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Bato

I went home to Bicol last May 9, 2010 for the election, in my hometown in the little island of Catanduanes, the smallest municipality, none other than Bato. Bato is 8kms from Virac(capital town). It has a plenty of tourist spots like Sakahon Beach( a white sand beach in Bote, Bato, Catanduanes which is currently being developed by the mayor itself, Mayor Leo Rodriguez), Maribina Falls, Batalay Beach( a black sand beach which is a good place for swimming and family outing), Batalay Shrine, and the last but not the least, the Bato Church itself. Bato has also a bigger population compared to other neighboring municipalities regardless of its size. An interesting fact about Bato is that it has the most number of professionals in the province relative to its population. It is also densely populated compared to some of its neighboring municipalities.

Batalay Beach

A perfect place for swimming and family outing. An interesting thing about this beach is that you can see the Mayon Volcano of Albay from here.

Batalay Shrine

A historical shrine in the province.

Maribina Falls

A beautiful falls where you can swim in its cool and freshwater from the mountain.

Bato Church

An old church built during the Spanish Period. According to history, it took 50 years to build the church.

Photo Credits: Catanduanes, Islang Kayganda

Election

Last May 10 was first time to exercise my right of suffrage. This was also the first automated national election in the history of Philippine Election. There have been many issues about the automation because of so many controversies the COMELEC have been into. Some of the problems about the automation was the possibility of automated cheating(relates to the Hello Garci scandal); the failure of the PICOS machines during the testing before the election; the indelible ink used was questioned because the winner of the bid to supply the ink during the election was the company who lose in the bidding of the PICOS machine. Also, the effectiveness of the ink was not trusted so they tested it and that ends the issue about it.

I vote in the province where there is rampant vote buying during election. Almost, all of the officials are giving money to the voters just to vote them in the local post. I wonder when this vote buying started in my beloved province. The novice and the veteran candidates were all giving money to win a seat in the municipal and provincial post. They have ward leaders who make the list of voters in a certain barangay, then they have the runners whose task were to distribute the money to voters that were on the list. They have to sign a piece of paper that proves that they have received the money of the politician. I know you will ask what the people in my province did. They just accept the money of the politicians because they said that they didn't ask for it. There were cases where the voter accepted the money from both rival candidates of a mayoral position. I wonder where these politicians got those bags of money. The answer to that is obvious and I don't even have to ask you readers about it.

I was excited to vote because my vote will determine the future of the country. The rivalries of the candidates are so intense in both the national and local positions. They said in their campaigns that they are competent enough to lead the country and change the current condition the country is into. They said that they will create an ideal government for the country and its people. For me, an ideal government is a government who can address the fiscal crisis of the country; obliterate corruption of some government officials; improve the quality of education and health services to help the minimum wage earners and below it; help the domestic economy of the country by reducing the dependency to external sources in order to sustain the growth and development of the country; and finish the issue of the arm conflicts in Mindanao. Through all these efforts, the rebels may realize that what they have been doing was not helping the people but instead they are adding to the burden of the poor.

I hope that after the new president and sets of officials have been proclaimed, the Philippines will soon realize change in every aspects where it has a low rating.