Still on the elections

Still on the elections...It's been a month since we trooped to the polling precincts and still we don't know the winner. It's a sad testament to our ability to conduct honest elections, a gauge of mature democracy. The on-going COngressional canvass can be facilitated by the opposition stipulating to the authencity of all the COCs, except the 25 or so that they will contest. The majority should in turn allow the minority to open the 25 COCs' ERs and SOVs as they wish. This is all possible within the law and the adopted rules. If the majority is sure that they didn't manipulate the COCs then a respectable accounting firm can easily tally the ERs and the results should match the COCs. This is still doable within the June 30 deadline. The minority then should accept the results and life goes on. The majority's reluctance to even summon the SOVs and ERs, which should be there in the ballot boxes in the first place, gives the opposition a chance to cast doubts on the whole process. In the silly proceedings, it indeed seems that GMA and her lackeys are hiding something.

A pleasant surprise

It's a pleasant surprise that our economy grew more than expected. Analysts predicted a growth of above 4% but the economy actually grew by 6.2%. Government says the growth is fueled by increase in personal consumption expenditure brought by pre-election spending. Fine, understandable. Government-side spending for the election hasn't factored in yet in this growth. In fact, government spending growed slower in the first quarter. So it's not true that GMA spent a lot for the human billboards that disappeared right on the day after the election. The overly advertised government programs that GMA bandied about did not contribute significantly to this GDP growth, government says so. The government acknowledged, though, that the increase in government spending was for the printing of election paraphernalia and contractual services (and maybe the botched computerization). Moreover, centrifugal sugar exports grew by 60% this quarter. Last year, we actually filled our quota. With this growth in sugar export, we may have filled our quota this early. The traditional top export earners actually didn't post growth this time. Manufacturing is down. Our ability to sustain this growth(?) is doubtful.

The opposition says GMA spent a lot of government money for this election. The government, through its data, says it isn't so. Economic planners shoudn't be exactly happy with this growth. If government will not admit spending much during the first half of the year, it will be very hard to show that GDP will grow significantly by the 3rd quarter and by year-end. We have milked the data dry to show that GDP increased but not because of government spending.

Dagdag-bawas

Prof. Ben Lim wrote: "The SWS exit poll showed that 31.4% of NCR voters voted for GMA while only 22.9% voted for FPJ. GMA appears to be 4.4% ahead of FPJ. But NCR COCs showed that FPJ garnered 35.9% while GMA garnered only 27.3% or FPJ is 8.6% ahead of GMA. In Region XII the SWS exit poll showed that GMA garnered 45.8% while FPJ only 36.9%. But Region XII COCs showed GMA to have garnered only 25.4% while FPJ received a massive 44.7%. FPJ is 19.3 percent ahead."

Wow, does KNP's own quick count show the same pattern? Why does the press praise SWS quick count given these discrepancies?

The Today editorial hit it right again. The votes of those who conceded this early is prey for dagdag-bawas. It's Roco's right to concede, but he and everybody else should watch his votes and make sure it's not added to whom he has conceded.

My vote goes to ...

On Monday, we’ll have the chance to elect a new president. I’m sure most Filipinos are not satisfied with GMA. Who is, anyway? Jose Pidal fans and cohorts, maybe. But it may be that many Filipinos are afraid of change, preferring what they think is lesser evil. To them I say let’s not forget the time when we wanted the untested Cory over Marcos. We are in similar straits now. We have to change GMA. We must all vote solidly for her nearest rival. We should not split and waste our votes.

My senators are the following:
1. Heherson Alvarez. Tops the list because of his principled independent stand after being dumped by his party.
2. Bong Coo. On the list because of the maltreatment she got from the Comelec and the other Bong.
3. Nene Pimentel. This guy should always be on the Senate.
4. Enrile. Let him do his thing on the PPA.
5. Padilla. For sticking by Ping through thick and thin.
6. Jamby Madrigal. She spent a lot for 2 elections. Maybe she’s got what it takes to be a senator.
7. Gordon.
8. Chavez. We all could use his legal mind in the Senate
9. Yasay.
10. Flavier. He’s not a candidate now, but whenever I hear his pitch for Jawo, it’s Flavier's Senate record that I remember.

A welcome respite

The Holy Week is indeed a welcome respite. The air is less polluted and the surroundings is less noisy because of the less traffic. We have less bad news and that's good news. Even the criminals rest, I suppose. But I fear this rest only winds the spring. By Easter Sunday, the bad news would uncoil. We'd have the candidates again foisting themselves on us. GMA would be refreshed and be at it again. I expect her to proclaim the MRT-2 to be her gift to the Filipino people, ala Erap. I hope she realizes that the only gift that matters is if she's out of Malacanang by July. Can't we have a Holy Week at least every quarter?!