Campaign Day 43: Peace, honesty still top voters' concerns

By Tuesday, Campaign Day 43, candidates have spent millions in their bid to win in the May 14 elections, while public officials and civic groups have spent millions more to make sure these candidates win in a peaceful and honest exercise of democracy. The Philippine National Police chief, Director General Oscar Calderon, vowed to make this happen, saying: "My fearless forecast is that the May 2007 elections will be regarded in history as the cleanest and most orderly polls the country ever had in recent years." Unofficials quick-counters Just to ensure honesty, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines also vowed to conduct its own quick count, even without accreditation of the Commission on Elections (Comelec). The Comelec pointed out that it had already allowed the National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) to be the official quick-count body. Another quick-count body may come up with different results that would only confuse the public. But Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. assured the CBCP’s National Secretariat for Social Action Justice and Peace (NASSA) that it could go on with its own counting, saying: "NASSA can still conduct a quick count because CBCP’s Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez is co-chairman of the Namfrel." Trying to restore credibility Still working under the shadow of the "Hello Garci" scandal, the Comelec did a few other things to assure a skeptical voting public of honest elections: • It disqualified Joselito "Peter" Cayetano of the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) as a nuisance candidate, which had been the complaint of Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano, who's running for senator. • It reshuffled assignments of its commissioners to stop speculation that certain Comelec officials could have undue influence on certainr regions. • It reminded government offices that starting March 30 they should stop hiring and giving promotions and pay increases; stop the construction of public works and the release of funds for such works. On a more personal level, Abalos did two things: • Vowed to keep his distance from his brother Arsenio's candidacy as party-list representative of Biyaheng Pinoy. • Gave up his being commissioner-in-charge of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, with this explanation to reporters: “To allay the fears and suspicions of other people that Comelec is going to cheat because of my being in charge in ARMM we have decided to divide Mindanao into three." Abalos is also acting governor of Abra, which was placed under Comelec control last month following rising violence in the province. Voters' preferences Voters themselves are aiming for honesty, not only in what happens during the elections, but what happens after. Trying to veer away from traditional politicians, voters in Guagua, Pampanga, for instance, have been urging their parish priest, Fr. Ed Panlilio, to run for governor. And some really nontraditional politicians are offering themselves for public service: • In Argao, Cebu, an alleged New People's Army member, Jigger Geverola, is running for councilor. • In Laguna, actress Angelica Jones, who gained popularity for being a sexy comedianne who speaks broken English, is running for provincial board member. But voters in other areas prefer to bring back into office old familiar faces, like those who trooped to the house of former first lady Imelda Marcos to urge her to run for Manila mayor. More concerns Despite government efforts to ensure the public of peaceful and honesty elections, some concerns continue to bother certain groups. One concern is the 1,000 reams of misprinted election returns. As of Tuesday, the Comelec officials still have not decided whether to destroy them or have them corrected. Some nongovernment groups like Gabriela fears that Filipino workers in Hong Kong may be disenfranchised. But the most pressing concerns are the elections hotspots, especially for those who happen to be residents of those spots. On Tuesday, for instance, a brother of a Lanao del Sur town mayor was shot dead while the mayor’s bodyguard was wounded in a shootout in Bacolod-Kalawi town in Lanao del Sur. In San Jacinto, Masbate, the town mayor requested additional police deployment in her town following the death of her aide in an ambush on Sunday. Masbate is among the provinces in the Bicol region identified as election hotspot. - GMANews.TV