27 days to E-Day: When a 'hero' becomes a sheepdog

“Babe" in the movie with the same title defied destiny by daring to be different. Babe was a piglet that acted like a sheepdog. On Tuesday, 27 days before the May 14 elections, boxing champ Manny Pacquiao acted like Babe, herding pro-Arroyo administration candidates around the streets of Manila. Pacquiao, wearing a red cap and a pink long-sleeved shirt, was welcomed with fireworks and confetti. Political campaign materials were also all over during the ticker tape parade. Even the boxer's float was plastered with campaign posters. With Pacquiao on the float were Manila mayoral candidate Arnold "Ali" Atienza and his running mate Don Bagatsing. Like Babe, Paquiao wanted to be different. He wanted to become the country’s first boxer-lawmaker. He even said that boxing is more difficult than lawmaking. "Tingin ko mas mahirap po ‘yung boxing," he said. Boxing requires training and discipline and a lot of painful punches, he said. Another Babe in Intramuros The Commission on Elections, too, seemed to have suffered an identity crisis. Like Babe, the poll body seems to be in a bind over another issue. Poll officials issued conflicting statements reacting to a Supreme Court decision declaring a faction of the Liberal Party lead by Senator Franklin Drilon as the legitimate Liberal Party. Despite the High Court’s decision, elections Commissioner Florentino Tuason said the candidates endorsed by the other LP faction lead by Manila Mayor Lito Atienza cannot be considered independents. “It’s the coalition that endorsed the candidacy of these candidates and not Atienza, therefore, they are not independent candidates," said Tuason. Commissioner Resurreccion Borra, however, disagreed with Tuason. He said with the Supreme Court ruling candidates under the Atienza wing can be declared independents. Elections officials also disagree with each other on the case of senatorial aspirant Theodore Aquino. Borra said Aquino is no longer a candidate because his name was removed from the Comelec list. Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr, however, said the poll body reinstated Aquino's name after he filed a motion for reconsideration. On the issue of misprinted election returns, Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said it would be “shredded and burned" while Abalos said the ERs will not be burned but the wrong labels will be corrected. OFW Babes Many overseas Filipino workers might have also felt like Babe after many of them failed to vote during the first three days of the absentee voting. Due to the low turnout, Tuason said the Comelec already set a lower turnout projection of overseas absentee voters from 2004’s 65 percent to 50 percent this year. Of the more than 10 million Filipinos living abroad, only about half a million registered as OAVs for the May elections. Tuason said OAVs seemed to be less enthusiastic this year compared to 2004 because the midterm elections is not as exciting as the presidential elections. As of 10:43 a.m. Tuesday, reports reaching the Comelec showed that only 2,829 OAVs cast their votes since polling precincts opened on April 14 in 156 countries. Hong Kong has registered the highest voter turn out of 911. In 2004, at least 4,000 OAVs voted in Hong Kong on the first day of balloting. - GMANews.TV