Is the May election designed to fail?

GMA is really good. She continues to confuse us. Up to this point in time we still do not know whether she is strongly and steadfastly supporting her administration’s bet – Gibo Teodoro. Although we saw her on the entablado just a few days ago, in a Lakas Kampi- CMD campaign sortie, one still has that uneasy feeling about her presence. What makes our illusions worst is that many of her cohorts – those very loyal to her are defecting to other camps. Are they infiltrating these camps just like the story of the Trojan Horse? Hmmmm.

What will happen if the “ruling” party (well according to James Jimenez of the COMELEC, the Lakas Kampi – CMD is still the dominant party) will find itself rejected at the polls? This would mean that GMA’s administration was regarded as a failure by the country’s more than 44 million voters, wouldn’t it? As a matter of fact, I have a strong feeling that she already knows this, and so is strategically placing her people in the different camps. Well, this is just a speculation on my part.

If this GMA regime means to carve out a “win” by hook or by crook – then, that becomes a story. What’s it to be? Will she get what she wants by some miraculous manipulation? Remember that her “anointed” one is low in the poll surveys – a disappointment for sure. So how does her camp win? Maybe they will create all sorts of excuses and continue to design the elections to naturally fail.

News reports about the possibility of election failure and factors pointing to this inevitability have been spreading around. There is a great deal of concern over the capability of the COMELEC to oversee a fully automated election process. There is a hitch in the ballot reader due to the UV ink placed by Smartmatic which did not have enough density to be read by the Precinct Count Optical Scan machines. Smartmatic-TIM also admitted that there could be possible congestion in the computer servers of different board of canvassers during the transmission of election results. Has Smartmatic successfully addressed the transmission glitches through the acquisition of satellite antennas? What happens when a PCOS machine malfunctions and its replacement fails to work in spite of the efforts of technicians on standby? There are also talks of Smartmatic not having enough personnel. With these hiccups, even the government is seeing a 30% failure of automated elections. Candidates and election watchdogs are worried that the daily electric power outages in many towns and cities, including Metro Manila, are part of a conspiracy to rig the elections. Another cause for doubt are the midnight appointments in the Palace, the new leadership in the AFP and the much-talked about appointment in the SC. Also alarming is the new wave of Partylist candidates and the worsening private armies, a serious security concern because of its capacity to undermine the 2010 elections. Oh my! All these plus the continuous intense fighting between political parties and candidates are the right ingredients to contrive the worst ever elections in the history of the Philippines.

The main objective of every political candidate is to win. They have already spent so much money, time and effort in their campaigns. They have barely a month left before the big day. But after witnessing all these “hullabaloos” during this election period, I worry more about the success of the May elections. Our country does not need a failure of election. We don’t want this to happen. So I think aside from strategizing their road toward victory, the candidates must also think and make the necessary plans on how to safeguard the polls. We need stronger citizen watch guards. I heard that Binay, the LP and other parties have already begun initial talks with to form a movement that would protect the ballot on this first automated election ever.

What will happen if there is a failure of elections? We should expect the final count after three days. But we are not sure if this will happen. If the counting is not yet finish by June, GMA will continue to stay in power. With the unwavering support of the Supreme Court (who she appointed), they may easily declare her as the “hold over president”. And even before all these events will transpire, her generals I am pretty sure will have already concocted a plan. The danger here is if a group of military men do not agree with the games of the generals. What happens then? To prevent chaos and anarchy in a no proclamation scenario, the president can legally justify an emergency rule thru military power. She can actually declare a revolutionary government. And then what happens next? Your guess is as good as mine.

I do not intend to cause a wave of panic. I just remember my late father who was always called upon by the military whenever threats against the state occur. His role was always to neutralize the situation and find solutions in order to keep peace in the country. I strongly believe that there are still quite a few men in the military who think of country above self — and I know that they will always try their best to do the right things and make the right moves.

After all these confusion, I still want to have faith that GMA will ensure the success of the elections in May. She should realize by now that honest elections, efficiently conducted, would be her real crown of victory.

Until then, I hope our leaders get more inspiration from Ramon Magsaysay, his life and work. My late father used to say that he never imposed himself on others instead, he empowered the people. He further said, Magsaysay called on everyone in the government to do his best and on the people to do their best – and he brought out the best in all of them. His magic? The power of his sincerity.

He proved to the soldier on the battlefield that he, the soldier guardian of the nation, was the most important fighter in the defense of the Republic. In RMs time, the soldier and the PC constable were taught to believe they were fighting for the nation, not for power or glory.

While his heart bled for the poor, and he strove to give land to the landless, education for the kapus-palad, a helping hand to those in need, he never encouraged squatting or preached the gospel that, because they were poor, the poor could just take what they wanted. He knew that this was the wrongheaded preaching of the Marxists, Leninists, Maoists, — the Communists who were bitter enemies. He didn’t believe in something for nothing: The poor must be aided, but not spoiled by doles and limitless giveaway programs. They must be educated to help not just themselves but contribute something to the country’s progress.

In sum, Magsaysay was a practical man. He swung open the doors of Malacañang to rich and poor alike. He dared to do things, didn’t temporize, never asked what the “polls” were saying. He knew in his heart that if he did his best, the Filipino people would do the rest.