Voters registrationLawyer Harry Roque tried last Wednesday to withdraw P100,000 to pay the tuition fees of his children and was told that he couldn’t because of the stupid Comelec Resolution 9688 which prohibits “the withdrawal of cash, encashment of checks and conversion of any monetary instrument into cash from May 8 to 13, 2013 exceeeding P100,000 or its equivalent in any foreign currency.”
Comelec Commissioner Sixto Brillantes, Jr. said Resolution 9688 was to prevent vote buying and vote selling which have intensified with the computerization of the elections. He said they released it only Tuesday “so that no one would know about it.. because if they know about it, everyone would withdraw.”
Brillantes, who was a much sought-after election lawyer (President Aquino and former Maguindanao Governer Andal Ampatuan Sr., were his clients) before he joined his elections must be joking. Or could it be that he precisely knew that by now the silly money ban is useless.
By Lucille Sodipe, VERA Files CEBU City–Just like any brand of shampoo, diaper, energy drink or deodorant, candidates need to be properly ‘packaged’ to become…
Grace Poe: lessons from 2004 elections should be used for lasting electoral reforms.It’s good that Grace Poe, daughter of the late Fernando Poe, Jr and Susan Roces, brought up the issue of cheating during the 2004 elections in Cebu in the meeting of Team PNoy in that province last Wednesday.
The people should be reminded of that again and again because no one has been punished for that crime against the Filipino electorate.
Gloria Arroyo is out on bail for the crime of electoral fraud but it’s in connection with the 2007 elections, when she was not a candidate. That case is so weak, it would not be a surprise if Arroyo gets acquitted in that case.
Arroyo cheated big time in 2004 but the crime of electoral fraud was enacted only in 2007. She can be charged with the lesser crime (it’s bailable) graft but even that, it has not been done.
Poe, who is a senatorial candidate, said “This is the reason I didn’t stand on another stage in Cebu City, because it still hurts,” referring most probably to Cebu Governor Gwen Garcia and the rest of the Garcia political clan who were die-hard supporters of Gloria Arroyo.
The Cebuanos took pride in 2004 that they gave Arroyo over one million lead over FPJ which defied logic and normal practice.
Photos and video by Mario Ignacio and Mario Espinosa
More important than winning the election, candidates should make sure they are able to survive the grueling 90-day campaign.
The same reminder applies to the staff of political parties and members of media who are covering the campaign.
An election campaign is exciting and exhausting. Candidates try to maximize their provincial trips by meeting as many groups as they can squeeze in their waking hours. Rallies last up to midnight even early morning.The next day, members of the campaign caravan rush to the airport for the next destination.
Almost always after election, many of those involved in the campaign end up overweight due to irregular and unhealthy meals and lack of exercise.
