BEHIND THE SCENES

Campaign season starts after election
byALfred P. Dizon

This one's over but the next election is 156 Sundays away which means that when the counting has stopped, the campaign for the next one begins.

Actually, the official start of the presidential derby is 130 Sundays from now, as the convention of a party to choose its standard bearer is allowed six months before the May 2010 elections.

Unofficially, the race to 2010 begins on the morning after the elections. Considering the excitement over who is winning and who won in the national and local levels, it’s still too early to tell who will run for the presidency and the vice presidency in 2010. But you can discern from the body language of the aspirants in the weeks to come.

It is not only those who would like to replace President Arroyo as head of state who would kneel at the starting line, but all those who think they are the best man there is for their localities, never mind if they only know how to box or sing an off pitch song.
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The motivation to win is strong for those who really want to win (not those who run to gain money from opponents or party coffers) thus the precept that reelection campaign begins on the day of one’s election applies to all.

We are now in the era of perpetual campaigning. This is because there are 1,000 days between elections. We are captive of an imperfect political system that requires constant campaigning. Ask any of your favorite politicians and he would agree.

The theory of perpetual campaign may not be applicable to all elective officials if they do their mandate and start exercising it. If a politician does his job well, the people will reward him with another mandate, unless of course one is as talented as Garci and one could be as bad as the big bad wolf and still win despite public disapproval.
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This leaves me wondering if Garci intentionally doctored the votes in running as congressman so he would lose and show the world that he is an honest man and not capable of cheating votes by the millions. Did he finally see the light of day and came to realize that there is such a thing as karma?

Now another "political contest" is expected in Congress after the elections and the competition for speakership of the House and the presidency of the Senate would heat up. This is 'Level 2' of the legislative elections. There will be jockeying for the coveted posts. Plum posts in local legislative councils will also be up for grabs so it would be no surprise if even those who call themselves “clean” would make horse deals with their peers to get positions.
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Sen. Ralph Recto is now saying "politics will not take a back seat if Charter change will be put on the front burner of the agenda of the 14th Congress. The things to do is fix the economy, focus on economic measures, pass the budget and fix kinks in the electoral system so the problems that visit us every elections since the Commonwealth days will be gone the next time around."

He is saying we must automate elections and the work to modernize elections so ballot tallies will not be written in blood must go on non-stop. Sensible because there are 156 Sundays left when precincts open again. But would politics be off the minds of some of our powerful officials? Maybe my dog Mukat could answer that since it is a simple question.
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In the next elections, maybe opposition figures who are sure of getting elected would push for poll computerization. But for the comedians even in the opposition who are not sure of getting the will of the people. That is another story. You may ask Garci who among those in the opposition asked for favors from him when he was still Comelec commissioner. The word speaks plainly for itself.

Computerization is mind-boggling for some politicians and they would rather do it the hard and tested way of getting votes like a little convincing with a few pesos. Any dyed-in-the- wool politician, whether administration or opposition wouldn’t want to alter the status quo and initiate true to goodness electoral reforms like automation if jurassic means ensure his victory.
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One thing more, it is almost an impossibility to reform the Commission on Elections and take out the lapdogs and magicians who have the expertise of making money disappear inside their pockets and votes into thin air.

You see, how in the world could the Comelec have come up with so many errors in the voters’ lists depriving thousands of people of their right to suffrage? This is outrageous considering that the Comelec practically does nothing for two and a half years before the next election comes around. What have they been doing all those time?

Taxpayers pay them to do nothing and when the campaign season starts, some of its officials come up with a bag of tricks to fleece some candidates of their money -- which have time and again, been suspected of having been taken out from national coffers made fat for the taking by again – people’s money.
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Maybe it is high time people who were disenfranchised of their votes should file a class suit against the Comelec for depriving them the right to vote. It is a source of amazement how Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos and some of his subalterns interpret the law like coming up with the perfect timing to ensure that Alan Peter Cayetano doesn’t have a Chinaman’s chance of joining the Senate.

Like Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales, Abalos is the sort of man who never fails to get people talking against him. Either these two are masochists who have a perverted sense of satisfaction for being flayed or they still have a lot of things in their minds to entertain the people who have grown tired of the almost daily killings of activists, lawyers, judges and media persons.
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You see, we need people like Gonzales and Abalos to make us happy. After all, we belong to the multitude who are paying for their salaries. We deserve to be entertained by our money. But then again, with the Comelec’s efforts to make this election “clean and credible,” the electoral body has again stepped on the shoes of an aghast media by ordering the Fourth Estate to stop “quick counts.”

With one swift statement, the Comelec has again shown its contempt for the media by trying to muscle it. According to Abalos, the Comelec didn’t authorize ABS-CBN and GMA7 to conduct “quick counts.” To put more teeth to his statements, Abalos said the Comelec would file charges against the television giants if they don’t stop counting. This country is becoming more dangerous – one could be hauled to court for brushing up on one’s arithmetic by counting votes.

After the Comelec had been flayed for its “genius” in counting votes (allegedly for the favored ones,) the electoral body doesn’t want the media now to perfect their math through exercises like quick counts. Now, the Comelec is perceived as an entity which is blocking the Fourth Estate in doing its job by informing the people of what is happening to their votes.

Media entities are now complaining the Comelec is acting as complainant, lawyer and judge. Where in the world can you find that? Only in da pilipins.