(Editor's note: Circumventing election laws has been in practice in RP since 1903 as noted by the author.)

Hours are clearly becoming shorter now to all candidates in May 2010 as they invoke “nameless/faceless friends” without telling us their number like “one, 10, or 100 friends.”

‘Friends’ by the million

A one-page ad presenting the candidates, without saying “vote for us,” may cost more than P100,000 if placed between pages 3 and 7 of a major daily. At the bottom is a line we can hardly read. With the aid of a table lens the dots or infinitesimal words may read like this, “… donated by a friend or friends.”

To make it a little credible “by friends” is preferred to denote that 10 or more friends paid for the ad contributing P8,000 or P10,000 each.

Loyal ‘friends’ all

All these “friends” will be cited a hundred or a thousand times as donors of TV, newspaper and radio ads. As the election day draws closer “donor friends or friend donors” will appear nameless/faceless on handbills, posters, banners, balloons, T-shirts, small calendars (January to December 2010) emphasizing election day, etc.

Why can’t candidates run out of friends? Because election laws/rules/guidelines prohibit them from overspending to protect candidates who have no money and “donor friends or friend donors.”

Analysis

Coffee shops have also friends as detractors, observers, critics and muckrakers.

They talk loudly and fearlessly about all kinds of candidates. One such critic tells us that identifying these “friends” can make Comelec probers go crazy.

Case against Lintang?

It’s like filing administrative cases this week against Lintang Bedol for acts allegedly committed in 2007 after the good, old and charitable public servant was mysteriously and quickly given a passport, visa and airline ticket to America. Lintang was last seen, last month, having a photo session in front of the Lincoln monument in Washington, D.C. He left RP after an army of PNP men in Mindanao had reported that Lintang was in hiding (or being hidden) and could not be found despite their best efforts, fooling all 92.2 M of us.

Binding on Comelec

“Donated by friends” will bind the Comelec from a horde of candidates for president (about 10 this week), vice-president (only two so far identified as Mar and Binay), more than three sets of 12, close to 1,000 for the House, and thousands more for governors, etc. down to town councilors (now fully honored in LTO plates).

There’s no estimate yet of the figure, in thousands, who will file papers not later than November 30 so Comelec can be guided in making machines (not teachers) count accurately and honestly about 45 M votes nationwide.

Undeclared income

If the so-called “friends’ cash donations” are counted and carefully computed for tax purposes the total sums could run to, say R10 B plus, of undeclared income.

High justice

According to one café observer, “a kind of high justice forces candidates to spend hidden sources of income” to be enjoyed by the people in general and improve, though temporarily, our per capita GDP in 2010, now about $3,400 against Thailand’s $7,900, Malaysia’s $13,300, Vietnam’s $2,600, Singapore’s $49,700 (one of the highest in the world) and Myanmar’s (Burma) $1,900 (one of the poorest in the ASEAN region).

Can machines count honestly?

Despite repeated assurances that machines can do the counting accurately, honestly and fast there are many sectors who still reserve their full trust in teachers as the faithful human machines. The argument that irregularities were noted in past elections, like Lintang Bedol’s award in his province of 12-0 in favor of Palace candidates, counting by machines has not found universal acceptance.

Not robots?

According to doubters, “after all the machines will be handled by people, who can be robots subject to higher command.”

Let’s go back to “donated by friends.” If one million sample ballots are printed to be distributed and “copied,” added to millions of handbills, T-shirts, banners, billboards, balloon, etc. can candidates really convince voters that only “friends” are true donors, not the candidates themselves and their financiers?

Circumventing the laws since 1785 B.C.

Circumventing the law, in lieu of direct/brazen violation, does not proceed from a frozen mind, an act in universal practice since Hammurabi wrote his code in about 1785 B.C. to control the Euphrates and Mesopotamia. (Comments are welcome at roming@pefianco.com).