Searing Light

In extraordinary times few people have the courage to stand up and be counted, at times risk being on the target sight, in order to standby what is true, good, and right in their place of work, in their community, and simply where they are at the moment when hard choices had to be made. But I few did stood up, and they deserved to be recognized for Courage Under Fire and for Discernment of the Truth and the Right Thing to do in the place where they work and serve. Father Renato Cuadras, Catholic Parish Priest of Iloilo   Where many priests around the country remained less active in finding ways to effectively combat vote-buying, Farther Cuadras found a creative way at reinforcing disgust towards vote-buying and campaigning against it in every home in his parish. Through the parish pastoral council, he had church workers and volunteers go around the parish to place a short-sized letter envelop with a "red X" printed on it, together with the words, "Not For Sale...

Widespread cheating, for me, is a cheating on the people's will whoever the people voted for in majority. And right now which government agency can independently, effectively and speedily protect that basic right to choose who Filipinos want to lead them? Comelec? SC? Pet? All these have so far lost it. I believe not taking it to the streets where the only solution could be made to happen is the irresposible call to make. If Cardinal Rosales spoke for the Catholic Church in the Philippines, it is one of those situations when the church is missing the spirit of the times that Cardinal Jaime Sin did not fail to see. The Bishop of Manila said that the time is different today than in 1986. That was an extraordinary time demanding an extraordinary action. Will widespread cheating an "ordinary" thing in a time so critical to the nation's history? Martial rule may have not been imposed on the Filipinos. But don't you think cheating on the presidential choice of the peo...

Many of the articles in Solita Colas-Monsod's Get Real column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer I missed when they came out but having read them I realized the treasures they bring for voter education during the campaign period of the Philippine National Elections 2010 that culminated on May 10. Monsod is a member of the group distinguished for its commitment to provide undisclosed information about candidate information that may not have been done so for self-interest reasons, the Movement for Good Governance (MGG). Requirements to Cheat in the Polls Noynoy's Lead and Binay's Surge [30 April 2010] From an assumption that respondents of the most recent Pulse Asia survey do not change their mind come election day, Monsod believes that it will take so much cheating to defeat Aquino in the presidential contest: "That 19-percent difference, plus or minus 2 percent, means that, assuming a voter turnout of 80 percent (translating to about 40 million voters) and there’s n...