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By Rhaydz B. Barcia, Correspondent
LEGAZPI CITY, Albay: Failure of
the computerized elections in 2010 would cause “chaos” but, if
the polls succeeded, the winner would find the government coffers
“empty,” Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said over the
weekend.
“I would like to urge the
people through the [people of Legazpi City] to be very, very careful
in this coming election of the leaders who will handle the
Philippines in 2010 and beyond,” he said.
“I would like to tell you that
we’re facing a critical period in our history. The elections in
2010 are very critical because, for the first time in our political
history, we are going to change the manner of [conducting the]
elections,” Enrile added, referring to the fully automated polls
next year. He spoke during a program here marking the 50th
anniversary of the city.
Enrile expressed fears that the
electronic voting could go haywire.
“We’re going to use machines
to record and count the votes, [when in the past] we were using
human beings or teachers,” he said. “What will happen if the
machines break down? What do you think will happen to our country?
This country will be in a total chaos, there will be no government
or leaders, no soldiers, no policemen, no Supreme Court. What will
happen to our country? It will be the rule of the strongest among
us. I hope that will not happen.”
Empty coffers
Enrile added that the successor
of President Gloria Arroyo would discover that the government was
broke.
“If President Arroyo, an
economist, a very intelligent woman and a very determined person
[has been able to] run the government despite the opposition and the
obstacles that have been placed before her [but still] could not
manage the nation as we want it to be, how much more the next
President [who] will be confronted with so many problems and [who
will be expected to] unify a fragmented force? How could he or she
do it when the country’s coffers are empty?” he said.
“So, if we want clean
governance, it should begin at the kitchen of Malacañang because
one of the [problems] in the country is corruption and if you clean
up your backyard, the rest [stamping out of the other problems] will
follow,” Enrile added.
Lessons from China
He said that the Philippines
could draw inspiration from the China experience.
According to him, China used to
be the doormat of the world but later became an emerging superpower
through the will of the government and the people.
Enrile said that the Chinese had
told him that their determination and that of their leaders brought
about a modern China free from domination of other countries. The
same resolve, he added, could see China outshining the United
States.
“I will tell you, in this
decade [China] will overtake America. China will become the
superpower of the world, because [it has] prepared [itself for that
role],” Enrile said.
He allowed, though, that
China’s ascendancy entailed economic and political costs. Still,
Enrile said, the price the Chinese people paid went to
“freedom.”
“True enough, [the Chinese]
government is a little bit rigid compared to our government, and
I’m not trying to say [that we] adapt the [Chinese] system but,
nonetheless, we must work together as a people in order to bring
progress and to make our country really free,” he added.
Enrile’s visit to Legazpi City
coincided with celebrations there commemorating the 111th
anniversary of the proclamation of independence.
He said that his wish for the
occasion was to see the country attain economic freedom and freedom
from poverty.
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