Philippine elections :: baffling

Former President Joseph Estrada won as Manila City's new mayor. (cue silence) Did I miss anything here?

I don't know how I feel about this news. He was the 13th Philippine president from 1998 until 2001. He was charged with graft and corruption so he was impeached in 2001. Filipinos protested for four days that led him to resign from his position.

I don't understand it.

Should I complain that the people voted for him when I don't live there anymore? Or should I understand their reasons for voting him? The former mayor was Alfredo Lim, and people didn't like him because he allegedly "decayed Manila".


Is that why Estrada won? Because Lim was his other opponent?

Everyone knows that Estrada is corrupt. Filipinos who saw his impeachment trial in 2001 knew that he was corrupt. That's why Filipinos who lived in Metro Manila protested in EDSA and forced him to resign. He's now the mayor of Manila, the capital of the Philippines. I don't know what's going on here.

Nancy Binay won a seat in the Senate on the May 13th election. She gained recognition because she is from a political family. Her father was the former Makati City mayor and the current vice-president of the country. Her mother was former Makati City mayor. Her brother is the current Makati City mayor. And her sister is a House of Representative in Makati (you get a sense of what Philippine politics is like. And you can read this Philippine Star article about Nancy Binay).

The Internet community (or Filipinos who have access to the Internet and use it wisely) knows that she is incompetent and inexperienced. She was her mother's personal assistant when her mother was the mayor. She became her father's personal assistant after he won vice-president. Now she's a senator.

She says she had a 20-year on-the-job training (or work placement) experience through her parents. And her dad is the vice president.

She's a senator. A senator. Granted, the official results are not yet released, but she's in the 5th place out of 12. So obviously she won. She won by going to rallies and traveling around the country. But she never showed up in any debates. Not one.

This is the political culture I grew up in.

Philippine elections :: Dirty politics

The Philippines will have a midterm election on May 13, Monday.

This is a general election where Filipinos will vote for senators, House of Representatives members, provincial governors, provincial legislature members, city mayors, city vice mayors, City Council members, municipal mayors, municipal vice mayors, members of the municipal council, and party-list representatives. In the southern region of the country, voters will elect their regional governor, regional vice governor, and regional assemblymen. (1)

This is why I don't like Philippine politics.

Philippine election epitomizes "dirty politics" literally and figuratively.

Every time there's an election, there are flyers, stickers, posters, and handouts everywhere. When you're waiting for a bus, someone would give you a handout or flyer. When you're walking on the street, you'll see posters and stickers on the walls of business establishments, local stores, and sometimes even on the cement.

And there are people who die during the election period.

In Batangas, south of Manila (the capital), a campaign coordinator was on his way home when he was shot by men riding on a motorcycle at noon Sunday. According to the news source, local police have not yet determined if the crime was "politically motivated". (2)

I wouldn't be surprised if the incident was politically motivated because I hear news of people dying in every election. People who lost their lives for a mere vote. They would never be given justice because the rich and the powerful always wins.

It's been a while since I've read news about the Philippine elections. When I read the news about the person who died, it made me think that nothing has changed. Philippine politics is still dirty.


Sources:
(1) Wikipedia: Philippine general election 2013
For more information about the Philippine elections, visit Commission on Elections
(2) Philippine Star: Campaign coordinator shot dead in Batangas