MikeLigalig.com

LAOAG CITY—The landslide victory of the Marcoses in Monday’s elections reflects the Ilocanos’ respect to the late strongman Ferdinand E. Marcos, said priest historian Danilo Laeda on May 11, when Ilocanos gave an overwhelming support to the Marcos family in this year’s historic automated elections.

The 80-year-old former First Lady, Imelda Marcos, won as congressman of Ilocos Norte’s Second District with a total of 109,571 votes against rival candidate and former Marcos ally, lawyer Mariano Nalupta, who got a measly 27,359 votes.

Her daughter, Maria Imelda “Imee” Romualdez-Marcos, won as governor of the province with a total of 196,160 votes over her first cousin, incumbent Ilocos Norte Gov. Michael Marcos-Keon, who got only 86,005 votes.

Senatorial candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is among the top 10 winning candidates based on latest election result as of May 11.

“Filipinos are passionate, and emotions run high,” said Laeda, which means people of Ilocos Norte still think of the late President Marcos as a source of pride amid his history of being a dictator and being deposed from the presidency through a people power revolt in 1986.

The “Marcos magic” that the priest believes to have played a great factor on the Marcoses winning in this year’s election shows that the family maintained its influence in the province having the necessary logistics, machinery and campaign funds.

Though the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) in Ilocos Norte received reports of massive vote buying, Laeda said voters here have not yet reach a high level of maturity, considering that the old system of “corruption” is unabated or hard to eradicate.

Francis Bitagon, chairman of the PPCRV here, said voters openly admit that they receive money from candidates, ranging from P200 to more than P1,000, which is given to them mostly by local village officials or political party coordinators on a staggered basis. The term is popularly known locally as first wave, second wave and final wave, when the money was handed over to voters.

The PPCRV admitted that the “culture of corruption” is already embedded into the system, and sees no cure unless the younger generation is educated on electoral reform.

While giving thumbs-up to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the successful and peaceful conduct of automated polls, the PPCRV hopes that some glitches and long lines of voters due to voters’ registration verification will be properly addressed next time.

PPCRV volunteers said the automated polls  made their work easier.

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