Masarap ang Bawal: The May 14, 2007 Story
I know it’s been 10 days since some Filipinos exercised their right (and social responsibility) to vote, but I didn’t want to jump in on the election fever bandwagon for a while. But since I’m feeling better now about some things, I’d like to share a serious peeve of mine during the whole brouhaha.
On the way to the school where my parents were supposed to vote, I immediately noticed kids and adults alike distributing sample ballots and other campaign paraphernalia to the newcomers. They’d really follow the voters and force them to accept their “gifts” up to the gate of the school, where they’d just linger and watch the people. The whole place was so much of a mess that you’d think it’s a fiesta of sorts in the area.
We parked a couple of meters from the school. As soon as my dad got out of our family vehicle, a man approached him and gave him some things.
A sample ballot in paper, and an Aiko Melendez card with another sample ballot at the back — with her name, of course. “Sinta ng Bayan” my big fat arse. I was pissed. I reprimanded my father for accepting those basuras.
Of course we all knew distribution of sample ballots and other things was not allowed. On the way to the voting precinct, the same people I saw distributing the same stuff earlier swarmed towards us. About two people explicitly told us to vote for Aiko Melendez. I totally lost it then.
“Bawal yan eh,” I told them, especially the kids. “Bawal mamigay ng sample ballots. Bawal mamigay ng kahit ano. Lalo na yang may mukha ni Aiko na yan. Bakit niyo ba ginagawa yan? Bawal yan!”
I was like a crazy young woman there, who wasn’t even registered to vote (yes, yes, I’M NOT A REGISTERED VOTER BWAHAHAHA), who just wanted everything right. They acted as if they didn’t hear me. But need I ask them why they were doing something illegal? Everyone would know that they’re doing it for the money. Were the kids even aware who they were campaigning for? Did they even realize that what they were doing was wrong? Heck, did those things even matter to them when everything they were doing would mean money in the end?
I was disgusted at the blatancy of the situation. Right then and there, you’d see just how the Filipinos are in need of money, no matter how dirty it is. My god, I couldn’t stomach everything, especially because of those poor kids. How much would they get anyway? P10? P20? Or were they just forced by their parents? I’d have given everything just to stop them from doing what they’re doing.
I was so relieved to see the gate of the school my parents would be voting in that I almost ran inside. I saw two policemen at a corner having a nice time making kwento to each other, with serene smiles on their faces, both acting as if they didn’t belong. Finding my parents’ name proved to be hard because heck, just how many Cruz could you find in just one area, right? While my parents voted, I observed the proceedings quietly while fanning myself.
It was hot, but relatively better than the previous days. And by that, I meant I didn’t sweat like a pig…just like a piglet. 
Haggard-looking poll watchers and members of the BEI were by all means relaxed, given that it was already around 2PM and the worst was yet to come. I admired their dedication to make everyone’s vote count. My mom, aunt, and grandma experienced the exact same thing because they all work for public schools, and I know the hardships they had to go through to do their job for a measly amount of money (actually, dati nga walang bayad eh). I saw enough of my mom looking pitiful to realize how hard everything was.
We left the place right after my parents got inked. There was nothing else left to do but to remain vigilant and wait for the results of the election.
—
Aiko Melendez won as a councilor by less than a thousand votes against her biggest opponent. I condemn her so-called victory, and the arrogance of her pa-special husband Martin Jickain. Even the squabble in the session hall last May 17 was scoffed by my aunt, who vehemently agreed with the police and said that “gitgitan” in the session hall was normal. Masyadong maarte.
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You’re right! They’d come up to you and offer to give you sample ballots (which is clearly against the COMELEC policy). I experienced that in this elections and I was able to reprimand a handful of them here in DC. I published an article about that in the paper that I’m writing in, but as we know Filipinos wouldn’t really care about this sorts of things happening. No disqualifications or even jail time for those who will be caught. That’s just the way it is.
shari! tinanggal na semento sa paa ko. nag pa practice nang maglakad, balik office na ako bukas eh.
I knew there was something wrong with that! I accompanied my mom to her voting precinct that day too and we were swarmed by people giving lots of sample ballots for whoever councilor is running in our area. I wondered if it was really how it is (since it’s the first time I accompanied my mom), because back in college, all campaign paraphernalia (sp?) were removed the day before the election. If a party or a candidate is seen to be still giving away flyers or wearing a political party shirt or calling to the halls, “Vote [political party name here]” or even just campaigning online during election period will be suspended by COMELEC. The candidates are not even allowed to be near the voting area until the last few hours of the election period. But that doesn’t stop them from talking to people and asking, “Nag vote ka na? Vote ka na!” just so there wouldn’t be failure of elections.
