Filipinos vote - without much
hope By Anna Martelino
MANILA
- The voting for president and vice president of the
Philippines ended on Monday, but not too many Filipinos
believe that their ballots can, or will, send the
country on a new, more hopeful beginning. Some voters
said they went to the polling booths thinking about
which of the five presidential candidates would do the
least damage to the country, rather than who would be
best for its 80 million people.
"More than
before, I scrutinized my list of candidates this time.
It was sad, but I chose less for the person I believed
in, but against the person I didn't want to win," Hans
Moran, a teacher and member of the De La Salle religious
congregation, said after voting on Monday.
The
mood of skepticism in this Southeast Asian country well
known for its raucous, colorful politics - the election
featured a motley mix of candidates for more than 17,000
positions - was also reflected in remarks by
commentators, analysts and media.
"Do not go out
and vote if you think the elections are already over,"
wrote Conrado de Quiros in the English-language
Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper, referring to media
reports and surveys showing that the presidential race
had narrowed down to incumbent President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo and actor Fernando Poe Jr.
These polls reported that Arroyo was likely to
win about 37 percent of the vote, versus Poe's 30-31
percent.
"If you think your vote is wasted on
the good and decent because he or she has 'no chance to
win', then don't vote at all," de Quiros urged.
"To vote is a duty to vote as best you can, it
is not an obligation to vote as worst as you can," he
argued. "The only vote that is wasted is the one you
throw at the feet of the undeserving because he or she
'will win anyway'. The undeserving will win, but you
won't."
But for many of the more than 43 million
eligible voters, their choices narrowed down to Arroyo
and Poe as the candidates with the only real chances of
winning.
The estimated voter turnout on Monday
was 75 percent, according to Commission on Elections
official Rex Borra. Likewise, some 65 percent of more
than 300,000 overseas Filipinos who had registered to
vote were estimated to have cast their ballots,
officials said.
With talk that one presidential
candidate, Raul Roco, has cancer and amid wariness by
voters in this majority Catholic country about a
Christian evangelist candidate, Eddie Villanueva, who
does not subscribe to their traditional views, there was
a realignment of support in the final weeks leading to
the end of the 90-day campaign period on Saturday.
In an interview, Rafael Lopa, president of the
independent Pulse Asia polling group, said many
supporters of Roco - whom many progressives had backed -
shifted to Arroyo on the eve of Monday's vote, thinking
that he would not win anyway. Previously, support for
Roco had been eating into Arroyo's bid.
Likewise, a fifth candidate, senator and
ex-police chief Panfilo Lacson, had been taking
supporters away from Poe.
Efforts to get the
opposition candidates to agree on a common candidate
were futile, bolstering Arroyo's chances. "It's the
opposition who suffers from there being too many
candidates" in the race, Lopa explained.
The
narrowing of choices to Arroyo or Poe took the
enthusiasm out of voters, who say they are tired out by
the din and promises made by candidates - and what actor
or political figure backed them - rather than real
platforms.
"With so many movie stars around, it
was more of a personality and image election than one on
real platforms for the good of the country," Moran said,
looking back at the poll campaign.
He was
referring to how candidates arranged appearances with
actors and actresses - many of whom themselves ran for
seats in the Senate and House of Representatives as well
as local posts - toward the end of the campaign.
Arroyo herself got endorsements from comedians
and actors, including talk-show host Kris Aquino,
daughter of former president Corazon Aquino.
Other actors joined the camp of Poe, who was
backed by impeached ex-president Joseph Estrada and the
popular comedian Dolphy, known as the "king of
Philippine comedy".
Arroyo's record as president
since 2001, when she took over after the ouster of her
predecessor Joseph Estrada on corruption charges, has
been widely been perceived as lackluster.
Apart
from the fact that she suffers from the lack of an
elected mandate, the Philippines' poverty incidence
remains at more than 30 percent.
But at least,
according to business people, the business sector "knows
how to deal with" Arroyo and would rather not introduce
an unknown factor like Poe, a high-school dropout with
no political experience.
"This election is
special because of the rivalry between GMA and FPJ,"
Paolo Mercado, a first-time voter said, using Arroyo's
and Poe's initials respectively. "I can't believe that
even after Estrada, people would still consider a
candidate like Poe."
But the choices are not
really much, even between the two, according to Senator
Joker Arroyo, who called the options for Monday's vote a
choice between "a corrupt and a stupid candidate",
referring to Arroyo and Poe respectively.
Meanwhile, the poll booths, many of them
littered with sample ballots outside, closed down as of
Monday afternoon.
After an eventful campaign,
Filipinos are bracing themselves for an equally bruising
counting period - traditionally marked by hostility,
charges of cheating and probably, deaths.
The
canvassing of votes, a laborious process that involves
the use of public schoolteachers who mark votes by hand
on blackboards or paper, is expected to take weeks, if
not months.
Meanwhile, "few Filipinos are
expecting dramatic changes in their lives, no matter who
wins in today's elections", said the Monday editorial of
the Philippine Star newspaper.
Asked what
difference the poll - the third since democracy returned
to this country after the 1986 popular uprising - would
make, Maya Bernardo, a professor at De La Salle
University, said: "It's up to you. Elections merely
mirror a unique version of our democracy."
