There should be every reason to pursue legal action and get to the bottom of this remarkable claim of election sabotage
In a group chat I received a message forwarded from another group asking “Is he truly our President?” Apparently “The transparency server of COMELEC issued results of 20 million votes for BBM even BEFORE THE COUNTING STARTED.”
The message asked COMELEC to explain “what you have done to the nation.”
That it “proclaimed a ‘President’?” If the proclamation was “an order” and “from whom?”
It goes on to ask “since when can someone ORDER who is to be President?
“I thought he is to be elected? Can someone bring this up in the Supreme Court and the chambers of the Legislative?
“Why is everybody silent? Because it is useless to seek justice in the Judicial and Legislative branches of government, controlled by the one who gave the order?”
Considering the language, it’s quite easy to just dismiss it.
It could most likely be written by some troll or rabble rouser, thus would not be given much attention by some who aren’t swayed easily by such agitators.
The allegations are just too serious to be dismissed however, so I just had to ask why up to now, there are still some rumblings with the recently concluded elections.
I thought, and this is quite unnerving, up to now those who lost still could not accept the people’s judgment.
Of course, they have every right to complain and in fact they should complain if indeed there was cheating, if there were indiscretions.
So I replied right away to the one who shared the message. I said, “If there is any evidence Sir, why just all the noise in the social media and not file a proper case in court?”
I couldn’t agree more therefore with the latter part of the forwarded message, that someone has to take legal steps especially with this very disturbing claim of a dreadful political crime.
I would also ask, given the severity of the crime, why is everybody silent? Why are those, who ran in the recently concluded elections, mum and are doing nothing?
Or perhaps they are doing something, except that the one thing they should really be doing, that is using the process provided by law, file a complaint and have those responsible accountable, is not the one that is resorted to.
It’s difficult to assume that they would not have the wherewithal to file a legal complaint; impossible to run for office in the first place, and claim later to not have enough resources to successfully mount a credible campaign.
There should be every reason to pursue legal action and get to the bottom of this remarkable claim of election sabotage.
There can be no doubt that if there is incontrovertible evidence, the people will support and will be willing to contribute to pursue legal options.
In the first place, it is not only the losing candidates who require and are entitled to justice; every Filipino has to be given justice.
If indeed, all those who offered themselves to the people to be their leader, all the candidates who ran for office actually care about the people and therefore are champions of democracy, then they should find it imperative to really act and get these serious issues of election sabotage settled.
Instead, it seems the singular option taken is the unconventional one of taking it to the social media; instead of resorting to the legal process.
So, the question now is what exactly is the purpose of resorting to appeal to popular sentiment?
It is one thing to allege and another thing to act.
Making serious allegations should always come with action, otherwise it becomes a serious question as it is disturbing.
The allegation is in fact remarkably serious as it does not only claim there was cheating; it insinuates that “someone” “ordered,” and therefore the unidentified “someone” is solely responsible for the result/s of the election.
If there’s any truth to the allegation, it should not be impossible to gather information and evidence so that proper legal action can be acted on.
That is, if, the purpose is really to obtain justice. If the purpose is something else, say, to confuse with an end of agitating the people, it is an entirely different issue.
What is most frustrating is: this has always been the case every election.
It seems it has become some kind of a default that the winners and losers of the election cheated and or were cheated.
This default does not only indict opposing political actor/s, it is actually an indictment of the country’s political process and, in all, our democracy.
The impact is so far-reaching, that it has weakened and continues to weaken the country’s political institutions.
No matter how anyone denies, our problem is really systemic.
Not only are there challenges outside the administration, there are no doubt, systemic difficulties from within. (To be continued on Saturday)
(Prof. Tayao is currently a faculty at the San Beda University Graduate School of Law and Executive Director of the pioneer NGO on Local Governance, the Local Government Development Foundation or LOGODEF.)