Think Bits
It is imperative that this year’s elections be kept honest and transparent especially after some quarters still believe to this day that there was cheating in the 2010 automated elections that elevated then senator Benigno Aquino III to the presidency.
The elections this May is still automated and these same people are still fearful that cheating may happen again with the choice of Smartmatic as the supplier of the automated vote-counting machines.
Senatorial bet Richard “Dick” Gordon asked the Supreme Court to order the Comelec to require Smartmatic to issue receipts that will confirm that a voter has cast his or her vote so people will know who he/she voted for.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is against it because of some reasons one of which is that it will encourage vote buying. The issuance of receipts will also take more time, the Comelec said.
But the Comelec will issue receipts to overseas voters. I think the issuance of the receipt is very important to ensure clean and honest elections because our people will know if their vote is cast in the ballot.
No matter the reason Comelec issues, it cannot outweigh the importance of the right of every voter to know if the vote that he or she cast is reflected in his or her ballot.
I am hoping the Supreme court would highlight and address this issue and order the Comelec to come up with ways to ensure clean and honest elections.
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Clean and honest elections lie at the core of our democracy in which the government has the consent of the governed or its constituents.
A democracy is defined as a government of the people, by the people and for the people. Clean and honest elections make it possible for people to choose their leaders without fear or favor.
Clean and honest elections sustain our democracy. But it is also important to know how people value this democracy. Our leaders were allowed to get away with abuses and this causes an erosion of that democracy and its institutions.
That’s why the Marcos dictatorship thrived as it did all those years ago. People should be vigilant to protect, preserve and sustain democracy for the slightest sign of complacency will be taken advantage of by those in power for their own ends.
In the case of the Aquino administration, the people were just too trusting that we just woke up one day to a Supreme Court ruling declaring the pork barrel as unconstitutional.
Apparently there are some administration officials that have unliquidated cash advances and the administration has not done anything about it.
It appears that the Aquino administration has turned a blind eye on some government officials who have failed to deliver in areas like traffic. People were waiting on government to solve these problems but were dismayed to see that it worsened.
Contrary to Mr. Aquino’s “Daang Matuwid (straight path),” our democracy didn’t rectify the abuses committed by this administration. The Ombudsman had been aggressive against the administration’s enemies but soft on its allies.
It seems the principle of accountability is not working well enough to prevent the officials of this administration from abusing their offices.
There are a few quarters who are raising the alarm that some administration officials are not being held accountable to the people.