How was your election experience?
Mine was about long lines, excessive sweating, painful heat of the sun, and hunger. Yeah. That summarizes my experience. I am a first time voter and lucky me… it was also the country’s first automated elections. I already expected the election to be a bit chaotic. And it was. But compared to other regions of the Philippines where election violence is so vulgar and where PCOS machines completely failed, the election at out place was still relatively peaceful and successful.
What happens next after the election? We wait for the results. Results are pouring in faster than I expected. Hmm. I guess this is what makes the automated election different from manual election. Before, we wait for days, weeks and even a month before we reach millions. Now, it’s not even a whole day after May 10 but we already more than 15 million votes counted. The fast counting already gives us a glimpse of who’s going to be the next president. As much as I hate to admit it, it seems it’s really Noynoy-Binay for the win.
These past two days, I’ve learned quite a bit on how some Filipinos think. This ideology is the probably the most striking: We know which candidates are best qualified for the positions but since they have a small chance of winning, we don’t vote for them. For short: many Filipinos prefer the winnable over those who should really win.
With this kind of thinking, it isn’t surprising the winning president is the son of a former president. The winning senators are also those that have already spent a quarter of their lives on the senate. I won’t be surprised if the next line of presidents would only come from these clans: Arroyo, Aquino, Roxas… (insert political clans here). Like what I’ve said in a previous entry, I gave the automated elections a chance. I think it went well. But the Filipino people? The results? Bleh. I’m still seeing the same people who have already milked the Philippines. Where’s the change we are looking for?
It saddens me that my vote just went straight to the trash can. But the thought that I voted for people who I think best deserved the positions helps me believe that there is still a room for change in Philippine politics.
<—- edit—->
I just realized that I’ve never greeted my blog a happy birthday. My LJ’s birthday is on May 1, 2006 but my 1st blog was born on March 2004 Hmm. That mean’s I’ve been blogging for almost 6 years now. 🙂 Yay.
A Thoughtful Paper 