Press Statement
19 May 2010

The nearly concluded national elections have much to say about the country’s current situation and prospects for change.

On May 10, the nation witnessed how the Filipino people trooped and filled the polling areas despite the sickening heat of the sun. Most patiently waited for hours to cast their votes but others were discouraged by the wild confusions in the voting process. This high level of voters’ participation– 5% or approximately 35 million Filipinos according to the COMELEC– signifies the Filipino people’s burning desire for change after almost a decade of plunder and poverty under the Arroyo presidency. But whether the new administration will usher in genuine change is yet to be put to test.

Quick Count Means Accurate Results?

The automated elections indeed stunned the country with quick election results with 80% of the ballots counted in less than 2 days. And though the COMELEC is still far from reaching its target of proclaiming the new government in less than a week, the quickness of the count resulting from the shift to electronic elections is ground-breaking – an epochal leap in the manner of holding Philippine elections. However, the speedy count does not at all guarantee the accuracy and veracity of the results.

While it seems there is general satisfaction on the AES, its credibility stills needs to be proven beyond doubt. The AES is highly technical and allows very little room for public scrutiny and transparency, especially when verification facility or process was removed from the machine just few days before the election. And now, several days after the election, allegations of irregularities are surfacing. Losing presidential candidates have refused to concede, not that they expected to win but because they contend the truth about this election had to come out. An interesting case for instance is the bloated number of voting population in the released official national canvass results in the first day of canvassing (May 13) wherein the official canvass bore a total of 158 million registered voters which is thrice the estimated registered voters and well over the country’s total population of 94 million. The SMARTMATIC was quick enough to answer what was considered a “minor” glitch, and was able to correct the data the following day.

Remarkable! Yet the public’s very limited understanding of the process and absence of transparency how it happened also limited its capacity to further inquire into that “minor” error, but definitely left clouds of serious doubts on that amazing technical efficiency. This leaves the call for independent and impartial investigation imperative, not only to straighten the records but to give justice to those whose votes are wasted or lost, deliberately or not, in the myriad of technical hitches.

This election wasn’t violence free. Vote buying was still rampant in various municipalities both in the Metro and in the provinces as votes were reportedly being bought from P50 per individual to P2500 per family. Certain areas in the ARMM and in the South experienced failure of elections largely due to election-related bombings and other violent strife. Thus, it only safe to say that there is barely significant change in the quality of elections as compared to the past.

Aquino Presidency: Renewed Hope, New Challenges

The bursting hope for change and upliftment that propelled the people to brave the punitive heat in precincts is perhaps the biggest challenge that the new administration has to contend. As promises were made during the campaign, so were the expectations, and tinkering with these expectations will be a dangerous road to tread.

Without sounding cynical, the Philippines is sure to have new government, and that in itself is a people’s triumph. Except that so called campaigners of Aquino-Roxas tandem seem to place old faces — former members of Arroyo government who jumped ship when it was about to sink and transfer to a more convenient boat—into the incoming Aquino administration. New government, old faces in the cabinet? The people have to be vigilant afterall, as Sen Aquino said in his political ads, he owes his campaign to the people.

Aquino administration will be welcomed by severe economic and social crisis. Poverty, underemployment, lack of social services and human rights atrocities pervade in our society. He will continue to be hounded by calls for justice and land distribution by farm workers of Hacienda Luisita that his family owns particularly the victims of massacre on November 16,2004. If changes have to happen, he has to root out the causes of poverty, abandon policies that engender foreign indebtedness and dependence that can go well along with combating corruption which has been the core platform of his campaign. But most of all he will be met by calls to deliver his promise to prosecute Mrs. Arroyo and who was elected as congresswoman for the numerous human rights violations and plunder that

For more than 38 million workers, jobs security, decent living and respect for democratic and union rights will be expected to be a core objective of any employment and anti-poverty scheme of the new government. It will be a test how the new administration will handle the neo-liberal policies implemented by the past administration which saw the destruction of regular jobs in favour of temporary, and contractual labor both local and overseas; the bankruptcies of local industries to pave the way for stronger and more competitive multinational corporations; and the privatization of basic services, water, electricity and health that undermines rights and welfare of the working population.

In the immediate sense, the workers’ clamor for national wage hike of P125 that has been refused for more than a decade will add to the many barometers that measure his administration. The trade union movement and labour rights organizations will push for the implementation of the ILO recommendations on strengthening the rights to freedom of association and review of existing laws to comply with the international standards, so as to avoid if not end the violations of workers rights. This includes the Assumption of Jurisdiction (AJ) power of the Labour Secretary, a power that was used in the Luisita strike in 2004.

President-elect Aquino has reiterated reforms in the judicial system as a top priority and for workers and human rights organizations, this includes the hopes that criminal charges filed against activists will be dropped immediately, those detained will be released unconditionally. In addition, the new administration will be pressed to do away with Arroyo government policy and practice of prostituting the judicial process to silence political critics and opponents. Above all, the new administration will be pressured to end the extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances of activists particularly those aligned to the left, indemnify the victims and prosecute the perpetrators, in order to redeem the country’s image in the international community.

Genuine Change and Democracy

The challenges and need for change are strong and clear, The Filipino people are well aware of that and their overwhelming participation in the recent elections was a proof. The people will continue to watch, not passively but desperately for their role is not over in electing new leaders, but even bigger in making sure that those elected will not fail them. (Bulatlat.com)

 Save as PDF