LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

What happened to elections in Benguet?
March L. Fianza

TUBA, Benguet -- Reading people’s reactions about the election protest filed to contest the results of the mayoralty post in Tuba, I can not avoid suspecting that cheating indeed must have been happening in the all the past elections that took place in this province, particularly in that town.

Tuba residents who had been following up the protest issue say there were at least seven teachers involved in the anomalies. There were even ballot boxes that were empty. There were also boxes that contained ballots that were switched. The evidenced showed that the ballots were filled up by one and the same penmanship.

Although not as bad as compared to Mindanao , vote-buying is turning out to be a household word during elections – and almost a cottage industry. Candidates who are desperate in occupying the position they want, do spend millions of pesos to illegally achieve their goal.

The position does not matter, as long as the candidate wins. Vote-buying and other illegal means are resorted to in this country by candidates for president, vice president, senator, congressman, governor, board member, mayor, vice mayor, and councilor. The same is true with positions for barangay kapitan, sanggunian kabataan chair, president of the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC), president of the association of the SK, and the councilors’ league.

There was a time in the past when Benguet boasted of holding the cleanest and most orderly elections in the country. This was the time when Comelec officials and teachers assigned in voting precincts knew their sacred and honorable roles as guardians of the ballot. Today, it is the Comelec official and the teacher who are the prime suspects in carrying out election fraud. The police and the military are mere accomplices.

Separate from the dishonest acts by election officials, the voters themselves are partly to blame for the unwanted voting results. In the past, the importance of elections to a community has been equated to the right path to development. What is happening today is exactly the opposite. Community growth and improvement at these times are not even the last priorities of voters. Basta nagpakan ken nagpa-inom, ayus!

It looks as if nobody cares anymore whether a candidate is able to perform his duties as a public servant. Many care less if the councilors and the new kapitanes grab for themselves the public works projects of the government. A public office is no longer a public trust and the saying “what you choose is what you get” is now disregarded.

A citizen in good standing must not stop at casting a vote. As in the past, voters expressed their rights to the extent of campaigning who they think is fit for a position and afterwards, see to it that their votes are properly counted. The candidate is merely incidental in the process, as the good of the community is their primary concern.

As citizens who clamor for the best things in life, it is their duty to help improve their communities by promoting the best man fitted for the job, not the candidate who has the money to buy votes, buy gin and pulutan. But in the recent elections for the president of the councilors’ league in Benguet, gin and pulutan did not matter. Rumors were rife that cold cash changed hands from the moneyed candidates. The presidential post for the ABC is seized by the highest bidder.

In the past SK presidential elections where the winner occupies a seat in the provincial board, vote-buying as in the recent councilors’ league elections took place. Today, I heard the sitting SK provincial board member is a member of the “committee of silence.” This is Benguet elections today.

Despite all the complaints lodged on the Comelec, its chairman (now resigned) continues to congratulate his staff for a “job well done.” What “job well done” is he talking about? Maybe it is about the cheating that took place or the strange occurrences, including the killings that made Abalos praise the Comelec during his watch. For unclean, dishonest, disorderly and violent elections, the Comelec is praised. In the words of Senators Rene Saguisag and Dick Gordon, the problem in the Comelec is Abalos. Hopefully with Abalos’ resignation, the bad things left with him.

The campaign for the synchronized barangay chair, kagawads and SK officials starts today. This corner is endorsing the candidacy of Josephine “Jojo” Tuling for Punong Barangay of Tuding, Rommel Fangot for kagawad of Tuding and Libnah Tumpao Oakes for SK chair of barangay Pico, La Trinidad. I personally know them and know how they are dedicated to their work. Please vote for them. --- marchfianza777@yahoo.com