Elections turn away foreign investors - ROSES AND THORNS by Alejandro R. Roces

After admitting the delayed count of the senatorial race results, Commissioner Resurreccion Borra reportedly appealed to media "not to picture a gloomy future" for the economy so as not to drive foreign investors away. To begin with, our gloomy economic situation existed long before the elections and, according to responsible officials in the administration, will remain with us for several years.

Long before the elections, the problem was not our failure to attract new foreign investors, it was preventing foreign investors from closing shop and moving out of the country. That is a fact that media cannot change.

Admittedly, the way the last elections were conducted cannot inspire confidence here or abroad. First and foremost was the great number of casualties directly caused by the elections. The only good thing was that Operation Noel did not materialize. The elections went through as scheduled. But the hope for an honest, orderly and peaceful elections also did not fully materialize. The biggest disaster was Comelec itself. A foreign country held an election the very same day we did. The results were announced the following day. We are still canvassing the votes. Vote-buying is an old problem. But this is the first time we have heard of a new type of vote-buying. The old practice was to pay voters to vote for a candidate. Now, it seems that some candidates were content to pay voters just for not voting, meaning just not voting for their opponent.

Commissioner Borra was also quoted as saying that both sides are cheating. In short, there is dagdag-bawas going on both ways. The important thing here is not that there is cheating by both sides, but the fact that this type of cheating cannot happen without the knowledge and connivance of the Comelec.

A Filipino "first" is the fact that only in the Philippines are jailed convicts allowed to run and serve in public office. Zamboanga del Norte Congressman Romeo Jalosjos, who is serving a prison term in the state penitentiary for raping a minor, won a landslide victory for a third consecutive term in the House of Representatives. How can he serve his constituents when he cannot attend the sessions? This is the only country where convicts participate in enacting laws. Was the Comelec abiding by our laws when it allowed the candidacy of Jalosjos? We were always under the impression that only persons of sound moral characters were allowed to run for public office or serve the government.

If you were a foreign investor, would you invest in this country?