I voted in the country's first ever automated elections yesterday, and true to its promise, the results are very fast especially in our town, 1.5 hours away from Cebu City. The winners haven't been proclaimed yet, but looking at the results, it's safe to say that my father failed to enter the top 8 for the councilor position. It's so sad to know that despite being the most qualified in terms of credentials and experience, he lost to the people who know nothing about being a councilor because of money. Yes, he was the only candidate who didn't have money when he announced his candidacy. He only had his complete plans and platforms, and his heart to serve the town where he grew up in. And because he didn't have money, he didn't have people working for him in putting up posters and tarpaulins and giving out flyers. He did everything all by himself, with my mom helping out with the flyers. I could have helped but I was here in the city working.
My dad was confident he would win because he worked hard most especially with his platforms. He made sure that he thought everything over and over and he included plans and platforms that are really doable and would benefit the people. He was already helping a lot of people ever since with different projects even if he was just a private citizen. He was looking forward to help a lot more once elected into the town council.
His plan failed because the other candidates, most candidates actually, gave out money to the town people, and the people, thinking that they owe those candidates much because they were given 20 or 50 Pesos, voted for those vote-buying candidates.
We were all very disappointed with the outcome since we expected him to win. It's a sad fact to know that the uneducated and the uninformed (or misinformed) still outnumber the educated ones in our town. The people, for a mere 20 Pesos or 50 Pesos, have sold their future, at least the next 3 years, to incompetent individuals. How do I know that they're incompetent? Well, almost all of them are re-electionists and have been in the town council for the past 3 or 6 years, and not a single law have been passed. How do you improve a town when its council members are either clipping their fingernails or playing with paper airplanes during the council sessions?! And now, they're given 3 more years to continue their worthlessness. I hope they cut their fingers and not just their fingernails!
In my previous blog entry, I talked about how sad I was with the election results in our town. Now, I am even more depressed that the most qualified candidate for President has conceded because of his poor standings in the total number of votes so far collected. I am in tears because we're losing our best chance of improving our country. I have carefully weighed everything a few months ago before choosing which Presidential candidate I will vote for, and I chose Gilbert Teodoro, Jr. because he simply outshone all the other candidates in terms of credentials and experience. As I've mentioned in my previous entry, the educated and the informed are still outnumbered in our country, and that's very disheartening.
