The terror

Automated voting bulldozed to obsolescence the old days of uncertainty over election outcomes. I was weaned on manual ballot counting (1978 to 2007) that started in the night and extended up until the break of day. Only then would ballot boxes from the several polling places begin the  trek to the city or municipal halls doubling as canvassing centers. For sheer drama, nothing beats the march of the ballots accompanied by town folk in the dead of night. Flashlights, lanterns, torches would light the way and deter malevolent designs on the yellow boxes containing the vote. They were, literally, treasure chests of democracy. Once there, canvassing and tabulations would add at least two extra days to your torture. 

There is a minority that prefers that tension filled experience. To them, those were the good old days. Part of its allure was precisely the uncertainty. In theory, the candidate should immediately have the results. Specially if from any of the major political parties with access to official copies of election returns. But, from experience, even if you were with the dominant political party, it was never a sure thing that all copies of election returns be completely retrieved.  Blame the human factor. There would be precinct watchers, the primary means to retrieve these copies, who would simply drop the ball. How then to have a complete picture of the results?

If contests were particularly heated, you may never even know who won until the last election return was tabulated. And as all this was going on, inside the precincts and the canvassing arenas you’d witness the several skirmishes between watchers, lawyers on every conceivable cassus belli. At the classroom, it was the challenges to flying voters prior to casting the ballots. During the counting, you had the rules on appreciation of written ballots. At tabulation, how often would you find a 10 suddenly becoming 100 or even 1000 by the stroke of an unguarded pen? If lucky, you’d have a sighting of top election practitioners Brillantes, Macalintal, Quadra, Agra, De Lima. 

Toxic, quixotic. This was the terror of the long wait. To learn your fate. And then there is the other kind. The terror of deep doubt. Post victory. The what now? Again, we recall Dolphy’s famous lament: madaling tumakbo, paano kung manalo? What if I win? 

No winner should be clueless on next steps. After all, candidates have their platforms of government. No one accepts the challenge to serve against his will. Even those who ride to power on the shoulders of the people’s prodding are the ones who file their certificates of candidacy themselves. 

Bato de la Rosa is unique in this regard in having no idea about what the job entails? His facetious “self deprecating” comments may have simply been an attempt to joke about his impending win. At worst, nerves were behind this incredibly insensitive crack. In diminishing the stature of a Senate seat by implying his failure to prepare for its demands, Senator de la Rosa betrays a lack of appreciation for the magnitude of his new role. We wish he were truly just being humble and serious in his attempt to learn the ropes. For if it weren’t the case, then he shall have just insulted his several companions and the great men and women of past Senates who prepared appropriately for the grand opportunity to serve. 

We also hope that this lack of foresight will not attend every situation wherein the Senator confronts the momentous issues coming before his chamber. The last thing we need is someone who we entrusted with 19 million votes just to be flippant about the responsibility and who will wing it for the 6 years that he has boxed out other more “prepared” candidates. Senator de la Rosa, we gave you what you asked for. You wanted to serve us. So please deserve us. 

King David. Speaking of terror, who more than Pasig Mayor elect Vico Sotto would be justified in feeling that? It wasn’t just an ordinary Goliath he felled last May 13. And events have shown that the army left behind does not intend to go quietly into the night. In short, the victory at the polls is just the start of a bigger war. 

But this young David continues to amaze. He is undaunted. We like the way he has declared immediate plans for his city. Pasig should applaud how he has been conciliatory and magnanimous from the beginning. This is a stark contrast to the first and largest of the many landmines left by his predecessor: a seemingly uncooperative bureaucracy all appointed by and loyal to the family he toppled. They were in power for the past 27 years. 

We hope Mayor Vico finds good people to back him up because, right now, what he needs most is a management team aligned to his own vision for the City. How does a first term young City Councilor take over the reins of a metropolis with an annual budget of almost P11 billion? It would be like watching Julius Caesar knowingly walk into a lair of robed assassins daily. All the nation’s eyes are on him and all our hopes are behind him. 

Tidbits. The University of the Philippines National College of Public Administration and Governance (NCPAG) once again opens its boot camp for newly elected officials thru its Center for Policy and Executive Development and Center for Local and Regional Governance. The programs were a box office hit with the cinderellas of 2016. This laudable effort is in line with the NCPAG’s mandate to develop leaders and change agents and promote good governance.