PREVIEW: Filipinos looking forward to picking new leader

Manila - Vilma Fernando couldn't hide her excitement about the upcoming elections.

The mother of four said she and her relatives had already prepared a list of their choices, from president to municipal officials in their town of Lubao, 75 kilometers north of Manila.

"We are voting straight Liberal so hopefully there will be change," Fernando, 35, said. The Liberal Party presidential candidate is the frontrunner, Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III.

"We have had enough of President (Gloria Macapagal) Arroyo, there were too many bad things that happened during her administration," she added. "It's time to replace her and her people."

Her sentiments are shared by many Filipinos eager to choose a new leader after nine years of an Arroyo administration overshadowed by corruption scandals, allegations of fraud, patronage politics and mistrust.

More than 50 million Filipinos have registered to vote on May 10 for a new president, vice president, legislators and thousands of local officials. Turnout is expected to be higher than the 77 per cent at the last presidential elections in 2004.

Nine candidates are running for president, but surveys show that three candidates dominate the race - Aquino, Senator Manny Villar and former president Joseph Estrada.

Arroyo's candidate, former defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro, is trailing behind at fourth place.

Jun Salipsip, president of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies, said he believed that Filipinos were making their decision not based on who could manage the country better but who they could trust with their future.

"Whereas before (people said) let's pick someone who knows what to do or someone who can do it, now (they ask) is he trustworthy, is he someone who will take care of the country, is he someone who will take care of us," he said.

"The feeling is that we need somebody who can inspire us, who can raise our self esteem because we have been known as the most corrupt, we have been known as the country plagued with all sorts of scandals and anomalies," he added.

Professor Benito Lim of the Ateneo University said Filipinos were also looking for a new leader with no links whatsoever to the outgoing administration.

"They have been so dissatisfied with Arroyo's performance that this is their chance to get rid of her," he said.

Lim cited poverty, unemployment, graft and corruption and problems arising from climate change as among the top issues that the next government must prioritize.

Salipsip said the next president of the Philippines must also concentrate on raising revenues for the government to allow better delivery of basic services, improving infrastructure to attract investors and create more jobs and regaining public trust.

Prosecuting Arroyo and her allies for alleged corruption and other wrongdoings should also be a priority, but the new administration must allow the legal processes to work and avoid getting derailed by vindictiveness, he added.

Amid the high stakes, jitters are mounting over a new automated system that would count the votes electronically for the first time in the Philippines.

While election officials stressed that the system would prevent cheating, which has traditionally marred Philippine polls, critics noted that poor preparation has led to weak security measures that could allow digital fraud.

The doubts have triggered warnings of violence and another "people power" revolt similar to the 1986 uprising that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos and catapulted Corazon Aquino to power.

Dinky Soliman, a former Arroyo cabinet member now with the Liberal Party, said anger at the government would finally blow if cheating occurred in the elections.

"People are telling us that they will go out into the streets if there is massive cheating," she said. "People want to see an election, but if victory is stolen from the person who we thought would win, the seething would really erupt."

Arroyo has been accused of cheating in the 2004 polls. She and her camp denied the allegation, but no formal investigation was conducted to disprove evidence of the alleged fraud.

Soliman urged people to be vigilant on election day to thwart any attempts to hijack the vote.

For Gabriel Santos, a garbage collector with seven children, May 10 will be just another day for his family.

The Santoses live in a cramped shack in Manila's biggest dump, where they collect recyclable materials to sell.

"I don't really pay much attention to politics," he said, as he sorted out dirty plastic bottles. "I just want to be able to work and live decently. I have very few wishes in life, I just want us to be able eat three times a day."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/322036,preview-filipinos-looking-forward-to-picking-new-leader.html.