ANYWAY. Hay nako talaga yan. What people would do for money, how sad.
Personally, I think what the country needs is a person with integrity, someone who will not do or allow his/her people to do anything that is not honorable.
I talk too much, to think I didn’t even get to register too. *apir* I’m not really proud to admit that, but work got in the way of my registration — I remembered that it was registration period on the night of the last day. Nyeee.
Hindi ko pa na-try sumama sa mga magulang ko tuwing eleksyon at hindi pa rin ako registered voter kasi hindi ko ata feel bumoto. Hehe. Pero aware din ako sa mga bagay na yan. Dito nga samin may bumibili pa ng boto e. 500 per vote.
I don’t think there’s a precinct in this country that doesn’t have supporters distributing sample ballots during the election period.
Lagi na lang ganyan. Parang mga aling pilit na nagaabot o nagkakabit ng scapular sa labas ng church. Mga bwiset!!!
maski sabihin ng comelec na bawal ang pamimigay ng sample ballots and election paraphernalia, may gagawa at gagawa pa rin nun. sana magkaron na lang ng parusa para sa mga ganun para macontrol man lang.
Hmm.. Wala ako masyadong alam about elections. haha.. I’m not sure if dad is a registered voter, basta ayaw niya bumoto kasi daw wala ring kwenta dahil niluluto din naman palagi ang results. Ewan ko ba. Nakakadisappoint lang talaga pag may nandaraya, gaya nung pamimigay nung poor kids ng sample ballots, with Aiko’s face pa, nyek. It’s pretty pointless when there’s cheaters. Para ano pa itong election kung ganun diba… tsk tsk…
Puso mo, Shari, puso mo. He he.
Shari,
I believe giving out sample ballots is legal. Ang bawal ay yun pagsabi na iboto ang isang kandidato.
Ang alam ko pinapayagan ng COMELEC magbigay ng sample ballots.. basta walang “explicit” na pangangampanya at hindi pwede sa loob ng voting center. We clarified that from the COMELEC office near in our area, and sabi nila pwede daw mamigay ng sample ballots ang isang party. Pero walang “vote” na word…
hai naku..! kamusta naman ung mga un daba..! eh bawal na nga tuloi padn., atleast ate napalakas ang luob mo na tanungn cla..! bongacius..! ganun tlga pag need ng money., lahat ggawn kahit bawal -.-
gawd i hate those people! buti na lang when i voted (i was one of the early ones, i already voted at around 7:05am) walang ganyan, kung hindi nagwala ako tulad mo. there were just pamphlets (tons of it!) lying outside the school, sobrang dumi.. that’s what really irked me.
Pagtinitopak ako, suplada ako. Hehe. I usually just look at them then the walk goes on. Bahala sila.
Granting that they’re kids, I think they deserve the benefit of the doubt. Malamang di nila talaga alam. And their parents shouldn’t be forcing them to do that(in case they did). Ang nakakainis sa ibang parents, pinapasa nila ang responsibilidad sa mga anak nila. It’s okay for children to help their parents but to force them… I don’t think it’s right anymore..
Masarap ang bawal: that is one huge problem that has been deeply etched in the “Filipino culture”. Kadalasan pa nga, very proud pa mga tao na nakagawa sila ng kabulastugan(kahit by morality, alam nilang di tama). I do not really believe that it’s the “lack of money” that drives people to be “kapit sa patalim”. I believe it’s more of like they want moolah right away. Marami nga diyan, kahit kaya(and qualified) nilang magtrabaho ng marangal, they still prefer the “easy money” way… nangogoyo ng tao and so on. I’ve met people from different social classes and there’s still people who are not well off yet they prefer to do things the proper way, in accordance to the law still think of the good of the general public and most of the time, these people are the ones who succeed in life because they learn the art of being good citizens and proper management of their resources(good karma, for short). If the other people who are not well off are capable of following the law and not doing bad things, why can’t the others do the same?
Just like the girl in my recent entry. May nakalagay na nga na “No Loading and Unloading” na sign sa may bungad ng intersection, heto siya nagpapara. And wierdo ng mga Pilipino. Yung mga abled sila pa yung notorious sa pagsuway sa batas, samantalang yung mga disabled, and mejo may edad, sila pa ang masunurin at responsableng mamayan. Maybe, if all people in the Philippines are disabled, baka happy and prosperous nation na tayo. LOL.
