They don’t need lecturers, sermons or brochures on how to vote honestly.
They only need simple reminder and advice.
But the questions nowadays are:
Will their ballots be properly counted and honestly recorded?
Will there be overprinting of official ballots, with the excess distributed throughout the country just like in the 2004 polls?
Will there be a repetition of the reported stuffing by a task force of filled-up official ballots inside ballot boxes on the eve or early on Election Day in mountain barangays and in politically friendly urban centers nationwide?
Will Comelec pursue its reported plan to field soldiers supposedly to help its personnel carry ballot boxes during Election Day, particularly in poor provinces and in remote barrios in the country purportedly to deter harassment by the New People’s Army?
Safeguarding the integrity of the election processes is supposed to be the sacred function of the Comelec.
Of course, there are honest and good men in the Commission, but how honest and sincere are they when they are told by high officials what to do?
Are these so-called honest government men ready and willing to face the consequence of their defiance?
I don’t think so, considering the realities of our times.
There is really a general feeling of doubt, suspicion and skepticism from the public as to the credibility of this election.
Especially if the administration is once more given the chance to use the same technique it used in the 2004 elections, or even improve it.
Note that months before that election, Fernando Poe Jr., Loren Legarda and the other opposition senatorial bets were reportedly ahead in several surveys conducted.
Anyway, this election is considered crucial to President Arroyo.
It is possible then that she will do all she can to make the administration candidates win and ensure that she would be impeachment-free in the last years of her rule?
In this sense, it is imperative that our focus should not only be on voters but more so the Comelec, which counts, records and proclaims the winners.
We urge the Comelec to wake up to the reality and be counted as one of those who share the vision that this nation will become the best spot on earth to live in.
