Eye Opener
Barangay, SK polls should no longer be postponed
Thousands of young people of voting age inched their way under scorching heat last August to have their names listed at the Comelec office for the October 2007 Barangay and SK election. They joined the long queue of excited first time voters one Sunday morning in August from the vicinity of the Aglipayan Church in Jalandoni to Mabini-De Leon streets up to the Comelec office on the second floor of the Supermarket building. The scenario was same in all Comelec offices in Iloilo and Western Visayas. Many missed the Sunday masses and Pentecostal services so they could beat the deadline that Sunday and can exercise their right of suffrage and vote during the scheduled October 2007 election. After the difficulty young voters had underwent during the scheduled registration period, some "do nothing" solons wanted the election postponed to year 2009. Postponing the October 2007 barangay/SK election would be an exercise in futility on the part of the young voters and the Comelec officials who had prepared for the election years ago. Many "do nothing" solons alleged that there is no money to fund the election. But there is millions of money in their travel to the APEC meeting when they have no business to be there. There is money available for solons when going abroad for junketing and other pleasure hunting expedition. It is very heartwarming to hear that Comelec had declared Sunday evening, Sept. 9, that the barangay/SK election will push through despite the incessant objection of some pleasure-loving solons.
There are many barangay captains and kagawads whose term of office is long overdue. Besides, many of the barangay captains are over 75 years old, sickly and weak. Many could no longer perform effectively their function due to old age and poor health. A number of barangay officials have pending cases with the Ombudsman and the prosecutor's office all over the country. It's time that new blood of barangay officials run the barangay affairs. With the advent of widespread thievery, drug abuse, illegal gambling and many evil happenings occuring in the barangays even during daytime, it's time to change the leadership structure of the barangay and SK governance.
With two postponements already made in previous years, young people and decent citizens of the barangay could no longer tolerate another postponement. Although many said that barangay and SK organizations are no longer necessary due to many evil foolishness occurring in the barangay, this can wait when a Constitutional Convention be held after the completion of Pres. Arroyo's term.
Should our "do nothing" solons insist on postponing the barangay and SK election, then their hidden agenda of what to do with the appropriation for barangay/SK election is the question. Lately, the Philippines under Pres. Arroyo had been tagged in the APEC meeting as the No. 1 nation in political and journalist killings aside from being tagged as the most corrupt nation in the world.
Pres. Arroyo hopes that her legacy to the Filipino people will be aboveboard when she retires in year 2010. But how can she erase the "Hello Garci" election cheating? The most corrupt nation in the whole world! The recent ZTE snafu, the beheading of Marine soldiers in Basilan; the millions of poor people wallowing in abject poverty and the unending stealing of the Philippine treasury; the trillion of foreign debt and some cabinet members close to the President still have pending graft cases at the Sandiganbayan, Ombudsman, etc. How can she exit gracefully with multifarious problems which if not remedied during her remaining years in office, will be printed in books and form part of her legacy which is not nice to read by the future generation. There are reportedly 95 graft cases pending in the Sandiganbayan, Ombudsman, etc. of high government officials and employees. Being President of the Philippines, can she not do something about it?