Monday, April 25, 2016

On decisions towards the May 9 elections

The Clairvoyant and I have been talking about who we will vote for in the coming elections. For local posts, we decided we will just scan the relatively short list of candidates for the posts of mayor, vice mayor, councilors and congressman for our city. We changed our residence a little over a couple of years ago and decided to change where we voted. I used to vote in Cainta where I resided for a long time at my parents' home and the wife voted in Quezon City where she also lived with her parents. Even after we moved together and found residence elsewhere, we had retained our venues for voting as a matter of preference. That changed when we moved into our new home in 2014 and decided to register in our new barangay.

Electing officials for national positions is quite a different matter and so far we have only decided on our preference for the Vice Presidency. That will be Leni Robredo, the first term congresswoman from my father-in-law's hometown of Naga City. Meanwhile, we have also started to finalize our list for 12 slots for Senator. Among those we are certain to vote for would be people we actually know and that includes reelectionist Senator Ralph Recto, whom the wife worked for when he was still a congressman at the House of Representatives. There is also former Sen. Kiko Pangilinan who is a friend of my brother-in-law from his college days. Though it may seem that we are voting for these people simply because we know them personally, I would rather that they be elected due to their good, hard work being lawmakers. Granted that they have been involved in some controversial issues (Recto, for example, for VAT) but these were necessities and despite the bad press, their legislative works are widely considered sound and with positive outcomes for most people. For myself, I am considering 10 other senators for my list and this includes familiar names like Dick Gordon (a former senator himself) and Risa Hontiveros whom we have supported from the time she first ran for the senate. I will likely include Walden Bello as the country needs someone with the firm grasp of social and economic issues and who is unwilling to compromise in addressing these issues via mainstream avenues. I met him a couple of years ago and found him to be a very wise and reasonable person who knew how to listen while also offering frank opinions on the constructive side.

I will likely post about the rest of in my list as election day approaches. And for the Presidency, let's just say that I am closer to a decision. But then as any responsible parent should be doing, suffice it to say that I will most likely vote for whom I think will lead this country to secure a good future for our children.
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