I Was an Observer for the May 2007 Elections and There Were Three Foreigners With Me…

Even before the mid-term election is within arm’s length, I have been dying to be a part of it. Not just as a voter. I cannot just be someone who would go to the polls come May 14 and cast my vote.

Yes, I believe that it is what most of us can do to practice this dog forsaken democracy that we call ours. And most people who do not have an alternative avenue in practicing their democratic freedom see the casting of votes as their best chance in making a difference. I respect that.

I respect our overseas workers who would take the effort to cast their votes knowing that aside from the billions of dollars they send to our country to boost our economy, voting is still one of their most important contribution. I respect the indigenous people dressed in full regalia trooping to the precincts and casting their hope for the continued legacy of their heritage. I respect the impoverished masses whose souls still find within them, no matter how empty their stomachs become, to take part in the elections, pinning their hope in the leaders that have never been true to them.

I even respect those who have lost their hope in the elections. In a country like ours, there is no shortage in disappointments that would slowly rot your soul, letting go of the ideal. Maybe their refusal to vote is the only mechanism they have to be able to survive these disappointments.

We all operate on different terms, you see. And so it is with this premise that I wanted more than just cast my vote.

With the Hello Garci scandal of the previous elections, volunteerism to assure the integrity of the May 14 polls surged to an unprecedented high. And being part of the last three elections, primarily in the party list campaign, I have told myself that I will be part of the greater campaign to ensure clean elections.

And my prayers, my desire have not been left unanswered. I received a call to accompany three foreign observers assigned to Nueva Ecija.

The team from Compact for Peaceful Elections composed of two Film makers from Australia and a Swedish Parliament member became my highway to volunteerism. They stayed for five days in our province and they have made me see Philippine Election in a different light.

It is quite funny when having been their guide so they could see the conduct of elections here, after they boarded the van to bring them back to Manila so that they could consolidate their observations, it is I who come home with most of the learning. I have observed more in this election than what I have known for the past nine years that I have engaged in it.

I need not enumerate the things I have seen in the elections; yes everything is true, from the huge number of volunteers to the muddy activities of the seekers of power to assume victory. Everything is so real when you see it first hand, beyond the walls where you target to stick your posters in, and above the noise of your crappy sound system that plays the campaign tune of your party.

What needs mentioning is that every election, every one of us engages in it with the hope that we will get our heart’s desire.

The politicians can do unspeakable acts, to assure victory. The ordinary voters brave the polls, amidst threats to their security to cast their precious single vote (it is not unheard of in the Philippines when one could get killed simply by voting, or ensuring a clean election that is, there is a public school in Batangas burned down during the canvassing, one teacher and a child died in that incident). There are even political supporters who risk their security and that of their family not just to protect their votes, but the life of the person they voted for (a barangay captain in Guagua, Pampanga was shot dead in front of their house two weeks after the elections, allegedly for supporting the suspended priest who became governor-elect in their province, the priest told in an interview that a day before the captain was shot, he asked the captain to take care, to which the captain answered “it’ll be better sir if they shoot me and not you instead”). That we have been in constant anticipation and unparalleled efforts months, even years before the election to have atleast one that would reflect the people’s will, and after I thappened, we are still treated to a smorgasbord of cheating to which in the end we just accept up until our hopes are again stirred for the next elections.

One of our international observers rightly put it when he said that in their country, during the day itself of the election, they wake up, cast their vote, and forget about it, while in the Philippines, election is such a process that one lives and dies for it. He said he was sorry. But then again, who knows, you can never underestimate the desire of the Filipinos to have clean elections. there is hope for a better tomorrow.