Avoiding the Election Heat Wave

Isn’t it a coincidence that this year’s heat wave may signal the country’s hottest or most intense competition, battling for the hearts and minds of nearly 69 million registered Filipinos worldwide, depending on their locality and positions up for grabs?

At 48 to 49 Celsius, the hot weather that started last month has already ranged from hot to extreme heat to a soaring torrid danger heat index of 42 to 51 degrees Celsius, forcing schools in Metro Manila to shut down for days. Disaster response is achieved by alternative learning, shifting to distance learning (synchronous or asynchronous), or, better yet, suspending classes and allowing students to flock to airconditioned malls for the day.

Like the extremely hot weather now taking over the atmosphere, elections in the Philippines are also fast developing into a searing, hotly contested arena, especially at the local level. The country has historically grappled with violent elections and hot-headed confrontations during this kind of electoral competition between or among local elite families. In rural areas, most especially in the past where fistfights or gunfights were in vogue, we saw elevated levels of such violence, marked by conflict and the proliferation of political dynasties where competitors often sought recourse in violence to secure their interests. Many studies show that it is at the local level, among the barangay officials, who suffer the fate of regional violence. Automated elections in 2010 were supposed to stop violence and massive cheating. However, it has not because the same problems persist - we still have an electorate that may be easily swayed by sweet promises or intimidated by guns and silenced by gold.   

Our son, now based in Germany, will cast his ballot as an overseas voter in a foreign land, perennially a critical mind about the transparency of every election. Will it reflect the authentic voice of the people?  Who are the voices in the first place? He asked, how are we going to avoid hotheads taking over our democracy? How can we have genuinely peaceful and honest elections? The answer is not on the competitors, the combatants in the electoral battle, or among the political rivals; the answer is in an enlightened electorate, voters who know what their interests are to defend and promote for their own and their communities.

I have always believed that a way to dissipate confusion and anger and arrive at a sound level of understanding is through a voters’ education that is enlightening and empowering, with the result of raising the level of awareness of Filipino voters, especially from the marginalized sectors who are the majority in the population, is most crucial. It may be an effective way to avoid bloody confrontations and encourage more dialogues and talking than fighting.  

Empowering the electorate

Start by being an INFORMED voter. Let us know the present landscape of all things, the economy, politics, and, if needed, what is happening around us that may affect us and our families and communities, like climate change and high prices.  Every organizational strategist who reads Chinese philosopher Sun Tsu should know the value of knowing “thyself and knowing thy enemy.”  Knowing the candidates, the voters, the political atmosphere in the localities,  the know the candidates. Ensuring voters are educated about their choices and empowered to make informed decisions at the polls can significantly impact our nation’s future.

We expect 68.6 M registered voters to troop to the polls to vote for the 2025 midterm elections on May 12 national, local, and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) parliamentary elections. The majority are young voters from 18 to 40 years old; more than half are women.   In the 2025 midterm election on May 12, 317 seats in the House of Representatives—254 for district representatives, 63 party-list representatives, and 12 of the 24 seats in the Senate to form the 20th Congress of the Philippines—will be up for grabs.

The mid-term elections will use a new set of vote-counting machines from the South Korean firm Miru Systems after the Commission of Elections (COMELEC) disqualified the former AES provider Smartmatic from participating in future elections in 2023.

At a forum on March 5, the think tank Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG) and partner, the Makati Business Club in Makati, reiterated the need for the COMELEC to ensure complete transparency in the transmission process of the votes because “the real-time transmission has been a source of concern due to its susceptibility to irregularities. It advocates a hybrid election system, manual counting, and percent-level counting with automated transmission and canvassing.

In Bicol, there are five political parties with their candidates in the running:  Partido Demokratiko Pilipino, Lakas-CMD, National People’s Coalition,  the National Unity Party, the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas, and the Liberal Party. In Albay, Noel Rosal of PDP faces Joey Salceda of Lakas CMD; in Camarines Norte, Federal Party’s Rocarte Padilla faces off Edgar Tallado of the NPC; In Camarines Sur, LRay Villafuerte is up against Bong Rodriguez of the NPC;  in Naga City, former VP Leny Robredo gears to become city mayor with Gabriel Bordado as vice mayor;  former Naga City Mayor Nelson Legacion who had earlier prepared to run for his third term, gave way to Robredo Naga City for the mayorship.  

It’s time for an empowered electorate to take over and avoid heating the exercise with violent confrontations. The heat wave is more than enough. Chill! Know the candidates all and get organized!