Bakit kaya napakabaduy ng mga politiko.. “sinta ng bayan”. LOL. Hehe. Kulang nalang “girlfriend ng bayan”. Hehe
philippine politics nga naman. wala nang pinagbago. pero i think legal ung something about the sample ballots. ewan. kasi hindi naman pangangampanya na maituturing un di ba? wala naman ung kandidato.
I have always thought it was rather difficult to understand the politics in others countries and the way their elections works. Around here the political parties pimp - but usually not a lot of freebies are involved. No one takes kids serious when it comes to politics - which is sad in a way but that is how it goes. I guess manipulating isn’t as big of a issue.
shari: good politics is good marketing.
aha! so you smoke polls after all… :grin: no offense.
Aiko Melendez ran for office and won??
No comment.
Haha…And Aiko Melendez said “It’s my sweetest victory!”. Ahahah. DUMB.
:glee:
Shempre naman ang mga politiko, kahit na ang pwestong tinatakbuhan nila eh mas maliit pa ang sweldo sa sweldo nila ngayon, eh gagastos nang gagastos para lang manalo. Shempre nga naman, maraming “kwarta” ang makukuha nila pag nagkataon.
Hi Shari,
muzta na!
sino sino ang nanalo sa election jan. LOL
dito sa europe kinagabihan resulta agad kung sino ang winner.
Di ko naranasan ang bumoto hanggang pinapadpad sa hangin ang beauty ko palabas ng bansa . LOL
Not much connection with your post, but this might intrigue you…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0m61vS7gD0
since it was my first time to vote.. i asked my mom if those giving away of ballots was allowed.. and she said no. anyway they were under-aged kaya they can get away with it.
isa din sa issue ang pagiging under-age kasi… they know what they’re doing is illegal but they still do it because they can get away with it. i heard it at a local radio station..
tell me… what’s up with all the celebrities tryna be politicians? who do they think they are?! i mean come on.
anyway, shari! i’m kinda shocked that you’re not a register voter. i was expecting that on election day, you’d be the first person in line to vote. tsk tsk. magaling na bata! kidding.
but uh, just feel bad for the kids who distributed the basuras, they were just doing it for the money; and maybe they really needed the money. and besides, they are kids, what the heck do they care about politics, diba? kaya ganon! =]
*i can imagine how crowded schools were on election day… yikes, tapos ang init init pa! hmp, masyado akong maarte. haha.
Response to 7459:
Weeeeee! Sinamahan ko rin mom ko nung bumoto siya dito sa amin. Yeah, and daming tao and the place is bombarded with campaign posters and all. Bawal yun diba? Salamat sa internet, my mom was able to find her precint easily. LOL.
Ughh I never experienced in any of the voting session yet but I went with my parents but none of that happened. It’s just that people flying their parties flag and shout some quoye in fron of the gate that’s it. I think it’s better than giving ballots I guess. That is so wrong for them to do that but who cares? What people need now is just money. As long as there are money given to do this job, many people would do it. We can say that the power of money is getting higher and higher. Hope the voting goes well though.
Aside from Loren Legarda (fill me in kung may nagawa sya aside na maging mistress ni ******) topping the polls, I’m mostly ok with the current results para sa mga senators.
Sayang lang si Zubiri (environment) and Roco (education).
Grabe yan, di ba pwede na madisqualify nyan si Aiko? Lalo na kung may mga evidence. Nakaka-inis sa lahat pagharap harapan tayong ginagago e. Parang yung sa Maguindanao.. 12-0 my ass. Oh yeah, kagaguhan din yung reply nila dun and yung speech ni Gloria sa Japan.
Hehe about your parents voting! My mom votes, but she doesn’t really know what to vote for… She just picks anything… LOL…
@Conrad - Right you are.
@Eric - Hey, glad to know that. So ano, gimik na?
@Tina (refineme) - *apir* We talk too much, haha!
@Zerovoltage - Onga eh. Naging “normal” na kasi.
@Paolomendoza - True, true. At kung may parusa man, sana may manghuli rin.
@Arbet - Okay lang puso ko, pramis! Puso mo, okay pa ba? Haha.
@Ate Ems - There are sample ballots. There are SAMPLE OFFICIAL BALLOTS, which are provided by the COMELEC to the BEI. The two are very different things. And sample ballots shouldn’t have any names written on it. Siguro kaya feeling ng mga tao pwede yung ganun dahil laging nangyayari, parang normal na lang sa ibang tao. Pero BAWAL YUN.
