Time for Duterte to give us a clean election

For our special presentation today, we bring you a very beautiful discussion of life, yesterday, today, and tomorrow here in our beloved Cebu. Our special guest is no other than Cebu’s great researcher, my co-author of “War in Cebu” Professor Jobers Bersales who will give us a great story of what he has learned through all the years about Cebu.

So watch the great Professor Jobers Bersales tonight on SkyCable’s channel 53 at 8 p.m. with replays on Wednesday and Saturday same time and channel. We also have replays on MyTV’s channel 30 at 9 p.m. Monday and at 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday.

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2019 undoubtedly will be a mid-term election year. So this early, no less than Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte belittled the front-runners of polls on senatorial bets as he made another pitch for his former officials who are not in the winning circle. Yes, if you read the Social Weather Station surveys, you will notice who are the most “votable” candidates for senator. I’m sure Pulse Asia surveys aren’t far away.

Duterte expressed shock over the names that topped the senatorial polls, saying the people chose them even if there are candidates who are knowledgeable and reliable. This, despite most of the survey front-runners being Duterte allies. He said: "I do not have to derogate others pero yung sa ano ngayon nangunguna sa survey, susmaryosep (the latest survey front-runners, oh my goodness)."

Duterte made this statement during the birthday party of former political affairs adviser Francis Tolentino in Tagaytay City last week.

Tolentino lost in the 2016 senatorial elections and is trying get elected to a Senate seat in the May polls. Indeed, the problem is that the Filipino voter is still the kind who would vote candidates based on their popularity, even if they have been controversial during their terms. This is why Senator Grace Poe and Cynthia Villar are the leaders in the senatorial race survey. The two topped the latest SWS survey on senatorial bets conducted from December 16 to 19 in 2018.

The other senatorial bets who made it to the top 12 were Rep. Pia Cayetano (Taguig), senators Sonny Angara and Nancy Binay, former senator Lito Lapid, Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, former senator Jinggoy Estrada, former interior secretary Mar Roxas, Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos and Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito. Only Mar Roxas is the lone Liberal Party member who made the top 12, proof that despite what the yellowtards have been doing, making bad reports about the Duterte administration, this backfired on the LP.

I’m one of the few columnists who have been critical of the survey networks, like Pulse Asia or SWS, asking them what kind of questions are they asking people. Also, what groups of people were surveyed. Yet despite my questions, I have never gotten any replies from the two survey organizations. In short, it is easy to have your name on top of the survey depending on the kind of deal that you have with the survey organization.

But if President Duterte is really pissed by these survey results or questions it he can ask Congress to come up with a law to prevent any surveys made six months before the elections. This is one way of stopping this kind of shenanigans. Mind you, we haven’t even talked about Smartmatic’s questionable coordination or cooperation with the Commission on Elections.

If President Duterte truly cares for what happens in the May elections, perhaps he should conduct a full-blown investigation on the attempt on the life of my good friend, former congressman Glenn Chon whose driver/bodyguard Richard Santillan was murdered last December. I dare you Mr. President to personally look at copies in the internet of how Chong exposed the anomalous relations between the Smartmatic and Comelec. I should tell you that after the May elections and you are disappointed by the results, it just might be too late for you to conduct an investigation. So it is better to do it now. So Mr. President, for the first time in Philippine history, let’s truly have a clean and honest elections under your watch! Mind you, this is the first election under the Duterte Presidency!

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.