TO BE FREE TO SERVE OUR PEOPLE

Dear Compatriots, Kababayan, Kabaro and Friends,

I really feel insulted that the Comelec had dropped me from the list of senatorial candidates after it had run my name in its website for more than a week. 

When I called its office, Joy, of the Law Department had told me that the name was (and of the other candidates) there because to alert them to correct the spelling or if it was all right to use the same. 

Then suddenly it was gone. 

I don't understand this style of governance at all. What kind of leadership do we have in the Comelec? It says one thing and then the next day does the opposite. We are being given the run-around. 

Then someone had told me that the winning candidates because of the picos machines are already known (and some people had been paid off already). In other words, "lutong makaw" and election. 

Folks, we did not conduct People Power in 1986 only to be led into this kind of rigmarole under a person whose mother was a key player in that event. 

We have all the reasons to change our society as its development is getting concentrated on the top of the social ladder. We, the movers of that PP should be at the forefront to show our kababayan and the world that we know how to reconstruct our society so that development filters down to the very lowest rungs. 

And the Comelec plays a big role on that. Unfortunately, its moves are largely governed by reactionary principles, anti-human rights (lowering the dignity of candidates by calling those it rejects as "nuisance"), abuse of authority ( appropriating for itself the choosing of candidates based on questionable grounds like having money), favoring political parties and marginalizing independent candidates, or being selective in choosing who are the independents who can run, a very grave distortion of the provisions of the Constitution regarding the equality of everyone before the law; and reducing the right to join public service to privilege (in favor of the moneyed elite), again another distortion of the Philippine Constitution of 1987 which was framed after the PP Movement. 

I have sent my complaint to the Ombudsman but I have been told that it could take time before it would be resolved. And if it is political, then it should go to the Supreme Court; but if administrative then it would be programmed as one of the issues it needs to resolve. 

Please help me resolve this issue, my Compatriots, Kababayan, Kabaro and Friends. I want to serve our country, our people and show that we could do more if we work within the structure than outside. Social Media can bring about great changes in our country and reduce the stature of people who become stumbling blocks to our being dignified citizens not only of this country but of the world. 

Please write a complaint to the Comelec about their highhanded handling of my case and kindly send a copy to my email: miravera2010@gmail.com. Please put COMPLAINT as the opening word so that I could compile them altogether right away and I could respond to you. 

For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.

Nelson Mandela