A covenant has been signed the other at the Archbishop Palace for a peaceful election in May. The signatories, who included Ricardo Cardinal Vidal and Philippine National Police director general Jesus Versoza, come from different sectors seeking for an orderly conduct of the general elections.
No less than Versoza who sounded optimistic that next month's electoral process would be clean, fair, orderly and peaceful. "I hope that that we'll be optimistic. We need your cooperation and your belief that we can hold. Let us not look for speculations, instead work by giving our best," he stressed in his speech during the signing of the covenant.
Cardinal Vidal, for his part, appealed to the public to do their part in helping the authorities conduct orderly polls. He said people should avoid doing things that threaten the elections' security.
After the signing, police personnel and representatives from different sectors held a fun run from the palace to the Cebu International Convention Center. They called the event the Covenant Run for HOPE, which stands for Honest, Orderly and Peaceful Elections.
In this country, every election is always associated with violence. We can no longer deny the fact that violence has become part of our electoral process because some politicians cannot learn to accept defeat.
The fact that the Philippines has been losing credibility to conduct a fair and peaceful election can only attest to the reality that its electoral exercises are no longer sacred.
Every count of our ballot has been tainted with blood because violence will never forget to rear its ugly head. Because they wanted to emerge victorious when the dust settles, some candidates will use whatever it takes to get elected.
If only candidates begin to learn to accept defeat in a gracious manner, maybe the country can salvage some credibility in holding an impartial and orderly election. As Versoza had said, we hope that the May 10 exercises will go down in history as one of the most credible and orderly.