sexandsensibilities.com

News that Malacanang is considering election lawyer Romulo Macalintal as the next Chair of the Commission on Elections was met with opposition by women’s groups yesterday.

Elizabeth Angsioco, National Chair of Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines (DSWP), a national federation of almost 300 community women’s groups with around 40,000 individual members said, ‘Atty. Macalintal may be a good election lawyer but his being a religious conservative and his intolerance to views opposing his are dangerous. We need more progressive or at the very least open-minded people in COMELEC.’

‘We must remember that Macalintal, together with Prolife Philippines harassed and shouted at Catholic reproductive health (RH) advocates, virtually calling them Satan outside the Manila Cathedral on 20 November last year. Macalintal’s intolerance, even arrogance, was caught on video. He was also seen trying to grab one of the cameras. Thus, the prospect of having someone like him calling the shots in COMELEC is quite alarming,’ Angsioco added. Together with other advocates, Catholic pro-RH community women, all mothers, went to the Cathedral in response to Prolife’s open invitation to a discernment discussion on the RH bill but were not allowed in, and later, shooed away as Satan by Macalintal’s group.

Angsioco asserted that ‘The Aquino administration should be forewarned that such an attitude will likely surface if he gets appointed as COMELEC Chair. What will a Chair like Macalintal do in the face of pro-RH candidates and party list groups? How will he decide for instance, on issues of representation of gays and lesbians? Or those favoring the re-legalization of divorce? Will his intolerance be reflected in his decisions? The government should not take this risk for surely, this will be met with strong opposition from candidates and pro-RH organizations alike.’

‘We strongly oppose Macalintal for COMELEC Chairship. After all, there is no dearth of qualified candidates for the post. We call on the Liberal Party to review its support for Macalintal and on Pres. Aquino to NOT APPOINT a conservative and intolerant person to hold the highest position in this very important body,’ Angsioco ended.

        

MEDIA STATEMENT:

P-NOY’S RECENT ANTI-DIVORCE BUT PRO-REMARRIAGE PRONOUNCEMENT

By Ms. ELIZABETH ANGSIOCO

National Chairperson

Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines (DSWP)

24 August 2010

Hearing the President’s pronouncements on divorce made me cringe.  When President Benigno S. Aquino III stated that divorce in the Philippines is a no-no, but in the same breath said that those who want to remarry may just use legal separation, my initial reaction was – “Does he know that legal separation does not allow remarriage?” The President contradicted himself and his statement may be described as confused, or perhaps, misguided. Unfortunately, Presidential pronouncements are usually taken as the administration’s positions on issues and strongly influence Congress decisions.  In this case, the President’s message is unclear.

His statement that legal separation should be enough for couples who cannot stay together and who want to remarry reveals wrong appreciation of existing laws.  Legal separation does not dissolve the marriage and only settles separation of abode, and in some cases, of properties.  Our work with women from all over the country taught me that some marriages break down, divorce or no divorce. Many times, women’s decision to get out of relationships is due to abuse and violence they suffered for years and could no longer bear.  For these women, legal separation is not enough even if they do not have plans of remarrying. Reports consistently show that in this country, violence and other forms of abuse against women are primarily committed by husbands and partners, the very same people who vowed to love and protect them ‘till death do they part’.  We know of cases where even if legally separated, women are unable to escape abuse from husbands because they remain “owned” by them in marriage.

President Aquino also said that the sanctity of marriage must be protected and I agree.  However, this should not be at the expense of women, particularly those who are victims of abuse.  Does the President really believe that those abused should not be given another chance at life? Would the President prefer women to suffer in silence for the sake of making it appear that their marriages are intact even if in reality, they have broken down? Mr. President, many women want to be free from abusive relationships. The goal is to get their lives back. Whether they will remarry or not is beside the point.  The government, which you lead, should make possible women’s freedom from abuse within marriages. Legalizing divorce will help and we hope that you will side with us on this urgent matter.  We want to know if you are for or against divorce.

Reference: Ms. ELIZABETH ANGSIOCO

National Chairperson

Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines

        

Before May 10: 
 
1. Check your precinct number through the COMELEC website. Visit your precinct a few days before the elections so you won’t waste time looking for it on the day itself.

2. Familiarize yourself and others close to you with the ballot which can also be downloaded from the COMELEC site.

3. Practice shading preferably with a broad-tipped marking pen (similar to what will be provided on election day.) The oblong shapes to the left of your candidates’ names should be shaded FULLY.  The machines will not count votes with less than 50% of the oblong shaded. Teach others to do this.

