Voter registration for the 2013 Midterm Elections ends
today, Friday, 31 October 2012 at 5pm … and this being the last day of registration;
people are expected to come in droves, especially in the late afternoon as the
deadline approaches.
When we think in terms of how far we’ve gone as a nation,
this prevailing attitude of waiting, albeit beating the deadline, is one nasty attitude
that keeps on holding us back. This is worse than the mañana habit or putting
things off until the next day. In this instance, things are put on hold until
deadlines come around.
Subsequently, chaos ensues, initiating the start of the
blame game. Fingers are pointed like guns sans bullets, and sparks fly off
mouths that brew contempt. Thing is, when registering at the last minute,
people should have reasonable expectations. Unfortunately, those who register
at the last minute have expectations that are anything but reasonable. When
pressed for an explanation as to why they had to wait until the deadline, they
will come up with a battery of excuses, every single one of which is lame, if
not downright derisory.
Pathetic excuses notwithstanding, most of these
wannabe/feeling VIPs will be so demanding they feel their rights to life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness are being violated. It will both be egregious
and outrageous to say that they are expecting the queue to part like the red
sea so that they can be done with something they should have done months ago. With
slighted feelings and stifled egos, they will complain their lungs out and hurl
invectives at Comelec officials and personnel as if it were not their fault
that they held on until the last minute, never mind if voter registration has in
fact been ongoing for the last year and a half. That they opted to wait for the
very last day only shows a tragedy of character rather than a tragedy of fate.
Then comes Sixto Brillantes, current Chair of the Commission
on Elections, with a statement that is a foot-in-mouth rather than mere
tongue-in-cheek situation: “The Comelec would be keeping an eye on hakot
(bused-in) registrants brought in by politicians to add to the chaos that
usually attend the last day of voter
registration in Comelec offices nationwide.”
Ouch, the shoe is now on the other foot … it turns out that
the brilliant Brillantes is wary of the fact that he might find himself at the receiving
end of his inspired and dazzling tactics as an election lawyer. Talk about a
blast from the past with ghosts of previous misdeeds manifesting on the eve of
Todos Los Santos, complete with the bunions of conscience pressing on one’s
toes.
“On the last day, we would cause a stir in election offices”,
recalled Brilliantes. “We would bring in registrants-supporters of a politician
so the others won’t be able to register.”
Bwahahaha! The brilliant Sixto Brillantes wants to have his
cake and eat it, too.
As a child, I was given the impression that working for the
Commission on Elections was the best career move, considering that its
employees literally only had to work during election season. This type of job
actually fascinated me quite endlessly that I even asked my father if I could
take up ‘electioneering’, thinking that it was the requisite college degree.
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