, and we welcome the new administration of Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. Noynoy was brutally frank in saying that he does not expect a honeymoon for his first 100 days, but I’ve always been a traditionalist and we shall afford him that 100-day honeymoon and we wish him the best of luck… not only because he needs it, but because as a Filipino, even if I didn’t vote for him, I don’t want his administration to fail, because failure should never be an option for us.

More than anyone else, most columnists know too well of the magnitude of the problems that the Aquino Administration faces, especially for its first 100 days. If you ask me, they ought to prioritize the unfinished business of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) most especially about the law that compels all candidates to report their election contributions and expenditures, something that ought to be seriously looked into.

If indeed there is anything we direly need in this country, it is a genuine electoral reform, starting with the full implementation or enforcement of Comelec laws. Todate we have never heard, seen or known of a single political candidate who was jailed or prevented from taking his or her office because of poll violations. Come now, what good are our electoral laws if they cannot be enforced? We have said it many times here before, we have made a lot of great laws, but we’ve always been zero in implementing these laws.

This problem strikes at the very core of our electoral system, where blatant violators are never investigated because they probably lost their political bids. But it gets worse when the Comelec fails to investigate a political winner because the candidate is already in power and is now invincible. So the Comelec spares cheaters and even allows them to take the reins of power!

If you ask me, the 15th Congress ought to prioritize this problem by amending our electoral laws… like for instance, no proclamation should be made until and unless the candidate is cleared by the Comelec… and that no clearance can be made if their statements of contribution and expenditures are not double checked by an impartial body. In fact, Congress should seriously come up with a law creating a caretaker government just in case a Presidential candidate who won the elections failed to come up with a correct and duly validated statement of contributions and expenditures.

In fact, we need to strengthen the electoral laws, where the Comelec should instantly disqualify a candidate if there is enough reason to believe that the candidate went over the limit. In short, this means all expenditures by candidates must have receipts not only for the BIR, but also for the Comelec so they can start tracing the candidates’ expenses and if they go overboard even before election day, they can already be disqualified.

So under the new Aquino administration, we can only hope that they would prioritize electoral reform in order to strengthen our very weak electoral system. If you ask me, the government spent too much money for automated elections, which hasn’t really given us credible and honest elections because of too many unanswered questions. But jailing or immediately disqualifying dishonest candidates would give us more responsible politicians and hopefully better governance, something this country direly needs.

Sure, there are a lot of things that need fixing in this country. But fixing the Comelec is just as important as fixing our roads and bridges. What we expect from the Aquino administration to give this weary nation is the good governance we’ve always wanted. It’s about time that the good deeds in the government are rewarded, while the bad egg gets the boot! So again, we welcome Noynoy Aquino as the 15th President of the Philippines.

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to vsbobita@ mozcom.com or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.