Are we headed for a repeat of the graft-ridden election nearly a decade ago that saw someone who sounded like Gloria Macapagal Arroyo phoning elections commissioner Virgilio Garcillano about assuring a one million-vote lead in the 2004 election?
That ‘Hello-Garci’ episode, immortalized in cellphone ringtones and YouTube parody video blogs, comes to mind in the wake of the fears being expressed by the Commission on Elections that it may be forced to declare a failure in its bidding for an Automated Election System.
This following the disqualification of all seven joint venture firms that participated in the process.
The only remaining aspect in the precarious scenario at the COMELEC is how it will rule on the reconsideration bids it has encouraged the DQ’d bidders to submit
If the bidding does fail next year’s elections will again be manual with all the attendant dangers of fraud: dagdag-bawas, stolen ballot boxes, faked election returns and canvasses.
The end-result would be the most dire: the installation of yet another president with a questioned mandate along with equally bogus senators, congressmen, and hey, the whole caboodle of local officials.
We would then be staring as the very destruction of the electoral system that underpins our republican democracy.
Popularity: 1% [?]
All things being equal… yes.
Then let’s set aside recriminations. In 2010 we vote UNANIMOUSLY for one viable and a promising candidate, shall we?
errr, eh, ah, I mean, uh, ah, blush,………..forget it!
good attempt at humor, bert, and how united the 2010-voters will be. My expectation is that the next president will win by plurality (37% give-or-take-2% of the vote. Now don’t ask ‘cuz I have no basis for this definitive 37% number).
My expectation is that the next president will win by plurality (37% give-or-take-2% of the vote. Now don’t ask ‘cuz I have no basis for this definitive 37% number).
UP n grad, your figures are within the 2% margin of error with the percentage of the voters that allowed to Gloria to win over a plurality of opposition candidates with just 40% of registered votes during the Philippines Presidential Elections in 2004. Sixty percent (60%) of voters did not vote for Gloria but the votes were split between candidates, with a high probability that the dichotomy is based on socio-economic grouping.
For 2004 election results – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_the_Philippines
killjoy!
After all the crap that happened around the Garci Scandal, it is amazing that Ms. Cheche Lazaro of ABSCBN News, an award winning anchor of talk show Media in Focus, and a pillar of broadcast journalism in this country, is now being targeted by Winston Garcia and his craven bunch of bandits over at GSIS and DOJ for prosecution under the Antiwiretapping Law. The case is utterly without merit, but the fact that it has been filed and a warrant for her arrest issued is truly disgusting. I hope our colleagues here will not let this one small case fall off the radar screen. In reviewing the various statements and circumstances, I am convinced we ought to make war on her persecutors, because they are making war on us.
We should not wait until they come for us! A pushback is necessary. It’s time to resist the neo-Fascists and their ilk, keep them off-balanced politically–because if an honest election is held next year, doubtless they will be swept out of power and made available for a just but unrelenting Prosecution.
We need not look for a perfect leader. But one who will enforce the Rule of Law and end this nasty Arroyo charade which can only live in the people’s everlasting disdain.
When she and the FG and WG get their F-minuses in History, they should have prison uniforms on when we take the graduation picture.
This case against Cheche is a no-brainer harassment authored by ‘no brains’.
“When she and the FG and WG get their F-minuses in History, they should have prison uniforms on when we take the graduation picture.”
Do you even believe in what you’re saying?
what are you invoking the “rule of law” for? if there are viable charges against lazaro, why don’t you let the rule of law takes it’s course and allow her to have her day in court? don’t pre-judge the case. your apparent call to violence borders on sedition. and what has the first couple got to do with it, may i ask?
exactly.
The history has never EVER repeated itself.. It is the people who never learned the morals on their failures before.. After all the misery, perplexities, cumbersomes we Filipinos shouldered during the birth of this government, we are all indeed fed up with recurring downfall. Thus, it is just right to claim that Filipinos already learned and now more mature. The people whom I am referring to above, are those hungry-for-pork-i-just-care-for-the-money legislators. Because of their unrelenting love for money, they’ve been hampering the desire of Filipino people to change..
Bottomline is, if the 2010 elections will become a mud-wrestling AGAIN. Therefore, we are all bound to suffer for another set of years.
Jay: Do you know the laws and rules as to when and where a congressman can spend his pork-barrel allocation?
