Vote Right! Itama ang Pagboto!

Echoes From

BY JOHNNY DAYANG

Some politicos now shamelessly campaign well ahead of the 2016 elections. Their campaigning betrays what they are but it cannot be called illegal because the Election Code does not define it as such. The Code’s framers made sure they have ample elbow room to circumvent the law’s noble intention.

This immoral practice only further corrupts our electoral system. Truth to tell, we have a corrupted culture. We are quick to condemn government people as corrupt without realizing we ourselves are corrupt. When we break the law, we often try to bribe our way out. The worst form of election-related corruption is vote buying and selling.

 It is with this perspective that the Publishers Association of the Philippines Inc. (PAPI) has adopted the theme “Vote Right! Itama ang Pagboto!” for its Midyear Convention next month at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in Makati City.

PAPI president Louie Arriola said their simple but emphatic theme “aims to highlight the ills in the Filipino voting behavior, and the topics drawn up for their convention are designed to explore options on how best to correct such ills.”

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Filipinos are now generally aware about climate change but continue to abuse the environment, despite the ferocity of the typhoon they generate. Typhoon Egay had just devastated various regions, but its most horrendous legacy is the sinking of MB Kim Nirvana in Ormoc which claimed over 70 lives.

Obviously, the Nirvana sinking was not Egay’s handiwork alone. The tragedy was due to the lethal combination of corruption and incompetence involving the boat captain and certain Coast Guard personnel who knowingly overloaded the Nirvana.

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Albay further intensifies its climate change drive in response to Pope Francis’ encyclical, “Laudato Si” (Praise Be to You), which criticizes consumerism and irresponsible development, and exhorts people against environmental degradation and anthropogenic climate change.

To further enhance public awareness on the urgency of climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR), Albay Gov. Joey Salceda recommended in a memorandum to offices, schools, the police and the military in the provinces, the praying of the Oratio Imperata before raising the flag, followed by the “Albay Forever Hymn,” the National Anthem and Pledge of Loyalty, the “Albayano Ako” oath, and the reading of the “Climate Change Adaptation Pledge of Commitment” and the “Ten Commandments for Sustainable Development.”