The 2010 Philippine National Elections was held last May 10, 2010. Somehow, the results are not yet finalized by this time but it surely is faster than the elections before. The election this year had a few changes in terms of service and technology. However, we might as well start this talk with the positive side:
Positive
The previous elections in the Philippines isn't as advanced as how other countries do it. They just simply write the names of their desired candidates on a simple paper and the election volunteers manually count the votes that takes a few months before recognizing the elects. And because the candidates' names are only written on a paper, there is a huge possibility that it can be erased and changed into something else- CHEATING. While the previous elections are manually done, there was always a huge possibility of cheating and imbalance. The papers are being kept in a ballot that seemed like an ordinary box made of metal. These ballots were very controversial and were put into controversies a lot of times. Sometimes, these ballots are stolen away, or bombed.
But because of the little improvement of the country, there had be a change in the last election. It was a manual election no more. It was done with PCOS Machines that automatically counts votes that can finalize all counts in just a few weeks. It also helped in minimizing the cheating controversies in the country.
The AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) had been one of the biggest topics on the 2004 Philippine National Elections because some said that they are one of the people who cheated on the elections. So, to make it up this time, they helped a lot in transferring the machines from places and they also watched after the elections for a peaceful one. Some Officers contributed their own money for technologies to watch after the election.
Negative
As the common saying has said, "Nobody's perfect", this is also similar with, "NOTHING'S Perfect" A great example of this are the PCOS Machines. Yes, they were able to smoothen the elections but there are still cases and news that states, some of the PCOS Machines are not functioning and some are not counting votes of other candidates. However, in the southern part of the Philippines, there has been an irregularity of the votes.
However, even if CHEATING has been removed for a bit, nothing can still stop Ambush, Harassments and Murder. Yes, everyone remembers the controversial Maguindanao Massacre in which the Ampatuan Clan (who are running for positions in Maguindanao) ambushed the convoy of the Mangudadatu Clan (who are supposedly running for candidacy) and Media men. The Ampatuan murdered them all and buried their bodies underground.
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However, all i can say is, even if there's cheating, harassment or none, it is still up to God whom He likes to lead His people to the right path. But still, it is up to the Filipino's votes on who will be the 15th president of the country, and somehow lead them to democracy. The Philippines is clearly moving forward.
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