If legislators are not legislators anymore but distributors of pork, then a Batasan is not a Batasan anymore but abbatoir.
UP n grad,
I am not a law student, at least for now. I don’t know mechanics of this filthy game, I admit that. But pork barrel must be spent judiciously. Isn’t that fact universal?
Another, what’s the biggie there? the Law is so pliant, it has never ever been observed by those crocodiles..
Ding,
BTW you missed a good one at IBlog5. I think it’s the best one so far. Amazing though how young some of these accomplished bloggers are. Bida ang Filipino Voices doon, but I don’t know if we can reap the benefits by increasing our numbers. The site needs a friendlier, more inviting “front door”. The most interesting discussions so far (I missed just the last session today) were James Jimenez on automation, whose substance I will post on tomorrow I think, and JJ Disini on legal issues.
Sorry about that Manong.
But re the leader we need my simple take is this:
We need a leader with CONVICTION. Not one WHO SHOULD BE CONVICTED.
Agree?
Oh, every one of them has conviction, all are convictables. No one is clean, no one can be found who is totally innocent.
We need one who, even if is guilty enough, not of heinous crimes or gross plundering kind but of the petty sort only that will leave us in peace, a peaceful sleep in the night or day, and the conviction to lead us and our nation to prosperity.
We need one who, even if is guilty enough, not of heinous crimes or gross plundering kind but of the petty sort only that will leave us in peace, a peaceful sleep in the night or day, and the conviction to lead us and our nation to prosperity.
And to find that leader, we have to do our due diligence. We also need to think about our criteria about what makes a good leader. Are we using the right criteria?
Gutfeel, BongV, gutfeel.
But I know you know what is the right criteria to use, right? You applied it already and you found it effective which caused you to vehemently defend this government and blaming the people for all our woes.
Bert:
I know my own criteria – and I still ask myself, am I using the right criteria.
But I don’t know other people’s criteria and I will let them speak for themselves.
All am saying is they too should ask themselves whether they are using the right criteria.
In a previous comment, as I have told Primer, I said I agree that government needs to exercise “government responsibility”.
However, when government shows a sustained and consistent pattern of an inability to exercise “government responsibility” then people, being the source of power of government, need to exercise “personal responsibility” to put in place or change the government – remove liabilities and replace them with assets – so that the people will have a government that exercises “government responsibility”
Clear enough?
It’s a pity that my good classmate from UP, Che Che had to post bail. But I do know that there must have been a higher moral compulsion if she did what she had to do.
DJB is right in being concerned as what happened to Che Che might amount to an assault to press freedom.
In the meantime, let the law run its course and in the end, “truth shall set us free”. I know Che Che will overcome the fix she is in.
And we need to support her because the tactic being used is quite perverse. Some people like Bencard want us to just bend over like he does and scrape his forehead on the sidewalk of Malacanang. That is his Law of Rule.
It is up to us, if we allow these people to steal the 2010 election
again. We had been taken cheated in previous elections. If we will
be cheated again. We are just a nation of suckers. We love to be
cheated…
Do you really think that is true Tasio. No one that I know “allows” themselves to be robbed or cheated, or “loves” it…but I guess this may be a form of sarcasm or satire…I shall take it as that. hehe.
ding, i’m sorry but this post of yours is like a tired cliche. is gma running for president in 2010? or are you planning to run for elective office and hoping to win by rattling old skeletons of anti-gma charges long dead?
No, GMA Political Clone will be elected. No plunders charges
will ever be investigated.
They had Cloned Animals already. Political Cloning is the
next political achievement in Philippine politics.
Bencard,
Ding’s post is most timely. The Garci Scandal will be front and center in the 2010 elections. It is your point that is a tired cliche. It is naive to think that GMA will be finished in 2010, even IF she doesn’t run for President or somehow stay on. All the signs point to her being the same manipulative animal that she is today, and her subalterns are actively doing everything they can to bring her back or keep her in power.
You will excuse me, if some of us refuse to give her and her crypto-Fascist wrecking crews the benefit of the doubt, okay?
BTW, read my lips: I stand firmly for the Rule of Law. I condone violence only in self-defense. You cannot push me into the People Power crowd or the insurgencies. You are grasping at straws in a blind defense of your black-hearted idols. I want them properly charged, prosecuted, tried and punished for their crimes as a Court of Law will, one day.
