BEHIND THE SCENES
Alfred P. Dizon
Politics
is a whole year-round affair in this Banana Republic. With a 3-year timetable
for officials to occupy their posts, they have to practically “campaign” on a
daily basis so their names would be prominent in the public eye.
poliAside
from attending the so-called KBL (kasal, binyag, libing or wedding, baptism,
burial) routine, they do all sorts of things to discredit opponents in the sly.
And yes, they spend on
folks to woo their votes. Where they get their money is an open secret. I
remember a politico in the lowlands over some Johnny Black who told me after
his tongue was loosened by the intoxicant, “Alam mo pare, hindi mawawala ang
jueteng dahil mamamatay ang mga pulitiko kung wala yan lalo na sa mga walang
commission sa kontrata. Malaki ang naitutulong yan sa KBL (You know, jueteng
won’t stop because that is where politicians get the money for KBL, much more
to those who don’t get commissions from contracts.)”
***
So
if you are still wondering why jueteng is still around under the guise of STL,
bookies or whatever sanamagan they call it, blame it on you know who.
Even with the so-called directive
of The One in Malacanang to the Philippine National Police to stop jueteng and
other forms of gambling, with only a few months to the May elections next year,
the multiple-headed monster won’t simply die a natural death.
There are just too many
takers, according to our perennially drunk neighborhood philosopher, for the
monster to just wink an eye and drown in the deep, mysterious blue waters of
trade-offs.
So, in another of our
sidewalk talks, he says he will commit hara-kiri if jueteng will disappear in
this administration wherein kissing married women and making sipsip to the powers that be are
considered a sign of masculinity and a way to get ahead respectively.
***
So
lest we stray, being in the public eye is a must for politicians, according to
our philosopher who says they have to use all sorts of gimmicks to attain
these, good or bad, to endear themselves to the public.
The internet had become
a battleground for protagonists. The political foggies just have to eat their
hearts out since there was none of this during their time, he says. They had
only mainstream media to air their venom, he adds.
He cites the statement
of Caloocan City Rep. Edgar Erice Wednesday branding as “fake news” the claim
of defeated vice presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. that he
was cheated of victory in the 2016 elections.
According to Erice, such
an allegation is intended to “discredit the victory of Vice President Leni
Robredo and cast doubt on the integrity of our election system.”
“The camp of Bongbong is
trying to burn the whole house down in order to condition the mind of the
public that he was cheated,” he said.
Erice said he felt it
was his duty to defend the automated election system (AES) “because this was a
product of Congress.”
***
Erice
was vice chairman of the House of Representatives committee on suffrage and
electoral reforms and was a member of the joint congressional oversight
committee on the AES.
He said the AES
implemented by the Commission on Elections and its automation partner Smartmatic
“is the best and cleanest so far in the history of Philippine elections.”
He said there was no
truth to Bongbong’s claim that votes were changed to favor Robredo. “There were
a total of 2.8 million election returns printed during the 2016 elections. Out of
this huge amount of paper trail, not one instance of discrepancy between an ER
and the transmitted election result was observed,” Erice said.
He added that Marcos’
allegation that he received zero or no votes in certain precincts “is not
evidence of cheating. A zero vote for a candidate in a clustered precinct only
means that the candidate didn’t get any vote in that precinct,” he said. So
there goes. Go figure.
***
Election fever is just
around the corner. The Commission on Elections is set to resume voter
registration next month for the 2019 midterm elections.
A report by the
Philippine News Agency qouted Baguio
City Election Officer, lawyer John Paul Martin, as saying the Comelec will
resume biometric voter registration nationwide, except in Marawi City,
from July 2 to Sept. 29, 2018 in preparation for the 2019 national
and local elections.
Comelec will accept
applications for new registration, transfer/transfer with reactivation,
reactivation, change/correction of entry and inclusion/reinstatement of records
in the list of voters.
Martin said reactivation
is for previously registered voters whose voting records have been deactivated
for failure to vote in two consecutive national regular elections
while Transfers are for previously registered voters who wish to transfer
their registration records to a different city or municipality or to a
different address within the same city or municipality.
Transfers with reactivation are
for ‘deactivated’ voters who wish to transfer their registration records to a
different city or municipality or to a different address within the same city
or municipality.
Inclusion or reinstatement of
records in the list of voters applies to those who
have been ordered by the courts to be included in the list of voters (inclusion),
or those who have recently reacquired their right to vote after having been
stripped of political rights as a consequence of a conviction.
***
Martin said registration
shall be Mondays to Saturdays, including holidays, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. He called
on would be registrants to proceed to Comelec offices immediately as soon
as voter registration opens and not wait
for the deadline since it would only be a 3-month period.
Would be registrants
should bring a photo copy of identification cards as student, employee, postal
and senior citizen. Also needed are IDs for BIR, SSS, GSIS, IBP and PRC, NBI clearance,
passport and drivers license. A birth certificate is needed for change or
correction of entries.
Comelec will also
conduct satellite registrations during said period. Barangay officials or
groups could write to local Comelec offices to request off-site registrations.
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