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The Commission on Elections- an experience of a lifetime

December 21st, 2006 by kurt-jumpman23

*10PM- December 20,Wednesday. I had decided to go out with a couple of barkadas to have some fun in our city. We went to a Bar, drank stallions of Redhorse,ate pinoy balot, and took a joy ride around the city.

*3AM- December21,Thursday. My friends chilled off. Chokchok and I went to the Commission on Elections Office in our city to complete our registration as qualified voters for the upcoming elections.

Hey! This is my fourth time in the office for this damn registration! My first was on Nov.6, but I only filled up and submitted the form to the officer. Last monday, Dec.18, I arrived at the office again. I came this late because at the time I decided to register, the office ran out of priority numbers and I was also about to leave for Cebu for the second semester.I arrived at 8:30 AM when the office was about to open at 8:00AM.

too late! There were hundreds of applicants from different barrios, different municapilities that were already there lining up. It was said that some of them were there from 12 midnight! What the fuck! Not of all of these people are first time voters like me, most of them are applying for transfer of voting venue! I bet my cellphone that most of these people were "ordered" by powerful, manipulative local officials that they belong, to transfer of voting venue for them to vote a certain official here in Butuan City, particularly the Mayoral and Congressional candidates. It is very obvious! It’s not that I’m discriminating social classes here. But politics is just way too much dirty. People sleep beside the office just to have a priority number for the pictorial! Mothers are having infants put in a cloth-built "duyan"  and unfortunately, I have witnessed one who fell off ! Luckily it wasn’t that highand the baby was okay.

While the priority numbers are only given to earlier applicants, it’s a bit exhaustive. The office could only accomodate 250 applicants at most per day. I didn’t get the magic circle. So i went home. The next day, I went earlier at 6AM with my aunt. Still, we ran out of priority numbers.

Today was my lucky day. I lined up at 3am, then i finished at 3pm! What a 12 hour process just to have your picture and thumbmarks taken in the office!

HERE ARE MY CONCERNS:

The COMELEC office here in Butuan City is the only legitimate office for these kinds of transactions and is very very small!!!!!!!!!

It needs to have outlet offices considering the voting population of Butuan City. It shouldn’t be focused on just one venue. Big Baranggays in the City should be included as additional venues.

The COMELEC office is not under control of local government of Butuan City. It is under the directions of the SUPREME COURT. I know that The Judiciary Branch in our country is not making that much money unlike the Executive Branches ( The Mayor’s office as an exemplar) and the Legislative Branches. But I know there’s budget set aside for this branch. The local government should have helped the COMELEC office on providing man power resources and digital resources! Atleast man lang magdonate. Ei, there’s only one office for the city, tens of thousands of voters, we only have ONE(damn!) computer for this fucking democratic process and a personnel that doesn’t get more than ten?! WHat the fuck!

* I really admired how the COMELEC personnel managed the crowd. I know that in their hearts, they really wish somebody could help them. I applaud them for their efforts! They should received a big salary for this month of December. They really get the job done despite being unmanned.

*I turned 18 last October. Being a qualified and registered voter is one of the first objectives I have accomplished regarding the processes I did for my self and for the government. I ready have my driver’s licence na pod. This the real world diay. How ugly. Yet, how challenging, how interesting. I really hope that vote is being counted as it should be counted.

* I really hope that the ‘transferring’ voters/applicants should not vote for the politicians that have ordered them to do such thing. When people arrive in the office after riding a big truck, there’s something hidden but already virtually exposed. They should vote for who they feel is the right person. But when livelihood is threatened by means of voting the evil candidate, they don’t really have a choice. I hope I could enlighten them, I hope I could help.

I really hope and pray that these evil and powerful politicians, in municipal/city and barangay levels should stop threatening the poor voters.

Don’t sell your vote. It’s much wiser to pretend that you sell your vote by taking the money and rewards, but vote who you fell is the most effective,righteous candidate that could lead one’s place to newer heights of success.

I’m out of here. This is like my 24 hour exam in Psych. Got to rest.

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Love of Country and Love of Family

December 15th, 2006 by kurt-jumpman23

Two loves. Sometimes conflicting, sometimes compromising.

Love of country. A great sense of nationalism and patriotism. In Philippine history, the highest peak of our love for our country was when Filipinos were united(mostly) during two extreme periods: the 1896 Philippine Revolution and the 1986 People Power Revolution.  90 years ? Right now, Filipinos are deeply divided though not really evident in just a wink of our eyes. Does this follow that Filipinos will be united again for her country on a year that ends on 6 as the last digit? Certainly not 2006. And I really hope it will not be later, but very soon. When a Filipino loves his country that much, a love so genuine and sincere, is a time of greatness and holiness. Exemplars, or should I say Prototypes, are Jose Rizal and Ninoy Aquino.But why do we love our country? Because we feel for our countrymen and our hardships, we identify and recognize all these events that shaped us.   