IN the meantime there is a whole Constitution for me to look at and compare her performance against the duties and responsibilities therein imposed on her, as well as whole Bill of Rights that empowers even us lowly non-lawyers to mount to the majesty of the Law, and peaceably if resolutely seek a redress of our grievances.
It is Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who has destroyed the Rule of Law in this country. You may pontificate from far-away all you want. We shall solve our own problems , with or without you.
djb, for your edification, law doesn’t condemn before it hears, doesn’t speculate out of nothing but warped imagination, nor is it a do-it-yourself punishment mechanism. stop paying lip service to the “rule of law”. study, observe and obey it. btw, i have as much right to “pontificate” as you do wherever i am. and stop saying “we”. kick the habit of speaking for every filipino who may not even know you, much less think like you.
Ms. Cheche Lazaro is indeed INNOCENT until proven guilty. This is not just a presumption it is a Constitutional right. Moreover, this is not the Court of Law in which such a presumption will have to be overthrown, three times if she appeals, and beyond a reasonable doubt at that.
But here in the Court of Public Opinion, other even more powerful principle of the Law and Constitution than the Rules of Court apply. It is called Freedom of Expression, which you don’t want me to practice to the full, but which you cannot in fact prevent.
We have yet to see if those anti gma charges are indeed long dead. Do not forget it took decades to rid this country of kutu-vermin like the fascist dictator Ferdinand Marcos, your evil, black-hearted idol.
Ding:
I expect a Putin-style scenario,where a GMA puppet gets elected.The new prexy then proposes a Cha-cha(change to parliamentary system).
Voila! we will have a powerful prime minister that looks like Gloria Pidal!
EQ
Maybe… or NOT.
GMA was supposed to be an FVR puppet.
But when she came into the ascendancy – she cut the strings
and held FVR at bay by resurrecting the Amari deal
Next round will be pretty much the same, given people use the same criteria for choosing leaders.
Next president will pretend to be GMA puppet, then turn the table once he/she gets in position.
He/she will keep GMA at bay by using the ZTE/NBN deal and other deals she can find.
Same o same o
EQ,
Masalimuot at ganap na kahindik-hindik na pangitain.
OFFTOPIC:
Yooooooooohoooooooooo…. Nick, what’s up with the Add New Page feature?
What again are the issues for election-2010? I understand the first issue for DingG, EQualizer and others is whether a candidate is a GMA-puppet or not. Another one is whether the candidate will pardon GMA or not. Third is whether the candidate benefitted from GMA’s prior years or not. Fourth is whether the candidate will imitate GMA economic policies or not. A fifth one is whether the candidate will imitate GMA’s Mindanao-policies or not. A sixth one is whether the candidate will imitate GMA’s pro-USA policy or not. A seventh one is whether the candidate will pursue GMA’s OFW-policy or not. Eigth is whether the candidate will follow GMA’s agrarian policies or not.
Hey…. it really is the case :idea: that this election IS :razz: about GMA.
History can easily repeat itself. Five anti-GMA candidates unable to agree split the 2010 anti-GMA votes among themselves.
And 2010-presidential winner by plurality is the GMA-bloc.
UP n grad:
it IS about continuity or discontinuity of GMA’s policies but not GMA herself – that is another story.
Spot on, UP n grad. Naive BongV. Naive!
Damn, DJB, you couldn’t have fallen for my blogpost. Anti-GMA as basis to choose can only get a voter so far, then a voter has to think. Is it sell-Spratly’s-and-more-land-to-China or follow-Utrecht for foreign-policy? Is it CARP or is it kibbutz for agrarian? Is it Erap-type slash-and-burn or triple-the-schools/hospitals for Mindanao? Is it let-UN-regulators-in or is it double-the-salary-of-Pinas-judges?
And does any of the candidates really have any plan for Mindanao Muslim terrorists? for CPP/NPA? To double food production?
The threat to an unthinking voter-population is “…2010-presidential winner by plurality is GMA-bloc”.
