By NEILWIN JOSEPH L. BRAVO
Today, May 9, the nation will cast its vote to choose the country’s leader for the next six years. For the past 90 days, the six applicants for the unenviable job of steering a nation of 104 million people have shown their portfolio.
Perhaps by now, we have had an overdose of the campaign slogans of each candidates and how the campaign went on.
Starting off with the Liberal Party and administration bet Mar Roxas who pitches for the continuity of Daang Matuwid and in addition to the slogan, positioned himself as the crusader for decency, morality and honesty. The LP machinery is the well-oiled of them all. Ask not the source and amount of their campaign kitty. For sure, the numbers are mind-boggling. Add to that the power and control of government facilities and resources.
There’s Vice President Jejomar Binay, Mayor of Makati for over 20 years, and despite battling cases of corruption, sells himself as the one with the experience to bring the country to greater heights. He promised to take away taxes for the poor and provide free education and health care. Binay, however, went from top of the survey to number four going into the final three days of the campaign period.
There’s also Sen. Grace Poe who had to wage a legal war in the Commission on Elections and the Supreme Court to prove her citizenship. She capitalized on the so-called ‘necropolitics’ and vowed to finish what her late father Fernando Poe Jr. has started, whatever that is. Poe rose to the top of the surveys when Binay started to drop, her slogan “Gobyernong may Puso” working well with her positioning as a woman and mother who knows what her children needs. Poe settled at number 2 in the surveys. She was asked by Roxas on Friday to consider an alliance which she shrugged off just as quickly.
There’s the feisty SenatorMiriam Defensor-Santiago. Santiago had run and lost in the past—the time when she was yet in the pink of health. This election, however, is entirely different for Santiago, who is also battling the Big C, leaving her less mobile and visible in the campaign trail.
And then there is the phenomenon also known as Rodrigo Duterte. The tough-talking Mayor of Davao City joined the presidential race just as the period for substitution had lapsed. His entry into the presidential race did not give much of an attention among his rivals as he lagged below at a far cry no. 4 in the surveys early on. But as the campaign wore on, Duterte’s cussing and foul-mouthing, his bad jokes and machismo, suddenly changed the complexion of the campaign. From no. 4, Duterte jumped to the improbable. He took over the driver’s seat in the surveys and slowly but surely widened his lead just as all the attacks and black propaganda were starting to focus on him solely.
A week into the election day, Sen. Antonio Trillanes, a vice presidential bet whose bid was forgettable, created some ripples. Whatever prompted Sen. Trillanes, once a maverick soldier who led two failed coup attempts and went to jail before being pardoned by President Aquino in 2010, to fire the bombs on the ravishing Duterte train.
Trillanes came up with his expose—P200 million bank account and properties—aimed at discrediting Duterte as a simple-living leader.
It got even worse, as Trillanes went to court to file a plunder case against Duterte.
Yet again, Duterte’s lead was unshaken. Trillanes’ bombs appear to have not ruffled a Duterte feather.
The final attempt came from the President himself asking the country to rally against Duterte. People started asking: “What is the president so afraid of in Duterte?”
Roxas openly asked Poe on national TV to come and talk in a bid to consolidate forces against Duterte. Poe did not budge. She had the numbers over that of Roxas, so why step down?
In the end, Mar decided to call it a fight but his weakness seemed to have been exposed. He was first to blink.
It’s now a battle between change and the status quo.
And so it all comes down to this: over 54 million Filipinos will cast their vote in the elections today.
According to the final report of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), there are 54,363,844 registered voters nationwide for the 2016 polls. Add to that, there are 1,376,067 registered overseas Filipino voters or OFV.
Voting population this year is higher than the 52,014,648 registered voters during the 2013 midterm elections. For the record, in the most recent October 2013 barangay (village) elections, there were 53,786,223 voters who signed up.
A rundown of the voting population by region will show Cordillera Administrative Region with 906,162; Ilocos Region or the so-called “Solid North” with 2,950,775; Cagayan Valley with 1,920,952; Central Luzon with 6,056,392; National Capital Region with 6,253,249; Calabarzon with 7,619,272; Mimaropa 1,589,326; Bicol Region with 3,121,662; Western Visayas with 4,242,153; Central Visayas with 4,375,756; Eastern Visayas with 2,698,880; Zamboanga Peninsula with 1,931,795; Northern Mindanao with 2,541,331; Davao Region with 2,659,704; Soccsksargen with 2,086,112; Caraga Region with 1,547,093 and ARMM with 1,863,230
The Comelec, relaxing its earlier ruling, has allowed voters with incomplete or corrupted biometrics data to vote today. The numbers could reach some 2.5 million for those whose records have been deactivated due to non-compliance with the Comelec’s “No Bio, No Boto” (no biometrics, no vote) policy.
Will it be a face off between Duterte and Roxas or Duterte and Poe? Or will it be a three-cornered fight among Duterte, Poe and Roxas?
It has been a battle the administration would want to refer to as between the good and the evil. Of decency against street smart. Whatever, they play it to their advantage, the fight is clearly emerging as a fight between change versus the status quo.
The answer will be known in a few days.
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