But Do we really love our country? At about what percent of the Filipino Population feel that they really love our country ?

Certainly, there are Filipino nationalists, who maintain the traditional interests. While there are Modernists, who want to ride the globalization phenomenon, modernists are usually the ones that influenced by the WEstern culture. Despite the hardships that Filipinos experience because of deep, ugly political and economical instabilities, there some who wished to stay here in our country and there are some who wants to work abroad for bigger and better pay.

I theorized, that Filipino personalities and identities are deeply rooted to the concept of a FAMILY. Why do children go to school? So that if they get a full education after wards, they will be helping their parents when the right time comes. Even though the bond between them is slowly breaking when the child grows up to adulthood, the Filipino child’s thoughts,behaviors,goals and ambitions are mainly emphasized on the things that affects his/her family. If he/she doesnt have the right track with the immediate family, the Filipino will look for friends,the church,the school to belong.

But surely, even though there is a relatively economic progress, political progress is the our hunch back. Yes, the Peso may be in its strongest in years, but this is because of the OFW remittances,esp the nurses’s.

The most common college course in the country is BS NURSING. Why? Because it is the easiest way to have a job abroad, to support their struggling families. We cannot blame them. The saddening part is that there rich filipino families who still want to live abroad while monopolizing their businesses here in the country. Why cant they just share it? For full progress of the country, it should only be economical stability, but also political. Because most of the times, Philippine politics affects our economy. And it sometimes the ugliness of it has reached deeply into the nerves of the Filipino psyche, creating difficult-to-break synapses. Learned helplessness.

Love of country will only hold true when love of family is affirmed. Political leaders from each side should be the strong house to protect and give shade to the Filipino Family and people.

then again

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ASEAN and the BReak

December 7th, 2006 by kurt-jumpman23

im coming back to manila…

dugay dugay na pod.

7 years? since my brother graduated in UPdiliman..haha dugaya.

so im leaving this queen city of the south tommorow… by then, cebu will get very very busy for the upcoming ASEAN summit next week. Yeah! wa me clase. UP Cebu students, esp the psych majors are particularly lucky because we didn’t have a major exam for this second semester. haha. But like what our prof said, it’s very relaxing in the 1st two months, but very torturing, stressing, anxiety provoking in the last two months, most especially the last two weeks! hahahaha… i just wana sleep…

back to the asean scumbag! I’m not really fond of not having classes,but I enjoy it for the reason that I could go back home to my hometown. But the problem is, there’s too much hype of this ASEAN… I mean hey, politicians here in Cebu and the national administrators in general are so focused of shelling out funds for this international event. I remember that the street beside SM Cebu was reconstructed last September. The Gorordo Avenue that leads to UP cebu was ‘asphalted’ just last month. I mean hey, what is this ?! CRAMMING? When you really look and observe the finished works, one could really tell that it was designed for a short term basis. These are stupidity. Just for the sake of these BISITA? Not to mention the CICC which I think is still not really tested. What if mag brown out?! Because recent days,here in my boarding house, there were frequent power interruptions, short raman pod.

Instead of shelling out billions of pesos for infrastructures and roads which are not even made for long term success, why can’t this government shell out money urgently, like for the ASEAN SUMMIT, to be given instead for the poor and subsidize public education? There are lot of things that had been bypassed, but too much has been spent for this 5 day summit. Disgusting.

Anyway, the most pissing, frustrating thing about these preparations are the police automobile forces passed here in GORORDO AVENUE…. What I really didn’t like was those policemen drove their big motorcycles. THey did it like it were just small BMX! Pang SHOW OFF! shit…. unya ang pinaka langot, was when there was this police, on a police car with a police megaphone, while students here UP were trying to cross the avenue, the fucking police said : "ayaw sa mo ug tabok ha…. ayaw sa mo ug tabok" …. in a very authoritative and unpleasant way! who the hell is he? Tag iya sa dalan ?! You dont want people to cross because their mobile will pass? And, yes! these are no caravans. they just wana try to show off and portray who has the authority.

gusto ko magpaligis, I wana try if ila ba ko daunan. pero mu hawa jud ko oe kung edaun… haha…. I just want them to stop and argue with me , and give and taught them some good road manners.

ill be leaving for manila to attend a cousin’s wedding. After the wedding, hope  I wont get bored there because I miss home.

Home is the place for me where fun is priceless. To have fun in Manila,and also in Cebu metropolis, you’ have to got lots of money. But I don’t have enough money for fun. wish me luck

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