By Steven Rood The Asia Foundation While waiting for clarity in these races, it is useful to reflect on past elections for the light they shed on the present. One lesson is how all Philippine governments rely on elections for their legitimacy, and care a great deal about foreign opinion about those elections.
Commentary | The elections are a period when conflicting forces play out an act in a long-running drama. For those who control power, each election is crucial. They cannot afford to lose. They can, in another sense, afford to win through ?guns, goons, gold and Garci.?
Commentary | The reports of massive fraud are staring the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the face and Comelec chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr. and Commissioner Rene Sarmiento still refuse to conduct a thorough investigation and act swiftly to prevent further damage. And they refuse to do so only because there are no witnesses. Perhaps the Comelec is afflicted with a serious illness called Garci.
Two institutions to watch, if one wants to ensure a clean and honest May 2007 elections, are the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). Ironically, these are the very institutions supposedly tasked with ensuring the conduct of clean and honest elections. But these institutions are again in the thick of controversy — a portent of things to come?
ANALYSIS: Fraud recycles the political dynasties and keeps them in power. It breeds generations of cheaters, corrupt politicians, mediocre executives, bribe takers, absenteeism in Congress. It is part of the lifeblood of bureaucrat capitalism.