The credibility of the Commission on Elections went down the tube and has gone to the dogs after Ben Abalos resigned over allegations of corruption and bribery. Add to this the “Hello Garci” and the Lintang Bedol controversies and you have a serious problem. This is an opportunity for GMA to start anew and “cut cleanly” from the past by appointing people who will be absolutely acceptable by all members of society. GMA’s luck has been steady from the time she took over in 2001 until today despite all the scandals and coup plots that have been constantly hounding her administration. By the time she finishes her term in 2010, she will have been in power for nine years — the longest term for any president since Ferdinand Marcos. GMA has been given so many chances and this is another opportunity to redeem the credibility of her administration and show that she can indeed become a good president, as she has often said in the past.
You can’t blame Ping Lacson for questioning the appointment of Moslemen Macarambon as commissioner since not many people know him from Adam. While GMA may have had good intentions by bringing in someone from the South as part of the peace agreement with the MNLF and adhere to the principle of equal representation in the poll body, at the very least, they should have publicized the names of the nominees and allowed the people to know the qualifications of these people. Any Comelec appointment must not be made out of the blue. This will only open up more suspicions.
The Comelec is a constitutional body whose members have fixed terms. Obviously, any appointment will have serious implications on the political future of this country, especially in 2010 when there will be a change in leadership. Elections in this country have always been marred by suspicions of vote rigging and all kinds of cheating. Electoral reform is the key to everything. The Comelec must not wait until 2010 before it acts to automate the elections.
At a time when people are beginning to lose faith in the credibility of the elections, now more than ever, there is a need to appoint people with an impeccable record and unquestionable integrity. One of them for example is Judicial Bar Council (JBC) ex-officio member and retired Sandiganbayan justice Raoul Victorino whose unblemished reputation can do a lot to bring back the faith of the people to an institution whose reputation has been badly tarnished. He certainly knows politics having been a politician in the past, topping the elections for councilors and Sangguniang Bayan members in Pasig and Rizal. People familiar with Justice Victorino know he is a staunch advocate for a judiciary that is “independent, effective, efficient, worthy of public trust and confidence,” and adhering to these same principles will certainly serve the Comelec well.
Madam President, you have been given a chance to leave a lasting legacy by making the selection process transparent and appointing somebody that Filipinos will accept without question. This is an important decision that you must make for people to regain their faith and trust in your government.
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The call of Makati mayor Jojo Binay for an independent investigation on the cause of the Glorietta 2 tragedy is a good idea. If we include the findings of the Australian Federal Police, the FBI and other foreign experts who came to help in the investigations, then we can certainly come up with a report people will believe.
But more than knowing what caused the explosion or who was negligent and responsible, the more important thing is to learn from this painful tragedy. This is something that should never have happened. Many of the victims were just starting with their lives, and some of them were breadwinners who were the only hope of their families for a better future — and that hope died with the explosion. One of the casualties was a young wife and mother who only passed the time in the mall before her minor outpatient surgery at Makati Med. To this day, the poor husband keeps reliving the tragedy, blaming himself for leaving her while he “grabbed a bite to eat,” thinking he should have ran instead of walked when he heard the explosion, blaming himself for parking where he did, regretting not having met her sooner — having so many ifs and buts — all of which would never bring back his wife.
Inspections should be conducted regularly to make sure buildings and establishments are structurally sound and have not become virtual safety hazards and fire traps, like what happened almost a decade ago with the Ozone disco tragedy which killed 162 people and injured close to a hundred. The disco meant for 35 people was packed with hundreds of students, and it had no fire escape and fire extinguisher.
With buildings and structures haphazardly placed together without plan or reason, Metro Manila’s landscape is starting to resemble a badly-made Lego piece, with people packed like sardines in many of these structures. Authorities should implement strict zoning regulations to make way for integrated districts, orderly architectural patterns and spacious public spaces that will not compromise the safety of people and prevent tragedies like the Ozone fire and the Glorietta blast from happening again.
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