Senator Gregorio Honasan. SCREENGRAB FROM INQUIRER.net VIDEO
Were the Filipino people happy with those they voted for in the May 9 elections?
Senator Gringo Honasan, who ran but lost in the vice presidential race, raised this question during the confirmation hearing on Wednesday of Commission on Elections Commissioner Sheriff Abas at the Commission on Appointments’ committee on constitutional commissions and offices.
“I will not ask if you voted for me although I will be engaged in an effort to look for the almost 800,000 who voted for me so that I can thank them. I will not ask whom you voted for. Did those whom you voted for at national and local levels win?” Honasan asked.
Abas said he was not able to vote for local candidates but that in the national level, he said: “Some won, but some lost.” His remark drew laughter from the hearing room.
“Tinatanong ko ito (I’m asking this) because you’ll be presiding over the elections in 2022 so you can’t give what you don’t have, so I want to dig deep into what your temperament will be in 2019,” Honasan said.
“Hindi pa tapos ang bilangan pero (The canvassing is not over yet but) from what we’ve seen and heard so far…Do you think the Filipino people are happy with the choices they made in voting for certain candidates at the national and local level?” the senator further asked, again eliciting laughter from the room.
“Mahirap sir pero (That’s difficult to answer but) as far as the voters are concerned, I think (the) 81 percent (voters’) turnout out. sir, will show us that the people are really interested in this election so napakataas po ng turnout natin so tingin ko sir, masaya yung tao natin despite the fact na mainit yung panahon natin, may mga glitches pero pumila po sila at nagboto so tingin ko. sir, masaya ang naging election natin (the turnout is high, so I think our people are happy. Despite the hot weather and the glitches, they lined up and voted, so I think our elections had been satisfactory),” Abas said.
READ: Comelec: Voter turnout at 81 percent
Honasan said he asked those questions because for better for worse, he said, the Filipinos would have to live with the choices they made.
“Kelangang taggapin natin. Kaya lang nga ang iniisip ko naman is with the choices that they have made, we must also assume responsibility for these choices, kaya yung mga binoto natin huwag nating pabayaan, tulungan natin para we can help build a strong nation,” the senator added.
(We have to accept it. But what I’m thinking of is that, with the choices that they have made, we must also assume responsibility for these choices, so let’s not neglect those whom we voted for, let’s help them so we can build a strong nation.)
Despite the challenges, Abas noted a significant improvement in the last elections.
“It certainly was not an easy journey. The preparation for the elections was [part of] a myriad of challenges enough to topple the strong but not this Commission,” he said in his opening statement.
“Armed with the firm resolve to safeguard the electoral process, the men and women of Comelec, hand in hand with partners, deputized agencies, and other stakeholders, stood firm to deliver to the people clean, honest, credible and peaceful elections.”
Abas said the transmission rate to the transparency server “skyrocketed” from 76 percent in 2013 to 96.14 percent in 2016. Voters’ registration, he said, also increased from 50 million in 2013 to 54 million this year.
“A remarkable 81.5 percent of the 54 million went to our polls and voted this year,” he said.
“Filipinos abroad likewise were more enthusiastic to participate in this year’s elections with over 1.3 million Filipinos registering from 737 posts in 2013 — 31.3 percent actually voted in 2016, with only 16 percent in 2013. That’s twice the figures in the past elections.”
The Commissioner said the 2016 polls were more peaceful than the past elections.
The committee recommended Abas’ confirmation, which was later affirmed in the CA plenary. CDG/rga
READ: CA confirms appointments of Comelec, COA commissioners