‘The absurb slow process of counting’

Not my words (the above title) but that of the Financial Times of London, which is published simultaneously on three continents. I cadged the phrase from yesterday’s FT editorial (Thursday issue) headlined: The Long Wait for Results in Manila. The subhead of the opinion piece was even more sarcastic: It is time for the Philippines to get its act together.

I’ll quote more from this editorial in the latter part of this column, but at least we can agree with the FT’s editor that we’re undergoing an "absurd slow process of counting."

Now, the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) are quarelling over why NAMFREL is having such a difficult time getting its "inputs" from the Comelec precincts. In fact, NAMFREL’s Chairman Jose Concepcion, Jr. complained yesterday morning at the Manila Overseas Press Club forum in La Dolce Fontana, hosted by MOPC President Tony Lopez, that the Comelec’s disorganization on the precinct level had been hampering that watchdog organization’s efforts to unofficially "quick count" the votes cast and report its findings to the nation. JoeCon, however, promised that NAMFREL would be able to present is complete "results" by Sunday, or the day after tomorrow. How this self-imposed deadline can be met the way things are going remains to my mind quite iffy.

The Comelec, stung to the quick by NAMFREL’s publicized complaints, has issued a resentful "resolution" requiring the NAMFREL to explain to the government poll body why it is bitching all over the place, or something to that effect. Sanamagan. Does the Comelec have the authority and the "power" to compel the NAMFREL, a volunteer organization, to explain itself to the Comelec? What a fine, stinking kettle of fish.

* * *

What adds to the climate of anxiety and suspicion is that Comelec Commissioner Rex Borra and Comelec Spokesperson Milagros Desamito had been doing almost all the talking – until Chairman Ben Abalos (half-on-sick-leave) emerged for a brief televised press conference yesterday and started blaming even the Supreme Court for the "slow count". I got Abalos on the phone yesterday afternoon and indeed, he sounded weak and wan, but said he had been hopping into the office for short periods in the past two days. Mostly however, he had to stay home owing to his illness.

He confirmed that he has been bleeding from his colon, owing to chronic ulcers, since he collapsed in the Comelec headquarters last Saturday evening, about 6 p.m.

"As a matter of fact," he told me, "I started bleeding earlier that afternoon when I was attending the Supreme Court hearing (in which the High Tribunal had nixed his use of VSAT terminals for a Comelec "quick count" of its own)." At about 5 p.m., Abalos recounted, he had to rush to the Supreme Court’s men’s room where he discharged some blood and began feeling "very dizzy".

At the Manila Doctors’ Hospital, he said, the doctors wanted to operate on him for his ulcers, but he said he had to "go back" to work. Well, aside from his cameo appearance at a press conference yesterday, with his Commissioners as the backdrop, Chairman Abalos hasn’t been very visibly in operation. He even left the building before the Commissioners, in a meeting presided over by "Acting Chairman" Rufino Javier issued a resolution "compelling" the NAMFREL to explain.

Abalos told me on the phone that all the "fingerpointing" going on was wrong and only inflamed the situation. (Somehow this sounded funny to me, since earlier, he had even finger-pointed the Supreme Court as being to blame for the slow count because it had thrown out the use of VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminals) for Comelec’s own version of a "quick count". Sus, those VSATs had cost us taxpayers P360 million.

Susmariosep. Perhaps, after all, Abalos should have simply stayed in bed and kept quiet.

* * *

In the meantime, complaints of poll irregularities continue to pour in.

At a press conference in the Manila Pavilion yesterday morning, Opposition Senator Aquilino "Nene" Pimentel revealed that his fellow senatorial candidate on the KNP (FPJ-Loren) ticket, Amina Rasul, had not been allowed to vote although she had validated her registration as the Comelec required – because her name, it turned out, could not be found on the certified voters’ list!

Pimentel also alleged that the "controversial" last-minute GMA-appointed Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcellano – remember the one who had questioned FPJ’s natural-born citizenship? – had been spotted in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) after the May 10 balloting. "What was Garcellano doing in the ARMM," Pimentel questioned, " when he was officially detailed to another region, namely Region IV?"

The maverick Senator, who had first exposed dagdag-bawas in the 1995 election, also inquired why an Undersecretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government was in the same ARMM area actively going about although that Mindanao region was not his place of assignment. Doing what? Nene, you must be more specific.

Atty. Luis Sison, spokesman of Bangon’s Brother Eddie Villanueva, at the same gripe session, averred that a candidate for mayor in Biñan, Laguna, had complained of irregularities in the May 10 elections. Sison claimed that the fellow who had voiced this complaint was a son-in-law (manugang) of no less than Chairman Abalos. But, hey, Sison did not give out the mayoralty bet’s name. Louie, too, must be more specific. Anyhow, Sison denounced the Comelec, admonishing all the poll body’s commissioners to tender their resignations. (Fat chance they’ll do that.)

Both Pimentel and Sison announced they are gathering evidence to support allegations of poll irregularities. Pimentel, I’m sure, will oppose the confirmation of his pet peeve, Commissioner Garcellano, when the latter’s name is submitted to the Commission on Appointments – granted, of course, that Nene (who’s currently seeded as one of the frontrunners) is re-elected to the Senate.

* * *

Appearing on the same MOPC forum, Armed Forces Chief of Staff, Gen. Narciso L. Abaya, admitted, that while the 162 "election-related violent incidents" were fewer than the 221 violent incidents racked up during the 2001 elections, or the 295 incidents in the 1998 elections, the death toll was higher this year. In short, 119 have been slain this year, in comparison to 111 in 2001 and 87 in 1998.

