Getting shriller by the hour

JUDGING from the volume of trash that candidates to the upcoming national elections are putting up just about anywhere that they think would translate to mileage in their campaign, it looks like it’s the end of the race. One can almost see them clawing themselves through the crowd, desperately clutching on thin threads of hope that the electorate will notice them.

Again, some continue clowning around and pulling off their magic among crowds, the most “garapal” even went to the extent of campaigning inside a funeral parlor, unable to resist the sight of people gathered together, unmindful that these people are mourning and therefore must be respected! Really, the nerve…! Had a hard time quelling the urge to deliver an insult right smack to a local mayoralty bet that shook mourners’ hands inside one “punerarya.”

These are the kinds of candidates that should not be voted and should be condemned as nuisance. But knowing the kind of electoral system where the “haves” really get their way, ordinary folks can do nothing but ignore them.

Can’t we have an election without having to put up with all the blaring that assaults our senses and the faces of candidates with their “cat-smiles” on that gets irritating as these are pasted all over the place where ever one looks?

Usually, people know who among these candidates are making sense, and most of the time, the electorate are intelligent with their choices. But most of the time, after one slips the sacred ballot into the box, the electorate no longer have control over what happens to it.

The confidence that we put in our ballots as we mark the names of our choices are at the mercy of the people who are tasked to protect the sanctity of the ballots, and most often than not, these are clouded by our fear of irregularities that “naturally” occurs as a given.

Can we blame them if there is a certain sector among the electorate who goes out and vote but doubts if their choices are really counted? We have to accept the fact that more and more among the people are getting skeptical with the electoral system. I have been counting beyond my fingers electorates who would rather spend their time in the quite confines of their home than queue up in their voters’ precinct, and put up with the pestering heat of the noonday sun just to cast their votes, which they suspect will not be counted anyway.

There is no telling at all how or when our elections will be completely free from irregularities, if at all it is still possible. We can only pray and continue to be vigilant, though at the back of our heads, a persistent voice keeps telling to be more than vigilant.

But how do we guard the counting at the helm, when all votes are supposed to be counted in the machines? How do we guard against the people who could either add just one little zero digit or subtract another zero which could already make a thousand times of difference?

That is the biggest problem indeed.