The pawprints are not of teachers; they're Comelec fieldmen's
Posted on May 16, 2007 - Filed Under General |
I HAVE always believed that all these election cheating particularly “dagdag-bawas’ or vote-shaving and switching of election results cannot be blamed on teachers, they who sacrifice a lot to keep the home fires of democracy burning in the countryside.
As the just-concluded elections last Monday showed, teachers are generally faithful to their sworn poll duties and responsibilities – as best exemplified by that lady schoolteacher in Batangas who was apparently burned to death, along with the schoolbuilding where the canvassing was going on, when she refused to be intimidated by some powerful candidates into doing their wishes.
Many similar, if somewhat muted, accounts of the ordinary teachers’ heroism at the polls, I’m sure, are still to be told but they all add up to this: It is most unfair to blame teachers for election regularities in a community.
Instead, the blame should be rightfully placed at the doorsteps of Elections Chairman Benjamin Abalos’ lieutenants and fieldmen – and never mind ‘Garci,” the Count who has all but been dismissed by the great electoral institution as having acted on his own without direction from higher-ups — who actually handle the delicate election returns and canvass reports and seals and can, with sufficient inclination, opportunity and pecuniary need, make wholesale mischief with the votes.
A local broadcast commentator, in mock expression of pity, said their (Comelec men’s) heavy workload, just like their bankbook balance surges, come only in cycles of three years that is, during election period. So who can blame them, if some in their ranks, are unable to resist the temptation to become high-earning magicians?
In Pangasinan alone, thanks to heightened citizen vigilance, some of these Comelec magicians are being unmasked. Ask the Soriano political clan of San Carlos City who, powerful and well-connected as they are, still have to confront the possibility of being cheated when victory is at hand.
Master manipulators in the shadows are moving heaven and earth (and vulnerable Comelec field personnel?) to overturn the true tale of the ballots showing a virtual victory, albeit slim, of their kin, former Customs deputy chief Gallant D. Soriano who has won the Third District congressional seat.
The question begs to be asked: If a clan as formidable as the Sorianos can ever be threatened with cheating in the election returns, how much more the ordinary candidate? Let's face it, Abalos' wards thru the years in election-crazy Philipines have mastered the capacity and skills to strike fear in the hearts of even the most powerful of public office-seekers.
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