34 days to E-Day: Hotspots for foreign observers

On Tuesday, with 34 days left before the May 14 elections, Press Secretary Igancio Bunye said Malacañang welcomes foreign observers to monitor the exercise because the Arroyo administration has nothing to hide. According to earlier reports, the European Union (EU) is now picking out the provinces where it will send its observers. "The Philippines is an open book as far as the conduct of our democratic processes is concerned, and we welcome all well-meaning and properly accredited observers in all stages of the electoral proceedings," Bunye said. "Historically, we have had our share of election violence and isolated incidents of fraud, but this nation has always come out stronger from any electoral exercise in terms of political stability and security," Bunye said. Foreign observers would probably wonder if Filipinos have made such "isolated incidents" part of its electoral tradition, much like self-flagellation and voluntary crucifixion have been yearly Lenten spectacles for about two centuries. Interesting hotspots The EU would probably find it interesting to visit the following hotspots, where certain people just couldn't hide their violent tempers: How about Abra, which is already under control of the Commission of Elections (Comelec) because of election-related violence. Or Masbate, a province which the Philippine National Police (PNP) is also seeking to put under Comelec control because of its "worsening violence." Or Jose Abad Santos town in Davao del Sur, where the coordinator of mayoralty bet Jimmy Joyce, the incumbent vice mayor, was shot dead Monday morning. Or Puerto Princesa City in Palawan, where a witness to the recent killing of Comelec official Petronilo Amorin Jr. claims to have been getting death threats, after he pointed to a certain Police Office 1 Alfredo Carandang as the killer. Democracy on the Net In fairness, rational, if loudly-conducted, discourse still rules, and it has even gone high tech, with the administration's Team Unity and the Genunine Opposition each having their websites — www.teamunity.ph and www.genuineopposition.com. And other candidates also maintain their own web sites, including blogs or even Friendster accounts. Among these Net-savvy bets are Antonio Trillanes IV, Francis "Chiz" Escudero, Loren Legarda, Nikki Coseteng, Francis Pangilinan. Observers, both foreign and local, may find their sites of interest. According to Internet usage statistics, more than seven million Filipinos go online regulary and about five million have Friendster accounts. Candidates are well-aware that their sites could also reach Filipinos overseas who would be allowed to vote. Oral tradition Of course, the candidates have not junked the old-fashioned ways — fiery speeches onstage relieved by song and dance numbers by professional entertainers and press conferences, parts of which inevitably get printed or broadcast on radio or television. One heated dispute is between party-list group Akbayan and the Comelec, which are still arguing — in and out of court — whether some other party-list groups are fronts of the Arroyo administration or not. The Comelec refuses to give in to Akbayan demands to disclose the names of the nominees of the groups being questioned by Akbayan Rep. Etta Rosales. Last week, Comelec Commissioner Resurreccion Borra said the poll body has a resolution banning the disclosure of the names of the nominees. Rosales said the resolution violates the Constitution, particularly its provision for the disclosure of public documents. Akbayan said it would petition the Supreme Court next week to compel the Comelec to reveal the names. Latest Pulse survey Barely a week ago, a survey of the Social Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed that Filipionos favor more opposition candidates to win in the senatorial race. This week, another survey, by Pulse Asia, showed the same thing. In its April 2007 pre-election survey on Filipinos' senatorial preferences conducted April 3 to 5, Pulse Asia said 15 bets have a chance of winning, eight of them from the Genuine Opposition, five from the administration's Team Unity and two from the ranks of independent bets. The survey also showed Filipinos will likely name eight to nine out of a maximum of 12 of their candidates to the Philippine Senate. On the other hand, it said 5.9 percent of Filipinos refuse to identify their senatorial bets at this time or do not express support for any of the 37 candidates running for senator. "If the May 2007 elections were held today, 15 senatorial candidates would have a statistical chance of winning. Eight of these probable winners belong to the 'Genuine Opposition,' five come from 'Team Unity,' and two are independent candidates," the survey results said. Pulse Asia's results affirmed the SWS survey, which showed that opposition bets are favored in the Senate. Presidential political adviser Gabriel Claudio scored the SWS survey as "misleading." Still leading the race is former Sen. Loren Legarda with an overall voter preference of 60.8 percent and a statistical ranking of solo first place. At second is Senate President Manuel Villar, Jr (48.9 percent) who currently shares a statistical ranking of second to fourt places with House Minority Leader Francis Escudero (45.3 percent) and Sen. Francis Pangilinan (44.6 percent). Following them are Senators Panfilo Lacson (43.1 percent) and Ralph Recto (41.5 percent) in the third to sixth places. Sen. Edgardo Angara (35.5 percent) ranked 7th to 11th places while Tarlac Rep. Benigno Aquino III (33.5 percent) and Pateros-Taguig Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano (32.5 percent) share the seventh to the 13th slots. Rounding out the list of probable winners are Sen. Joker Arroyo (31.6 percent) and former senator Vicente Sotto III (31.5 percent) in 7th to 15th places; former Sen. Gregorio Honasan (30.5 percent); and Sonia Roco (30.5 percent) in 8th to 15th places. Bukidnon Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri (27.9 percent) and Aquilino Pimentel III (27.6 percent) were in 10th to 18th places. - GMANews.TV