Finally, it’s May 9, Election Day, and the nation’s voters troop to the precincts all over the country to cast their votes. With the automated elections, the Commission on Elections says the winner in the presidential election will be known within three days.
If Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago wins, it means the voters have chosen to ignore her health problems and see instead her outstanding qualifications for the presidency and believe in her promise that her administration will leave to her successor a nation that is more prosperous, stronger, more united than it is today.
If Vice President Jejomar Binay wins, the voters have given little importance to the decades-old charges related to his mayorship of Makati City and voted instead for a capable administrator who can efficiently carry on the multifarious operations of the national government, solve the problem of mass poverty, and get the many clashing leaders of the country working together.
If Sen. Grace Poe wins, the voters have decided to simply accept the Supreme Court decision allowing her to run for president without ruling whether she is a natural-born Filipino with 10-years residence in the Philippines, and see instead her youth, her concern for the poor, and show of independent spirit as the qualities the country wants in its president.
If Secretary Mar Roxas wins, the voters have set aside the charges linking him to the incompetence in the Department of Transportation and Communication and at the Metro Rail Transit, value the legacy of President Aquino’s Daang Matuwid, and believe that Roxas will be his own man and assert his own leadership as President.
And if Mayor Rodrigo Duterte wins, it means the voters have chosen to ignore his bad jokes about rape, his irreverence for even the Pope, his alleged millions in his bank accounts, and his threat to abolish Congress, and see only a leader who is ready to take decisive action to eliminate many ills in government and society, including crime and the privileged status of so many in the country. It means the national discontent over the administration and the rest of the status quo is deeper than we thought.
All the candidates have differing capabilities and resources and those with better organizations hope that in an election with so many uncertainties, including surveys that are not accepted by all, their ground work and deployment of resources these last few days will make a difference.
In two or three days, we should know which of the five winning scenarios outlined here is the true one. In all cases, the decision of the people must be accepted and the nation must stand together behind the new leader, the new president of the Philippines.