Automated election system wins

I’m glad the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) turned down the proposal of some groups to hold a parallel manual count to check on the credibility of the results of elections using the automated election system. 

RA 9369 was passed approving automated elections, as an answer to the cheating that took place in the previous manual voting system, starting with the counting, to the canvassing of votes in national and local elections.  

Curiously, just a few weeks ago, oppositors noisily came out with a strong proposal to hold manual counting of votes for president, vice-president, and mayors nationwide.  

While the winning candidates are known in a few hours under the automated system, it will take three days to count the ballots checked manually by those questioning the accuracy of computerized voting. In those three days, the cheating may take place, with so many hands running through the ballots.

And what if some of these guys who want their candidates to win and the rival candidates to lose, create so much havoc, if they see, and, worst of scenarios, create big variances between automated and manually-counted voting results? They will shout FAILURE OF ELECTIONS!, put the blame on President Arroyo and the Comelec, and call for a revolution. 

We’re grateful for the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (which has been given the go-signal by Comelec to conduct a random audit of election results only in selected places), and churches’ and civic organizations’ calls for prayer and vigilance to make our new voting system a success. Let’s all vote according to our conscience and help make the system work.

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Sad news. Quintin ”King” S. Doromal passed away yesterday, hours after he met a vehicular accident. He served as the sixth president of Silliman University for six years, from 1973 to 1982.

He was director of personnel at Proctor and Gamble Philippines Manufacturing Co., and held an MBA degree from the Harvard Business School when he was offered the Silliman presidency.

A statement from Silliman University notes that King’s “love for Silliman was unfailing that even beyond the presidency, he continued to support the university, facilitating its friendship with individuals, families and institutions of noble character and cause.”

He is survived by his wife Pearl Gamboa Doromal, and children Q Jr., Norman, David, and Melanie “Meg”.

Silliman University and the university church will hold a memorial service for King today, May 1.

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Another sad news. Consuelo P. Casapao of Calamba, Laguna, passed away yesterday at the age of 93. Her daughter, Lydia Robledo, a good friend of mine, says her mother, popularly called Nanay Conching, finished Grade 7, but she turned out to be an exemplary entrepreneur. She was a good seamstress, she sold clothes, managed a canteen, and with the encouragement of her late husband, Maximo Casapao Sr., set up the biggest shoe store in Calamba named “Bayanihan.”

Nanay Conching loved to garden. She showed compassion for people in need, and gave generously. Even during her illness, she showed concern about the welfare of others.

According to Lydia, her mother “survived Milenyo. She was trapped in her room, and with her bed floating in mud water, she prayed for her children’s and grandchildren’s safety. She asked her helpers to seek safer grounds, and leave her in her room, which they did not do. She was a happy person, she had many friends. Her family adored her, because she was such a lovable person. She was the Proverbs 31 Woman.”

Nanay Conching is survived by her children Perry and Fe, Emil and Mely, Dolly and Danny, Celeste and Ven, Lydia and Bert, Bee and Thurmond, and Max Jr. and Josie, and grandchildren.

Her wake is at Villa Consuelo, Bucal, Calamba. Interment will be announced later.

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One can’t help but put in a good word for contemporaries running for public offices through the May 10 election. A friend, Manny Valdehuesa, is running for the Senate under the Kapatiran Party. He can make our nation proud, with his intellect, godly principles, and vision for a transformed society.

Active in the reform movement since the 1960s, he was secretary-general of the Christian Social Movement until Martial Law. He made his mark as a political organizer and campaign operative during the heydays of the late Vice President Emanuel N. Pelaez and Senators Raul Manglapus and Manuel Manahan.

A book publisher, he taught history and social science at the Ateneo, and was active in NAMFREL and the Bishops-Businessmen’s Conference.

Manny’s interest in politics led him to observe at close range the American presidential system as well as the European parliamentary models, including Israel’s, and traveled widely in the course of his work in Unesco and the United Nations. He returned in 1998 to revive his childhood interest in ranching (in his farm in Bukidnon) while writing for newspapers.

In 2004 he received the UNICEF-PPI Award for Most Outstanding Column on Children (community category) and went on to write a book on the critical factors that shape our politics entitled, Trapo Governance and the Cha Cha Conspiracy: More Power to Those in Power, None for the People, published by Cacho Publishing House (National Book Store) in 2005.

His next book is due out from the Capitol University Press next month, entitled, A Nation of Zombies: Powerless Grassroots, Clueless Elites and the Cycle of Corruption in the Philippines.

Today he is president and national convenor of Gising Barangay Movement Inc. (formerly, Task Force Good Governance), an advocacy for empowering the grassroots.

Manny was born in Cagayan de Oro City on June 17, 1939. He is married to Marita F. Mier of Zambales and Baler, Quezon, and has two sons. He attended Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan for his bachelors in sociology and English, and Ateneo de Manila for his AB in political science and masters in business administration. He was a scholar at Columbia University School of International Affairs in New York, and the Henry George School of Social Science-Economics.

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My e-mail:[email protected]