HERE'S an excerpt from the article written by Kate Pedroso of
Inquirer Research based on the results of the Social Weather Systems survey.
MANILA, Philippines -- Most of the voters who were aware of electio n observers for Mondayâs polls prefer that the observers be Filipino, while a f ourth prefer that they be both Filipino and foreign, according to a Social Weat her Stations survey conducted last month. One in every five Filipino voters (21 percent) have âheard or read of May 2007 election observers,â the SWS survey conducted from April 14 to 17 showed. Of th is number, 67 percent preferred Filipino observers, 24 percent preferred both F ilipino and foreign observers, while 8 percent preferred foreign observers. Awareness about election observers was higher in Mindanao (27 percent), among m embers of classes ABC (30 percent) and among college graduates (28 percent).
First of all, what's so alarming about international observers flying over to t
he Philippines to "observe" how we exercise our right to choose is that we Fili
pinos don't even give a damn about election abroad or how they do it, then they
came bragging about how ill and dirty the Philippine election is, man, it is s
o sad that it is really true our country is plagued by a culture of corruption.
Whether we like it or not, it is down to the grassroots level unless we have t
o start completely overhaul the electoral process not only that, this includes
the character within most of us.
Think of this, it is difficult to change the culture if the culture itself is r
otten.
Here in Northern Mindanao for example, majority if not all candidates running f
or provincial and local positions gave money 2 nights before election day. Bank
s, gasoline stations and big stores ran out of bills like 500, 100, 50, 20 to b
e given out to candidates' leaders who will dispense to their respective areas.
These actions made tremendous effect to losing candidates down here blaming th
eir own leaders for not dispensing their "gifts" a night before election day, r
esulting to their supporters' no vote.
These practices happened during the observers' visit, no wonder it is a pity, e
veryone cheated everyone I tell you. No one is trustworthy this days - sayang.
Go figure...
There is no denying that there were election anomalies that occurred in some
part of the country but to generalized the whole election and to compare our el
ection process worse than in afghanistan is not objective and unfair to us,we f
ilipinos are open minded people but we should know an insult when we see,read o
r hear one.Dahil ba magulo sa Basilan or Tawi Tawi magulo na rin sa buong Pilip
inas?Have some Pride and be Proud, the rest of the world have one.