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So call it gloating. It’s my moment of superiority.

I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar. Call me serenity.
I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar. Call me serenity. Music saleswoman Elena Koniaraki, 39, rides her bicycle between cars at a central street in Athens July 11, 2012. REUTERS/Yorgos Karahalis

I’ll make this short and sweet. Short and sweet, like my trip home on evenings like this.

So it’s a Friday, and a payday at that. So most everyone with bulging pockets are rushing out of their workplaces—as if they were running away from a fearsome monster.

So hordes of them are trooping to their favorite TGIF foodie corners and weekend hideaways—the farther away from the feared work monster, the better. Continue reading “So call it gloating. It’s my moment of superiority.”

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Conducting an electoral autopsy

IRAIA thoughts
An electoral autopsy

Most political analysts have already started to dissect the just-concluded Philippine 2013 elections—many of them focusing on the fate of individual senatorial candidates. Understandably, they pose such questions as why Grace Poe took the top spot, why Nancy Binay remained on 5th as predicted (despite the many brickbats thrown her way), or why Risa Hontiveros or Teddy Casino for that matter failed to land into the Magic 12 despite the all-out efforts and formidable strengths of their respective camps.

Continue reading “Conducting an electoral autopsy”
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Eto posporo, sindihan mo na yan!

Eto posporo, sindihan mo na yan!
Eto posporo, sindihan mo na yan is a friendly taunt commonly traded among Metro Manila jeepney drivers when they pass by a stalled vehicle, most often (but not always) another dilapidated jeepney. The English translation cannot capture the accompanying smirk and mocking tone that’s typical of the jeepney driver, who has long adopted a fatalistic sense of humor to survive the metropolitan jungle. Image courtesy of thumbs.dreamstime.com

It’s Election Day in the Philippines today. My ears are glued to the wall-to-wall radio coverage of the proceedings, while my Twitter feed is focused on the #vote2013 and #halalan2013 hashtags. Occasionally I check the KontraDaya site for updates.

Reports have started pouring in, and they are mostly worrisome. They are confirming many fears about the Automated Election System (AES) and the PCOS machine’s many hitches and glitches, and the possibility of poll failures at the local level.

Voters and BEIs are getting frustrated about PCOS machines that don’t work, CF cards that can’t be read, ballots rejected because they are too wide or smeared easily by ink, paraphernalia sent to the wrong precincts, and so on and so forth. This is not to mention the older methods of electoral cheating—some subtler, some more brazen, which have long existed and have merely adjusted to the new AES environment.

At this point, I’m sorely tempted to shout, “Eto posporo, Sixto, sindihan mo na yan!” Continue reading “Eto posporo, sindihan mo na yan!”