@Lei - Yun nga eh, yun din unang kinainit ng ulo ko. Ang kalaaaat! Ayoko ng makalat. Grrr.
@Kris - Yun nga point eh, the kids might not know what they were doing, and that’s what really hurts. Anyway, I’m not generalizing the people there. There are those who want fast cash, there are those who want just cash, there are those who want dirty cash, then there are those who need cash. Mahirap ang area namin. Depressed. Squatters area nga kung tawagin. Walang trabaho karamihan ng mga tao rito; kung meron man, less than minimum wage pa kinikita.
Haha, Candy Medina nga was called “Sweet ng Bayan” eh. What the fug diba? Haha!
@Marocharim - None taken.
Yeah, yeah, I “smoke polls” blah.
@Joey - Yeah. Her 3rd term. Do you know Manny Pacquiao ran and LOST? Haha.
@Hyro - Kickback!
@Ate Ethel - You’re baaaaack!
Onga, kasira ng beauty ang lecheng elections.
@MisterVader - You always do that, you know…Freak me out. You enjoy doing it so much that you always have to show me your latest tricks. And oh, that reminds me, I have a vid of you doing your Liquid Metal thingy during the iBlog3 break. Di ko pa naaupload.
@Tina - Onga eh. Child abuse. Hmp.
@Nina - Hehehe. So many people were surprised, believe me — relatives, comrades, blog friends, friends, eek!
@Ann - True! What the hell was that Maguindanao issue, right?! Someone’s still bound to vote for at least one GO candidate even kahit na “hindi nangampanya” o “walang kandidato” or some other lame excuses the TU campaign manager is coming up with. As for Zubiri, hah, you’ve been fooled. Zubiri is fishy, believe me.
Aba at hindi ka pala registered vote, hahaha, akala ko ba naman makakakita ako ng list ng mga binoto mo.
Dalawang beses na akong bumoboto at madami nga akong nakikitang namimigay ng sample ballots sa mismong araw ng botohan. hindi ako kumukuha kahit kamag-anak namen yung iba sa kanila. hay! well ganun talaga ang buhay, kahit bawal gagawin nila dahil sa pera.
Gads~ The crap people do nowadays just to earn a few pesos. We can’t really blame them. It’s the fucking government’s fault. LOL. Bad trip lang kasi kahit anong tino ng ibang pulitiko, nao-overpower sila nung mga corrupt. It’s fucking impossible to clean up this shit that we call government. Dapat nga pagpapatayin na yung mga hinayupak na yan eh. :evil:
I couldn’t see the video because the computer in my school sucks. Yeah Filipinos will do just about anything for money. Makes me ashamed sometimes.
just goes to show that even with a so called minor position like a city council seat could mean BIG things. Can you imagine the arrogance of people at the highest echelon of power???
Sinabi mo pa! Naku, yang asawa ni Aiko, ang arte talaga. I heard about it sa radio, nagsimangot nga ako nung narinig ko. Grr.
Wow! I don’t think its WRONG to give sample ballots, just maybe cheating the people who dont get one =/
[...] it comes to voting for celebrities in the Senate (yeah, I’m trying to avoid the fact that Aiko Melendez won in our district). I mean, no top spots for both Richard Gomez and Cesar Montano yet in the partial and unofficial [...]
Poor kids, you can’t blame them for doing that. Poverty is a major problem in the Philippines. And the corrupt (sorry for assuming that) politicians are using that to get their votes.
It’s hard to get a clean and fair election if the condition is still like that. And it would be hard to get a good politician (to hopefully change the situation) because most of the people are also uneducated. They are blinded by money. My my, looks like we’re trapped in this vicious cycle:
poverty > politicians buying votes > bad politicians win > bad economy > poverty
di ba bawal na magbigay ng ballots on the day of elections?
i actually know someone who got paid P500. but he got it 20 mins after he voted lol..
di ba bawal na magbigay ng sample ballots on the day of elections?
i actually know someone who got paid P500. but he got it 20 mins after he voted lol..
Here in our barangay Pasig, Eusebio gave “refunds” to those studying in our public school.
I asked my mother, “Anong refund?” To which she replied “Di ko nga alam kung bakit may refund e wala naman kaming binayaran.”
Very fishy.
There were also tons of people giving away sample ballots in our place. I have to get past at least six people who were trying to give me the sample ballots.