4. Make a list of the candidates (with their corresponding numbers) you will vote for.

5. Participate in the testing of the machines.   
 

On election day:
 
1.  Make sure your hands are clean when you vote to prevent smudging of the ballot.

2.  Bring your list of chosen candidates to polling place & use this when voting. Bring IDs and your precinct number.

3.  Vote early. Vote as fast as you can so others will have their turn as soon as possible.

4. When you receive your ballot, EXAMINE the bar codes around it. The lines should be sharp and clear. Do not accept a ballot with blurred/faded bar codes. This will not be read by the machine.

5. Do not fold, smudge or crumple the ballot. Do not put any mark on the oblong beside candidates you are NOT voting for. This might cause rejection of your vote.

6. When you vote, shade oblong FULLY.

7. You may undervote but DO NOT OVERVOTE. i.e., if you shade more than 12 senatorial candidates, all your votes for the position will not be counted.

8. Before feeding your ballot into the machine, take note of the number on the screen. This should be one notch higher after you fed your ballot. i.e., if you see the number 10 before you feed your ballot, 11 should appear after. ‘Congratulations’ should also appear on the screen. These mean that your ballot was read.

9. Feed your ballot to the machine yourself. If you make others do this, they might smudge or put markings on your ballot which might cause rejection.

10. If you can, guard the memory card as it is transferred from the precinct to the higher canvassing offices. This will happen after voting hours.

        

Just one more week till the May 2010 national elections. It will be the first time that an automated electoral system will be used. This is very exciting because, barring any glitches, the results of the national elections will be released in a matter of hours after the polls close, and the results of the national elections out in 2 days. A far cry from the weeks that we used to wait for the manual tallying of results. It can also be very daunting, especially for those of us who are voting for the first time.

SAS-recognized vagina warrior and women’s rights advocate, Elizabeth Angsioco, National Chair of the Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines (DSWP) who shared with us why we should make women’s health matter in May 2010 now gives us a list of important things we should know and orient ourselves on before the upcoming elections.  “A lot rests on the coming elections. The Filipino people want a new beginning and we have this golden opportunity through the coming elections. Thus, we so NEED to make the elections work for the country, for us. Various grim and frightening scenarios are being put forward. However, as citizens, we can do a lot to prevent these from happening.”, says Beth. 
 
IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW 
 
1.  A new electoral system will be used on May 10 and many are still unfamiliar and may have discomfort with this. We should familiarize ourselves (and those   close to us) with automated elections.

2.      The heart and soul of the system is the memory card where a lot is stored and will be stored, including the votes we will cast. This has to be protected at all cost.

3.      Know your precinct number BEFORE election day.  This is available at the  COMELEC website and it only takes 5 minutes to get the information. If you are not in the list and you registered or voted in the last elections, go to your local COMELEC office. They will put you in. Bring IDs and/or proof of registration.

4.      The ballot is more than 2 feet long. One side for candidates for national positions, the other, for local posts.  To the left of the candidates’ names are the oblong shapes that voters need to shade and the numbers of candidates. It is best to decide before May 10 and make your list with the names and numbers of your chosen candidates.

5.      The ballot is sensitive. No additional markings, dirt or smudges should be put.

6.      Around the ballot are lines. These are the bar codes that identify the ballots.

7.      Precincts are clustered and there will be from 500 to 1,000 voters per precinct. Come prepared and vote as quickly as possible. Taking a long time might result in disenfranchising others who will wait for us to finish before they can vote.

8.      There are news of operators planning to bring their voters to the precincts very early to be first and stay for the longest possible time so others are not able to vote. The way to counter this is by voting early.

9.      Before any voting starts, the Board of Elections Inspectors (BEI) will do the Initialization Process to prove that the machine and the memory card do not have stored votes BEFORE the actual voting.

10.  After voting, you will feed the ballot into the machine. You have a maximum of 4 tries and if your ballot is rejected, it will be set aside. No additional ballot will be issued to you.

11.  If the system runs well, the results of the local elections will be known in a few hours and the national in two (2) days. It will be good to be on guard.

12.  At end of voting day, each PCOs machine will print 30 copies of the results. The memory cards (where the results are stored) will then be sealed in an envelope and brought to higher canvassing groups. If, at a later time the results are questioned, the stored data will be considered as the official results, NOT THE PRINTED ONES. Thus, it is VERY important to guard the transfer of the memory cards to their destinations.