The Philippine Online Chronicles

The Philippine elections is a numbers game. Winners are decided on the number of votes garnered, track record, amount of money spent for the campaign and countless promises made to hopeful voters.

Thousands of candidates, mostly from political clans throughout the country, are vying for various posts ranging from three- to six-year terms.

On May 10, in the first-ever automated polls, more than 50 million registered voters will select from hundreds of candidates.

Post-election, almost 90 million Filipinos will be governed by a chosen few - only 0.03 percent of the population, making each elected post highly-coveted and desired.

Source: IBON People’s Choice

To launch a national campaign and win in the elections, traditional candidates make use of well-oiled machineries – money, manpower and a wide network of support from various interest groups, business sector, individual patrons and local government officials.

The estimated budget needed to launch an electoral campaign:

Source: Ibon People’s Choice and IPD

Poll watch dog Libertas and Pera at Pulitika said in a report that top bets are spending like US candidates. In the latest monitor on the spending of candidates for political advertising, the top spenders are:

Source: Pera at Pulitika

A PCIJ report revealed that the average spending on political ads of the top six big spenders amounted to P10.5 million per day, or a total of P633 million in 60 days. It also noted that Villar and Aquino’s ad buys in the first two months of the campaign are much more than the approved budgets of several government hospitals and programs intended for the poor and indigent patients.

Laws on campaign financing are covered by the 1987 Constitution and the Omnibus Election Code. “It mandates the Comelec to regulate campaign spending, ban foreign electoral contribution and supervise use of government permits or franchises during elections.” Analyst Ramon Casiple said that the intent is to ensure equal opportunity in running for elective positions

Republic Act 7166 or the synchronized elections law has set the spending cap for candidates.

• PhP 10 (US$ .22) per voter for presidential and vice-presidential candidates
• PhP 3 (US$ .06) per voter for all other candidates in respective constituencies
• PhP 5 (US$ .11) per voter for political parties in constituencies where they have official candidates

(based on April 28 forex - P44 –1USD)

Casiple noted, “campaign resources come mainly from major candidates, self-raised funds, and financiers. Party-raised funds are scarce due to very weak political party system. But Illegal sources such as illegal gambling lords, drug lords, bank robbery and kidnapping, and smugglers have entered the picture.”

Body counts on the rise

General elections are traditionally characterized by its history of Guns, Goons and Gold wherein money, power and influence are major factors in the selection and election of local and national candidates. Political observers and even the Commission on Elections (Comelec) regard this year’s election as the most violent so far.

Based on the latest data by the Philippine National Police (PNP), during the first 105 days of the campaign period that started last February 10, a total of 27 people, including a mayoralty bet, eight incumbent village chiefs, eight incumbent village councilors, one municipal councilor, and 10 civilians were killed in 75 election-related violent incidents. Thirty-seven others were wounded - 30 were civilians, one board member, one municipal councilor, four village chiefs, and one municipal councilor, a report posted.

Out of the 1,600 municipalities, a third or 567 municipalities have recorded cases of election related violence. The cases range from killings, attempted killing, ambush, harassment and similar forms of violence.

Previous records of election-related killings are as follows:

Source: PNP

The most violent election-related incident in the country is still the November 23 Maguindanao massacre that killed 58 persons, including 27 media workers. Up to this day, the masterminds and perpetrators of the heinous killing have not been brought to justice. The Ampatuans, a wealthy political clan in Maguindanao are the primary suspects in the massacre.

Despite the Comelec gun ban, loose firearms continue to proliferate, so as private armies. Based on police estimates, there are around 132 private armies with a combined strength of 10,000 armed men nationwide. Almost 2,000 firearms were seized from gun ban violators while there are around 1.2 million unlicensed firearms circulating in the country.

The Independent Commission on Private Armies (ICAPA), the body formed by Malacanang after the Ampatuan massacre, admitted that it will be impossible to ‘dismantle’ private armies. In fact, authorities said there have been various reports of private armed groups in different provinces that are also consistent election hotspots:

Source: various news reports (Click on the provinces for additional info)

In 2007, the GMA News Research listed 181 towns as consistent election hotspots. Comelec will release its list of controlled-areas on May 3.

Counting on the electorate

A total of 50,723,734 registered voters will cast their votes in 76,340 clustered precincts nationwide.

The future and governance of our country for the next six years is on the hands of the voting population. Each voter must be well-informed and must be capable of critical thinking, long-term vision and matured decision-making to decide on whom to vote.

With only 11 days before the elections, the electorate, the Comelec, local and national candidates, political parties are all preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.