Dear Divine 6May2010

Dear Divine,

I am happy to hear that you have been discharged from the hospital there in Zamboanga and that you are recovering from home. I believe you are still under medication and observation so we continue to pray for your good health and hope that your Doctors make the best decision about your condition. We will wait if you need to fly in here in Manila or if you will be sent to Davao. Either way, we are with you.

Three days to go before election Divine - the country is in a crazy state. I urge you not to watch television if you can resist it because 80% of the advertisements are that of politicians and 90% of the news is about the main candidates. It might make you sick again. There are times I want to puke at the mere sight of the candidates. I also hate it that for the past 3 days, the song is my head is the jingle of one of the vice-presidential candidates whom I despise. He claims to be genuinely good and "pure" when I know for a fact that he has been stealing from the beloved city he is supposed to work in and for. 

The news about PCOS machines not working, of the need for the CF cards to be reformatted are alarming in so many ways. I cannot put into words my mixed emotions of fear, a bit of anger and disappointment. The equipment that has been put in place to help us and help transparency and accountability during the elections better not be used for cheating and for violence to ensue. 

The teachers, the Board of Election Inspectors (BEIs), at least in Luzon according to the news, have been receiving the machines and are familiarizing themselves with the tool. I see some of them quite happy with the new system. The manual counting all these years must have been so excruciating for them - this automation, should it work well and justly is great help to them. 

This coming elections, I especially pray for them. I hope they do not forget all the things they learn from the orientations. I hope the BEIs don't get confused on the day itself and I hope no one uses them as an instrument to cheat - to cheat the system and the people. On the day of the elections, the BEIs are our TRUE PUBLIC SERVANTS - without the trade of national position after elections, without huge compensation for the stress of the day and with the possibility of being screamed at by confused or disappointed voting population they will still be there. The BEIs will and should stay all day until the votes are counted. 

Let us not forget about the BEIs when we pray and hope for honest and clean elections.