Wednesday, January 03, 2007 Barrita: Polls By Eddie O. Barrita Small Bites
CONTROVERSIAL former Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Virgilio “Hello Garci” Garcillano is planning to run for a seat in Congress in this year’s elections.
Comelec, for lack of time, aborted its attempt to reform and modernize elections.
No poll automation, no computerized cheating.
But hope still springs eternal for 91 percent of Filipinos, a Social Weather Stations survey showed.
We can still have fraud-free polls through a value-formation drive.
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Young first-time registrants braved rains and long lines Saturday at the Cebu City Comelec office to beat the voters’ registration deadline.
I hope this is a sign they are interested in the elections.
And like Slay Budiongan, they also think “the vote of the youth can make a difference.”
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Cebu City Councilor Edgardo Labella said our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, has proven that the pen is indeed mightier than the sword because his books spurred the nation to aspire for freedom.
Yes, even a new English translation of Rizal’s “Noli Me Tangere” is set for worldwide release by Penguin Books, one of the major publishing houses of the English-speaking world.
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Labella’s colleague in the Council, Arsenio Pacana, asked: “How many Jose Rizals are alive today?”
They’re quite many and they’re out of the country working in places both hostile and friendly and earning dollars to shore up the economy.