Read before you write. Spot on. :D
Truly Naive DJB :D
Well, okay UP n grad, spot off, if you think GMA invented those policies and that her own personal plans for staying in power are irrelevant to an issues-oriented person. Or that those against her are just prejudiced because she is Moral Dwarf and they don’t care about what she has done in Mindanao, in politics, on the Rule of Law, on Executive Privilege, on Graft and Corruption, on political killings, on bribery of Congressmen, on the ZTE NBN deal, on Garci, on …. and on…
HA!HA!HA! Ding, Ding, Ding. We Filipinos are very poor in history. In fact we all fail history lesson THAT IS WHY WE REPEAT HISTORY OVER AND OVVER AND OVVER AGAIN UNTIL WE PASS. Either we pass the test or get past over our history and not repeat it again.
… problem is we need to fix our information delivery system. The pekeng-peryodistas are our only source of information so we will forever keep on repeating history …
Why don’t we just line them up in Luneta and do what the Prince of Saud did when he got crossed over a deal in grain …
You can still find the horrific video in abcnews.com
speak for yourself, girlie. i think i know my history and i got very good grades in it during my time. not all filipinos are dull just because you are.
If Filipinos are not dull WHY ARE WE KEEP REPEATING PHILIPPINE HISTORY??????
HUH? What is your answer to thata! I guess we just love our history!!!! IT’S LOGICAL! IT’S NOT NEGOTIABLE!!!!!
Atty. Ben,
It is unfortunate that you miss my point.
That GMA is my post’s journalistic hook is inescapable, unless one refuses to see.
can you please explain, ding? your one-liner, in the context of my comment, is beyond my comprehension.
Then it is.
What is truly incomprehensible is Bencard’s position that if history repeats itself, tough. He wants us all to be once, twice, thrice the fool, or as often as his craven graven idols want. He thinks the Rules of Court are all that we need to bother about.
there you go again, djb, with this bad habit of speaking for everyone else without their prior consent. fyi, there is a difference between the “rules of court” and the “rule of law”, but i’m not gonna tell you for free.
HISTORY WILL REPEAT ITSELF IN 2010. It’s God’s will! Deal with it! Git it! Swallow it!
GMA is the instrument of God to punish us, FOOLS! Therefore, GMA is not guilty! Deal with it! Git it! Swallow it!
Our hatred of GMA is hatred of God that is why we are perpetually punished!!!!!!
Isn’t the above statement the most common mentality of irresponsible religious?
Don’t tell me you don’t know it!!!!!
HA!HA!HA!HA!
Our problem with us is RELIGION! and PEKENG-PERYODISTAS!
It’s not the Filipino people. Filipino people followed the script what God has written for us … YOU CANNOT HANDLE THE TRUTH! THIS IS THE TRUTH! BASED ON PREVAILING MENTALITY OF 92% OF RELIGIOUS CATHOLIC IN THE PHILIPPINES!!!!!!
DEAL WITH IT! FIX IT! GET OVER IT! OR, LIVE WITH IT!
Ding, Primer,
I guess it really doesn’t bother me so much when the government attacks the entire Press and they get the push back of the whole journalistic and media community, as happened in the Manila Pen incident, in which I totally disagreed with what the Press did. I don’t worry too much about press freedom when they do things like that, since the govt is taking on a pretty rambunctious and not exactly resourceless lot. But when they pick off individuals, that is when it is most dangerous because you don’t have the ‘protection of the herd.’
The elephant in the room that is being ignored by the pro-GMA or just plain anti-anti-GMA voices here is the Garci Scandal, for which the responsible parties are yet to be punished. The mere disinterest of the Palace in pursuing the case is damning, since it was not so much a case of electoral fraud as a breach of the Anti-Wiretapping law (a national security statute) by the Commander-in-Chief against her own exalted office of the Presidency and the Comelec, using ISAFP.
This has been my position all along: the real big crime in the Hello Garci Scandal, aside from the electoral fraud, is national security violation by whoever did it. That such persons have never been brought to Court, and there has never been any effort by GMA to do so, points to her very self as the culprit, who must, and will be brought to Justice.
That is the responsibility of the government and every person that cares about electoral democracy and national security.
Spot on.
If legislators are not legislators anymore but distributors of pork, then a Batasan is not a Batasan anymore but abbatoir.
WHO voted these legislators in?
WHO can vote these legislators out?
Somalians?
ay ara, ngantoy en you ikukuwan. religion pabasulen u. ara, love of country kailangan natin. period.
Did the history repeat itself again ? See The Scientist.com – Community – in this topic, and give your comment.