Political thieves a-running

Here in the Philippines, the vetting of candidates who are running for public office is initially being done for us voters by the Commission on Elections (Comelec). As the Comelec prepares to conduct the forthcoming national and local elections (NLE) this year, we, too, as voters must prepare ourselves to make the wise choice on who to elect from the so many aspirants wanting to hold public office.

The seven-man poll body is empowered to screen and vet individuals who want to be elected into public office. Among other things, the Comelec must do its mandate to protect us voters, not just against so-called “nuisance” candidates but against other unscrupulous elements out to thwart our democratic right of suffrage.

A total of 43,033 aspirants in the NLE originally filed certificates of candidacy (COC) during the eight days of the filing period last year. After the Comelec screening of all COCs, a total of 205 COCs were declared as “nuisance” candidates.

Pruned from “nuisance” bets, more than 18,000 national and local positions are up for grabs, according to Comelec. Kicking off its mandated duties, the Comelec started as scheduled the printing of 73 million ballots for the midterm elections and the first parliamentary polls in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

Out of 183 COCs for the Senate race, a total of 117 senatorial wannabes were declared “nuisance.” Thus, only the names of the 66 qualified candidates for the Senate race are appearing in the ballots. Elected nationally like the senators, a total of 190 party-list groups filed COCs. But the Comelec only qualified 155 party-list groups to be included in the official ballots. A total of 67 COCs for local bets were declared as “nuisance.”

The Comelec scratched 17 other “nuisance” candidates in the congressional race and disqualified one, leaving only 582 candidates. In particular, the Comelec disqualified ex-Caloocan City Rep. Edgar Erice, who questioned the disbarment of Smartmatic that had handled our maiden use of the automated election system (AES).

Led by Comelec Chairman George Garcia, the poll body will continue to use humans as well as the new election machines. This time though we will be using for the first time the computer soft and hard wares procured from Miru Systems of South Korea. Incidentally, the Comelec has disposed of hundreds of the precinct count optical scanning (PCOS) machines procured from Smartmatic used in previous elections. Comelec was able to sell 81,776 units of PCOS for P12.26 million in a public bidding last month to Microsphere System Technology.

The subsequent Comelec leadership adopted a new name for the AES, which Smartmatic rebranded as vote counting machines (VCMs). Garcia announced they are now in the process of selling also these VCMs currently stored at a Laguna warehouse rented by Comelec.

With Miru handling for the first time our country’s mid-term polls on May 12, it will now be called the automatic counting machines (ACMs). The Comelec will be deploying 110,000 ACMs all over the country before election day.

There are at least seven re-electionist senators, several come-backing ones and incumbent congressmen eyeing to move over to the so-called Upper House of Congress. It is a tight race among these candidates vying to get into the so-called “magic 12,” or the 12 slots up for grabs in the Senate elections. A senator serves six-year term of office and is only allowed two consecutive terms, or a total of 12 years in office.

This is why some senators who “graduate” from the Senate either opt to observe a sort of sabbatical and wait for the next election three years after. Examples of these candidates are former Senate president Vicente “Tito” Sotto III and ex-senators Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, Francis Pangilinan and Bam Aquino, who are all making comeback bids at the Senate. Or, certain former senators run in congressional districts or for local government posts, which both have three-year terms of office. One of them is former senator Leila de Lima.

And for the House of Representatives, the Comelec qualified  thousands of candidates jockeying to fill currently 253 congressional districts as of last count. The number of congressional districts has grown through the years with the gerrymandering laws that created new legislative districts. Congressmen/congresswomen serve only a three-year term of office. But they are allowed three consecutive terms, or a total of nine years in office.

As mandated by our country’s 1987 Constitution, 20 percent or 50 seats are allotted for sectoral or party-list representatives. They, too, are allowed three consecutive terms, or a total of nine years in office.

Let me share with you a video I came across in Threads platform last Sunday. By this time, the un-dated video in social media may have already gone viral here in our country. It has a timely message worth sharing as the election period in our country officially starts this Sunday. It is a brief video of an un-identified African man talking before an audience about the political situation, perhaps pertaining in his home country.

Thankfully, the video has sub-titles. So here goes his speech:

“What is the difference between an ordinary thief and a political thief?

“The ordinary thief steals our money, our bag, our jewelry, our watch, etc. But a political thief steals our future, our careers, our education, our health, our business, our roads and other infrastructure.

“The hilarious part is that the ordinary thief decides whom to rob. But we are the ones who choose the political thief who rob us because we vote for them in every election. We blindly say we are not blind. Who is deceiving whom?

“The ridiculous part of the whole issue is that we fight to protect our belongings from the ordinary thief. But we fight each other to defend and protect the political thief. Is that not what we do? We fight for the thugs who steal our future, our careers, our education, our health, our roads, our livelihoods.

“What a shame! What a travesty! It calls for us to think and think deeply.”