He said that the armed forces and the Philippine National Police remained on full alert in Metro Manila, just in case any trouble could erupt. When we asked him how many soldiers and Marines had been stationed in the National Capital Region (NCR) for this purpose, he declined to give a specific figure.

Abaya pointed out, however, that if need be, several thousand men could be rushed to Metro Manila from surrounding provinces, and even air-lifted by C-130 from Mindanao. He afterwards revealed that the NCR command, under Lt. Gen. Alberto "Boysie" Braganza, has a complement of 43,000 men.

As for the PNP, Police Director (General) Ricardo "Dick" de Leon, who heads the NCR command, had earlier told this writer he has 14,000 policemen on "ready" status. Why, that should be enough to repel an invasion, I’d think.

What alarms the AFP, it seems, is that in the current polls, radical Leftist "party list" groups seem to be "gaining ground". The reference is, of course, to Bayan Muna (currently represented in the House by Party-List Congressman Satur Ocampo), Anakpawis, Gabriela and Migrante. Sus, does this mean the incoming House of Representatives will have more Leftist congressmen and women sneaked into the legislature via the Party List "back door"?

Will this result in secret funding for the rebel New People’s Army (NPA) and the Communist Party – via the congressional "pork barrel"? That’s the fear, although Satur and company continue to vehemently deny the accusation.

Incidentally, it must be mentioned that National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales has "egg all over his face". If you’ll recall, just before the election Gonzales had predicted that the Opposition would create trouble on election day, by staging walk-outs, even possibly "bombings" etc. so as to destroy the credibility of the election. None of these have happened.

Betcha Norbert is now telling his boss, GMA, that this ploy of his "succeeded", because he had pre-empted and prevented the disturbances and acts of violence by issuing his warning. I hear – horrors – Bert is being considered for the post of Secretary of Interior and Local Government. Sanamagan. Tell us, Madam President, this isn’t going to happen when you revamp the Cabinet… if.

* * *

Our Chief of European Correspondent Vi Masaart rang me up from Brussels yesterday to report that the absentee voting by Filipinos in Belgium had been both successful and efficient. Of the 1,025 Filipinos registered in Belgium, 798 had voted. (Many of the others were either on home leave, or out on vacation.)

GMA topped with 307, FPJ came next with 192, Raul Roco received 179, Panfilo "Ping" Lacson got 58, while Brother Eddie Villanueva garnered 51. She remarked that Brother Eddie’s "Jesus is Lord" movement is very active in Brussels.

The success of the overseas balloting in Belgium is attributed to the very cooperative and friendly attitude of the Philippine Embassy in Brussels. (Indeed, a few months ago we visited our Embassy there, housed in a heritage-chateau owned by our government, and found it easily one of the most attractive I’ve seen in Europe.) Credit for the smooth conduct of the balloting, Vi said, must go the Consul Annemarie Morales.

Okay. It seems that’s one place where things went right.

* * *

I’m sure you’ll be interested in the tart comments made in the Financial Times yesterday, many of which are pertinent to our embarrassing situation. So, here’s what its editors asserted in full. Read and weep:

The waiting has begun. After Monday’s typically lively Philippine elections – praised in Manila as "relatively peaceful" despite the killings of 115 during the campaign – an absurdly slow process of counting and tabulating the votes by hand has begun.

It could take a month before the election authorities announce official results, a month in which disgruntled losers and the usual crowd of retired military officers and the venal politicians will do their best to destabilize the country for their own ends.

Barring a popular uprising or a military rebellion like the one staged in the capital’s business district last year, the signs are that Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be returned as president and that her allies will dominate Congress.

Having broken her promise not to stand in the election, and knowing she cannot stand again in 2010, Mrs. Macapagal has a duty to behave as stateswoman rather than a vote-hungry politician over the next six years. Her mission should be to reverse the humilitating postwar decline of the Philippines relative to its Asian neighbours.

The first priority is accelerated economic reform. The Philippines, which already spends a third of its budget on debt interest payments, is in danger of being sucked into a debt trap as global interest rates rise. Economists are already muttering about "the next Argentina".

As a trained economist herself, Mrs. Macapagal must understand the risks better than most of her 82 million fellow citizens. But, whoever ends up occupying the Malacañang presidential palace, the government urgently needs to attract more foreign investment, improve the country’s creaking infrastructure and simultaneously curb persistent budget deficits. The solution is not just to raise taxes, but to crack down on the well-connected tycoons and middle-class professionals who have long avoided bearing a fair share of the tax burden.

The second task is constitutional reform. Conscious of the way the existing political set-up can cripple policy implementation – Congress has shamelessly blocked her attempts at tax reform – Mrs. Macapagal has promised to launch a process that could introduce a parliamentary system of government, as well as a decentralised federation. Her advisers say she is willing to rule with reduced powers for the second half of her term if the reforms make it necessary.

Third, the next president, even if it is the churchgoing Mrs. Macapagal, needs to brush aside the superstitions of the Roman Catholic church about the birth control and reduce population growth. This will be essential to tackle the poverty, overcrowding and environmental degradation for which the archipelago is becoming notorious.

Filipino voters will have to wait weeks for the results of Monday’s elections. But they have been waiting a lot longer for the economic, political and social results they desperately need from their elected leaders.