WHEN I learned that Juan Miguel Zubiri got the twelfth spot in the senatorial elections, I was shocked.
Although I am here in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, I manage to sporadically watch the news from GMA Pinoy TV and read it on INQUIRER.net. I knew that a few weeks ago just after the elections, Comelec [Commission on Elections] Chairman Benjamin Abalos
said that they will declare a failure of elections in Maguindanao because of witnesses coming out and [talking about] instances of massive cheating in the area.
I don't know why the Comelec did continue counting the votes there which helped Zubiri win the last spot. Anyway it's all done, nothing for us to do in the meantime about the results of the elections.
I managed to watch a re-airing of Philippine Agenda, GMA 7's pre-election special series about the eight major problems in the Philippines that needs to be addressed by the candidates. The one I was able to watch was the one about health care. And for those who have seen it, you would understand my feeling of tremendous sadness and
despair.
A five-year-old kid who has the body of a nine-month-old infant. An old man suffering from daily fever because of anemia, a kid with scabies and a woman who died of tuberculosis in front of the camera.
Miguel Zubiri did say that he was very excited to go to work. Well, we Filipinos would like to know what he is planning to do about health care in Mindanao. Never mind that he's from there, but more importantly, it's the region where the Comelec said that he won.
Maybe he'll start doing something after the long vacation he and his wife are planning. I really hope that Miguel Zubiri knows what he needs to do. I know that a person named Musa Dimasidsing did know what to do. -- Roy Cruz, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (via e-mail)
