Today, I stumbled over a blog with an article about the results of February 2010 pre-election survey for the Philippine presidentiables (2010 candidate for Philippine president). It was mentioned that the basic information was from the results of the survey conducted by the social weather station (sws) in the Philippines. Since I cannot vote as I live here in Europe (though I could have registered but I was not aware then), I am indifferent to the results of that survey. I have to see the program of each candidate todecide which one to vote. However, I have to admit that I became curious of sws so I went entering the website. There were a lot to learn there, especially that this sws is an authority when it comes to survey in the Philippines. I still have to see the ideas of the COMELEC (commission on Elections) though.

One of the surveys that caught my interest is the “Planned Activities of Registered Voters”. Quoting sws:

The special SWS Pre-Election Survey conducted from February 24-28, 2010 found that registered voters have varied planned activities for the May 2010 elections: 26% plan to watch the counting of votes, 23% attend political rallies of candidates and 20% serve in organizations that will help in having an orderly and clean election.

Other planned activities for the May 2010 elections are: be a watcher for a political candidate (15%), put up posters for politicians (11%), actively campaign for a political candidate (9%), and be a member of the Board of Election Inspectors (BEI) (3%).

In three pre-election surveys of 2007, to watch vote-counting and to attend political rallies were also the top planned activities for the May 2007 national elections.”

I left the Philippines when I was 22 and that was 3 years ago. I was not that mature enough to understand a lot of things about politics and I was not also exposed to the outside world and external politics… unlike now.

Looking at the results of that survey about planned activities, it seems that the voters are quite apathetic. I mean, it was not mentioned (or I have not read) that the choice in the poll/survey is mutually exclusive (if you choose one option you cannot choose another) but the percentages of participation is quite low. I mean, I can also misunderstand this survey but if only 26% of the voters wish to watch the counting of votes, does it mean that the rest are not curious enough what have become of their respective votes? Anyway, again, the sws article did not elaborate on a lot of things. The way the article is presented is very broad and confusing.

Readers like me, who are not into the world of surveys, will surely be confused. Sws put on a lot of numbers or percentages and graphical presentations and their variables but it did not explain what those variables mean. In this modern world, if you tell “watch the counting of votes”, it can also mean, (1) watch literally on voting centers, (2) watch the counting on television, (3) watch the counting through live streaming online and a lot of other ways. So which one is the meaning of that variable “watch the counting of votes”?

Information that is clear is not information at all. As I mentioned, sws is supposed to be an authority onpolls but it doesn’t seem to be in this very particular case I am presenting. If an information (it is merely a raw data in fact) is very broad and vague, it is easier for the presentor of that information (sws in this case) to confuse the public and/or manipulate them if the presentor wishes.

Please, sws personnel, make your articles/publications a bit clearer. We would like to understand things and not to be more confused. I appreciate reading in your “Survey background” how you did the survey and what is your sample size (so small for the whole population) but please, I am still asking the same thing: please elaborate/simplify/detail your variables to the reading public. Thank you.

Staying in Philippines for 22 years has its ups and downs. I was born in this motherland of ours, I was raised there and I was educated there. Living here in Europe is no bed of roses as well. It's always a different feeling to be at home and feel at home and just do the normal stuff I have been doing before. I tell you guys that it's no easy thing to go against what you have been doing for 22 years: culture, customs, weather, climate, people, language, race, beliefs and many other things. I really need to be adaptable, which I am lucky I am, but I still tell you that here is NOT my home.

Here, I have to obey everything. Here, I have to feel so much cold. Here, I have to do a lot of bureaucratic procedures to make one thing. Here I do not have a clue where to see bargains, which store is for the right budget, etcetera, etcetera. Here they speak Dutch and I speak English. There's always the difference here but here it's also cleaner here and people are making their nature livable, not only today but also in the future.

Although I never went abroad before 22 years, I had a lot of Korean buddies back in the University. And I quote one of them (Lee) when we talked about rivers: "We are not as stupid as you Filipinos to pollute our rivers." That was a piercing statement but that was true. What could I tell him? Should I tell him what he noted was not true? I could not! Why? Because the evidence was slapping my face right in front of us when he made that statement.

I was Lee's tutor for English conversations and proper usage of words and anything to have him pass the TOEIC examination. We made lessons in the hotel suite he rented until the examination time came. Such hotel is beside the river and the river stinks at certain hours of the day... more specifically, when we made lessons at around 3-4 in the afternoon. Outside that time frame, I don't know if the river still stinks because I'm out of the place already.

Lee explained that he took the hotel expecting a great river view and a good contact with nature. He noted that when he reserved that place, the photo he saw from online was clean. He did not expect that Philippines could be so dirty with thrown garbage and plastics right in the river as during low tides, these thrown objects rush to the river banks and the residue make up the stinky waters.

Why do we Filipinos are so selfish? Why are we not thinking of the future? Why do we throw garbage anywhere whenever we get the chance to? I don't know why! Maybe we are indeed stupid that we cannot understand what lies ahead in the future. We are so stupid to understand that we cause our own floods, we create our own land slides, and flash floods. That's for today and we just imagine the exponential effect to our next generation because of our irresponsibilities.

It's time to be properly educated. At least a little by little. If each one of us, around 100 million, just throw a single candy wrapper in the correct place, can you imagine what big improvement it already makes? Imagine those wrappers where thrown not in the trash cans but in open places? When rainy season comes, these wrappers will be carried by the water to water ways, drainage and rivers and would eventually cause clogs and floods.

Be a real Filipino who thinks of the Philippines. Be responsible at least for the little acts that can save our nature and save our future.

I have been reading lately about the youtube sensation on Charice and so I am here, after listening and watching her songs and performance. For thos who does not have any idea wo this Charice Pempengco is, you may google this name and you will get a lot of results for sure... or see her own website here.. But why am I blogging about her here? For a very simple reason: she is a Filipina.

And who is Manny Pacquiao? I can say that this person is the "knuckles" of the Philippines. And naturally, he is a Filipino.


Both Pempengco and Pacquiao are successful in their respective chose fields, in singing and boxing, respectively. They have awaken the awareness of not Filipinos alone but the whole world with their talents and success. And naturally, all the Filipinos are clapping their hands (that includes me) for them. They are praised, adored, prided over and became the talk of the town whenever there is an evernt where they are involved. They are celebrities, popular and symbolic.

The whole Filipino community has been thrilled with the performance of the two persons. All I wish is that they become good models as they are so known to each and every Pinoy and Pinay worldwide. I just hope they set as good standards and worthy models for everyone... I hope their fame stay solely for that purpose.. I hope they would teach to all that only a very few percentage can really achieve extraordinary success and luck as what they both have. I just hope they teach the value of individual hard work for one's success and relying to others all the time is NEVER good.. I just hope.. i have lots of hopes actually.

As for the rest of my fellowmen, we must be proud of them indeed. We shout to the world that they both are our countrymen.. But we should also accept some negatives on us being Filipinos and just don't be a Pikon when our bad side is touced. Let us accept our weaknesses and only in this way we can improve and remove those weaknesses.

To the two, Charice Pempengco and Manny Pacquiao, congratulations.