Irresponsible Political Coordinators

By Alex P. Vidal 

“The poll that matters is the one that happens on Election Day.” – Heather Wilson

POLITICAL leaders and coordinators who didn’t follow the Commission on Elections (Comelec) guidelines on campaign materials—how and where to display them and what sizes are allowed—should be blamed why the posters of their candidates were taken down in Oplan Baklas.

These coordinators and leaders were aware that if they violated the campaign poster guidelines, the materials would be torn down and thrown to the garbage bins but they continued to ignore the poll guidelines thinking they could get away with their infractions.

As a result, campaign funds have been wasted; time and efforts have been frittered away. The candidates in the illegal posters are also in trouble of being reprimanded and even disqualified.

Serious candidates in the May 12, 2025 Philippine elections should carefully choose their leaders and coordinators. If they can’t follow simple or basic rules on campaign materials, they can’t be relied on when the goings get tough during the campaign period, which blasted officially on February 11.

It is important for the candidates—especially for national positions— to tap the right characters for the right job, not just thrill-seeking “volunteers” and irresponsible liaisons who will eventually give the candidates a king-sized headache.

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Unlike the other known political characters in the Philippines, Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo “Jerry” Treñas didn’t mince words when he openly declared “there are strong grounds to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte, following the testimonies and evidence presented during the quad committee proceedings.”

Many solons, mayors and even governors have refused to criticize the vice president, or said something about the impeachment case scheduled in July or two months after the elections, for fear of political reprisal.

Many politicians angling for important elective posts in the May 12 elections also fear the wrath of the Duterte votes, including the Iglesia Ni Kristo, which they believe is sympathetic to the embattled daughter of Davao City. Not the Iloilo city mayor.

In fact, Treñas has agreed with former Senate president Franklin Drilon who recently “urged” President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to call for a special session to convene the Impeachment Court before the May elections.

“So I think, so far as the legal issues are concerned, once the president calls for a special session to approve some bills and, among others, take up the impeachment, the Senate is duty-bound by the Constitution to perform its constitutional duty and immediately take up these bills and also the impeachment,” Treñas said in a press conference February 10.

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Even if he has decided to back out from the Senate race, many voters will still vote for celebrity vlogger doctor Willie Ong, who is stricken with cancer.

Ong’s withdrawal came when the Comelec has finalized the printing of official ballots.

The Comelec has printed over 17 million ballots so far for the 2025 elections and Dr. Ong’s name was included.

According to Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia, the poll body produced 17,356,811 ballots as of February 7, or 24.07 percent of the total 72,107,420 ballots that have to be printed.

The two HP printers, the Comelec chair disclosed, produced 9,008,136 ballots so far. These equipment were part of the signed deal with Miru Systems as the poll body’s automated election systems provider.

Comelec can’t halt the printing each time a candidate decides to withdraw.

Canon printers from the National Printing Office (NPO) reportedly  printed 8,348,675 ballots. The poll body targeted to print over 1.5 million ballots per day.

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According to the ancient Greek myth, man was originally a composite being, half male and half female. A capricious god split him in two, with the result that the separated male and female have sought ever since to become reunited with the “other half.”

Modern psychologists make the same point in a somewhat different way when they say that “the deepest need of man is the need to overcome his separateness, to leave the prison of his aloneness.”

GOOD NIGHT, POUNDS. We don’t have to dream about weight loss. One way to make it a reality: Relax for 20 minutes before bed, suggests Dr. Dawn Jackson Blatner, author of The Flexitarian Diet. Winding down before hitting the pillows helps keep us out of the kitchen (and away from tempting leftovers). Let’s try mellowing out to soft music or soaking in a warm bath.

“Support our Troops” paraphernalia; however gov’t-issued brochures and videos featured a slightly different slogan during the WWII era–“Don’t forget– Put it on before you put it in.” During the Second World War, many soldiers returned home with veneral diseases, costing the gov’t millions of dollars in medical expenses.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two daily newspapers in Iloilo.—Ed)